Weardale Way - Sunderland to Durham (★★★☆☆)

For me winter is a good time to get out and explore somewhere new - and it is a good time to explore somewhere you might not otherwise think to explore.

And today we are exploring the coastal end of the Weardale Way, walking from Sunderland up towards Durham, having previously walked this trail between Bishop Auckland and Durham last year.

The official furthest end of the Weardale Way is at Roker, but if you like me are also walking the coastal routes, you needn't worry about picking up that section - as you will walk that stretch in any case whilst walking the coast path. 

And you can see the writeup for the walk along that coastal path here (and the Weardale Way section is the very last part of that walk).

And so from here we can simply head out from Sunderland heading westward along the trail, but this is not as simple as it initially seems - for there is a lot of redevelopment work going on around Sunderland, and this has blocked off access to the official route.

And so instead I  end up merely following the river in its general direction, along the roads through Sunderland. 

But after a period of slightly dull road walking, I do indeed manage to join up with the trail - but here we do not get much release, because from here the Weardale Way heads out along roads anyway.

And if you are not too fussed about walking every part of the trail, I would suggest that you join the Weardale Way at South Hylton if you do this walk. That allows you to skip the boring bit, and join as it starts to get interesting.

But having made it out to South Hylton, we follow the the onward path along the banks of the River Wear - and from here it is actually surprisingly quick how fast Sunderland disappears, once you head under the A19, and into the countryside.

Under the A19 and into the countryside

The route here involves some nice river walking, and other than some joggers and dog walkers, it is a quiet start to the day.

After passing through a number of fields, the path heads through Cox Green, and then the path passes under Victoria Viaduct, - which is a railway viaduct that dates back to 1838. This used to provide a route over the river for the Durham Junction Railway - which took coal from the mines south of Sunderland, up to Gateshead to be exported.

The line was among those closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts - but this viaduct could yet see trains again, through a potential extension of the Metro system - down into Washington, and then joining up with South Hylton.

From here the route of my path remains largely unchanged - continuing to follow the river through pleasant countryside - before passing through the southern end of Washington, and out the other side on a route that diverts off from the path of the River Wear.

After navigating around a road junction, the path heads through woods alongside the A182, before turning to the right and heading south - past Biddick Hall, and leaving behind any traffic noise.

You don't get any real sense of Biddick Hall on the way past - with it being a private house - but the woods are pleasant to walk through, and after navigating a road crossing, we head out onto a green near the centre of Bournmoor.

Heading across this green, we are briefly re-united with the path of the former railway - before bending off to the right, and heading through New Lambton.

Here the route turns more sharply to the right, and starts to follow Lumley Park Burn - heading along the top of a steep wooded valley, before passing under the M1, and joining up with a minor road heading into Castle Dene. Here the path turns back to meet up once again with Lumley Park Burn, and to return us to more enjoyable walking terrain.

Some snowdrops near Castle Dene

Here the path continues on through Lumley Park Wood, which forms part of the grounds around Lumley Castle - which passes by on the far side of the stream (there are no pictures yet as the castle is only just about visible through the trees).

Walking through Lumley Park Wood

Here the path takes on a big loop around Lumley Castle, passing along the edge of the golf course and castle grounds, to once again head back past Lumley Castle on the far side.

Now on the far side of Lumley Castle

By this point the path has been reunited with the route of the River Wear, but we do not follow it for long, as soon we head off to the left - and across the fields - before turning right, to once again head south.

This route takes us past Great Lumley (on the left) - and ahead we join up with the road at the far end of Great Lumley - and briefly use the local roads to meet up with the path heading on southwards on the far side.

After a while this path joins up with a minor road, and then turns to the left at a T-junction - but we quickly say goodbye to this road, as the path heads down steps to the right, to rejoin the River Wear once again.

Here there is a bridge across the River Wear, and this takes us to Finchale Priory.

Finchale Priory

Finchale Priory was established in 1196, but was formerly the home of Godric the hermit - who inspired by St Cuthbert's time as a hermit - set up a hermitage on this site (with the permission of the Bishop of Durham - who owned the land).

An artists impression of Godric's hermitage

Although supposedly a hermit - he had frequent visitors, and among those said to have visited him included Thomas Becket, Aelred of Rievaulx, Pope Alexander II and King William of Scotland. And in his later years, Durham monks would come down and live with him, before he died at the age of about 100.

After his death, two monks were sent down from Durham to to occupy the hermitage, and in 1196 the site became a priory. Over the years the priory was expanded and became a more substantial site - benefiting from the river and the surrounding land.

An impression of how the site might have looked in the 1320s

As the wealth of the monasteries started to decline, the site became more of a retreat for Durham monks, but in time - as with all monasteries - the site fell into decline.

Now it is easy to visit - and you need not pay to walk around it - with the fees only being charged for parking at the site. 

From here we leave the priory behind, and head up the access road for the priory - where we can see (in the fields to the right) the old ammunition storage bunkers from WWII (with numerous reinforced buildings each being designed to hold a set of munitions).

Continuing on along the road, things gets busier as we head into Brasside, and the site of a high security prison - which our path heads straight past. 

With the prison now behind, the route heads over a disused branch of the same railway seen earlier in the day - before heading through the fields, with Durham castle and cathedral starting to be visible in the distance.

Heading through the fields on the way to Durham

Here the path gets busier with joggers, walkers and cyclists heading out from Durham - and here we are heading almost in a straight line towards Durham, where the River Wear is again rejoined.

After passing Crook Hall on the right, the path bends round to head south, and on through into the centre of Durham itself.

Into Durham with the castle and cathedral above

Here you have a choice - you can head up the hill on the right and head direct to the train station - or you can do what I did, and spend a bit more time walking along the river through Durham.

And so I continue on round, taking in a full loop of Durham, before having a poke around town, ahead of taking the train home.

Total Distance: 20.9 miles (20.2 miles on the Weardale Way)

Total Ascent: 1,693 feet (1,526 feet on the Weardale Way)

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

I have done additional walks from the Sunderland end of this walk, and if of interest you can see writeups of those for Sunderland to Hartlepool and Newcastle to Sunderland by clicking the links.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 88 OS Landranger map - while there is also a North Downs Way guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is pretty straight-forward to follow using a map and although the Weardale Way is in general a less well maintained route, this section gave me no major difficulties.