Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Six and a half miles of linear moorland walking with 230 metres of climbing, three and a half hours over the ridge between the East and West Allen on the trail named after the Victorian tea seller Isaac Holden. Start from the market place at Allendale Town, where parking is free, and plan the return: the bus service to Ninebanks is sparse, so most walkers arrange a lift or double back. Big open ground where a dog can run, burns to drink from and no roads to speak of, but the moor is grazed by sheep the whole way, ground-nesting birds mean leads from March to July, and the last mile drops through farmyards at Mohope.
Four miles in a shade under two hours, down to the East Allen at the old smelt mill and up the wooded riverside to Oakpool before returning by Monk’s Wood on a section of Isaac’s Tea Trail. Start in the market place at Allendale Town, where roadside parking is free and there is usually space except on the day of the New Year tar barrel parade. The river is beside you for most of the way with easy shelving access for a drink or a swim, the woodland stretches are safe off the lead, and the two hay meadows above Oakpool are grazed by sheep from autumn.
Five and a half miles and 250 metres of climbing in about three hours, up the line of the two-and-a-half-mile flues built in 1805 to carry lead smoke off the valley floor, to the pair of chimneys on Dryburn Moor and back on Isaac’s Tea Trail. Start in Allendale Town market place, where parking is free and rarely a problem; the climb begins at Allen Mill on the river below the village. Open moor gives long off-lead running and there is water in every burn, but the moor is grazed and holds ground-nesting curlew and lapwing from March to July, when the National Park asks for dogs on leads, and old flue workings leave open stonework to avoid.
A two-room bed and breakfast a mile out of Allendale village, looking over its own field and garden in the heart of the North Pennines. Dogs are welcome on a lead in the house as well as the grounds, and there is no extra charge for them, which is unusual at this size of place. Allendale's pubs, tea rooms and 1874 co-operative store are the mile back down the lane.
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