Pennine Way - Bellingham to Bardon Mill (★★★☆☆)

On the surface, accessing the northern end of the Pennine Way looks to be a fairly complex endeavor - but whilst planning a walk along Hadrian's Wall, I realised that the combination of train and then bus makes access to (and beyond) the wall possible for a day walk.

And so today, the plan is to use one of the train-bus links to get up to Bellingham (via Hexham) - and then walk the Pennine Way towards Hadrian's Wall - before finishing up at Bardon Mill.

This makes for a straight-forward walk - and here I also have the option of finishing at Housesteads Roman Fort (where the AD122 bus runs from the visitor centre). 

But as I set off today, I am more tempted by the idea of passing by Vindolanda - and of joining up the north and south branches of the River Tyne between Bellingham and Bardon Mill.

Eventually I arrive by train at Hexham, before having a short wait until the 680 arrives, to take me up to Bellingham.

It should be noted that Bellingham itself is somewhere where it is fairly easy to stay over for the night - and it is quite used to having walkers and cyclists around.

The town itself is believed to date to the early medieval period (with the -ham suffix being one of Anglo-Saxon origin - and being more typical in southern and eastern England). But the medieval town appears to have been small, and of little significance until the 12th century.

For much of history this part of the world was largely bypassed - with the major transportation route of Dere Street (joining Edinburgh to York) passing to the east of the town (along the River Rede).

Things changed in the 1830s and 1840s when Hareshaw Ironworks was established - and it was this that triggered the growth of Bellingham, despite the closure of those Ironworks at the end of the 1840s.

The railway followed in 1862 - on a route (the Border Counties line) that ran from Hexham up to Riccarton Junction - which was a spot to the north-west of Kielder Water, that joined up with the Borders Railway (which ran between Edinburgh and Carlisle).

With this connection, the line provided a potential route between Edinburgh and southern England (via Hexham) - but the main route through eastern England was the current east coast mainline - and this route closed to passengers in 1956, and goods in 1963.

With that closure, this has remained a quiet, sparsely populated, and rural part of the world - and after a brief stretch spent walking out of Bellingham along the road (there is a pavement and then side path), we quickly turn up into the fields (ahead of the point marked on the OS Map app), and say goodbye to what there is of civilisation in this part of the world.

Ealingham Rigg

Today we will be mostly following the boundary of Northumberland National Park - and whilst the weather shouldn't be too bad, we are likely to get wet at some point. 

And indeed, it is already raining to the west - but whilst I'm getting some drips of rain over here, there is little wind about - and so it looks like we should avoid the worst of anything for now.

But it is definitely an odd sort of day, with short periods of heat, longer periods of cold, and then short periods of rain falling.

Still, it is not long before we pass over the top of Ealingham Rigg (which helps warm things up) - and then start to drop down towards Shitlington Crags, along a path that fades in and out of view across the fields.

From here, we start to drop down towards Shitlington Hall - and here I manage to excite an entire field of cows, who seem to think that I am here to open the gate.

At first this results in one cow jumping about like an excited puppy, but this excitement is contagious, as they all rush over to the corner of the field we are set to walk through.

But they are a lovely bunch cows - if a bit over excited - and soon retreat far enough to let me through the gate without any bother.

The first cows have already reached the corner, with the rest following

Once through the gate, it is time to head past the hall / farm - and on to meet up with the Blacka Burn.

Here it is the sheep that are now the centre of attention - as they are currently hanging out on this side of the burn - and so I pause for a bit, as one half of the pack fords the shallow burn, whilst the rest opt for the bridge.

And with this migration over, I follow the example of the smarter half of the pack, and head over the same bridge, after which the trail heads on through their feel and up the hill.

On the way up this hill, I do my best to avoid startling too many sheep (who are having a snooze up by the fence line), before coming out at a minor road.

This is followed until it splits off to the right - and here we turn right, and head round to a cluster of houses that sit above the Blacka Burn.

Looking out across Wark Common

A split in the road

At Lowstead, the Pennine Way passes around a cottage (with a very excellent garden) - and here I find a candidate for my dream home - on a National Trail, with a bit of land, and yet without too many people walking by (it's just a shame that this area is also a massive bog).

And whilst the cottage's dog isn't too sure about me (it was still friendly), the home owners have kept the path round mown - and rather than hide themselves away from the trail, they have almost integrated it into their garden (with a sign by some benches telling you where the water tap is).

And it's a very friendly approach, that makes you feel very welcome as a walker.

But after this very brief flirtation with civilisation, it is back on into the wilderness - heading across fields once again to Leadgate - where we not only encounter a cluster of farms, but also a surprising number of walkers that look to be doing the trail in full.

A horse

Here, whilst we only pass four apparent through hikers, this is a personal record for this trail - with the Pennine Way not being a particularly popular trail.

Part of this is probably due to the hills - but most of this is due to the endless soggy ground, that eats away at your feet - even with the best boots on. 

I myself, only do it in sections - and whilst it is an amazing walk in terms of views - those that have made it this far in one go deserve a lot of praise.

But we soon leave these farms behind (and soon stop having other walkers pass by), as we head down (and back up) the valley of Warks Burn - and on across Broadpool Common, towards Wark Forest.

Heading across Broadpool Common

In the brochures, Northumberland National Park is convincingly sold to you as "the most northerly, most remote from large urban areas, least visited and least populated" National Park (quite an advert) - but it is worth remembering that it also has a lot of trees.

And whilst there are different named forests on the map (with Wark Forest lying ahead on our path), these form part of the wider Kielder Forest complex (with Kielder Forest itself also being it's own part of that Kielder Forest complex).

And this larger Kielder Forest complex is the largest man-made woodland in England - with about 190 square miles of trees (with three quarters of a 250 square miles area being forested) - and it was first built out in the 1920s, replacing the open moorland that had previously covered this area with managed trees.

Here coniferous trees dominate the landscape - with these trees particularly liking the damp conditions offered up by this part of the world.

But whilst this area produces a lot of timber, it also has a surprising amount of wildlife for a managed forest - with 50% of England's red squirrels calling the forest home, along with a number of Ospreys.

And potentially it is a candidate for lynx reintroduction - with the hope that they can help manage the deer population of this forest more effectively.

And soon, we find ourselves entering this forest, with over half the remaining distance to Hadrian's Wall now set to be done in this forest.

Wark Forest

This first phase of our route through this forest takes us across a fairly open section of the forest - passing farms at Ladyhill and Willowbog along the way.

But after these, we pass through a wider section of forest - and here we get a reminder that these are both managed forest, and part of the Pennines - with a wet and boggy trip across what was forest, but is now cut trunks.

This forest has less trees than I expected

Soon we make it on to a section that is now populated with younger trees, before then passing through the next section, which contains more mature trees - and so the cycle goes on.

Newly planted trees (behind the smaller trees, and backed by mature trees)

But soon this 'forest' comes to an end, as we get ready to head out over open moorland.

Back into open moorland

This next phase of walking will be very familiar to walkers along the Pennine Way - as it is boggy, soggy, and hard to get across without getting wet.

Today I have opted for lighter summer shoes, and so these are very quickly wet through (although they will at least dry quickly if the sun comes out) - but even walking boots will struggle through some of the deeper sections of water.

But before long, we find ourselves at the end of this moorland section of walking, and get ready to head back into the 'forest'.

Far end of the boggy moorland

And back into the, um, 'forest'

Here we once again encounter a section of chopped trees, although here there are some sheep roaming this area who do provide a bit of interest - and this is our longest 'forested' section - that finishes off with some actual trees.

We now have trees - and views of Hadrian's Wall

Here we get our first sight of Hadrian's Wall - and walking north to south, we get to appreciate how big a statement Hadrian's Wall would have been to any potential raiders.

Up ahead of us, we have a series of hills - and then at the far end of those, we can see the line of the wall, up on the biggest ridge of them all.

And put simply - you just wouldn't bother attacking the wall here.

But fortunately we don't have to do any attacking today, and so leave behind the forest, and start our journey across that line of hills in front of the wall.

Leaving the forest

Approaching Greenlee Lough

On the way up to the plain in which Greenlee Lough sits, we clear a small ridge - but it is at the far end of this plain that the first major ridge can be found - and here there is the site of an old Roman Camp that used to sit above Greenlee Lough.

Near that camp lies a Bronze Age stone circle (think of a pile of rocks, not of something like Stonehenge), and a former Iron Age settlement - indicating a long period of habitation.

But it is the Lough itself that is perhaps the most interesting part of this area - with this not only being the largest natural freshwater lake in Northumberland (admittedly the bar is not particularly high), but also a nature reserve - due to it's abundant wildlife. 

And this wildlife not only includes rare plant life, but also pike, perch, roach, eels, native-crayfish and otters.

And for those interested in a walk from Hadrian's Wall from the Barbarian perspective - it would be easy to pop down from the wall along the Pennine Way, head out along to the lake along it's permissie path - and then return to the wall as a raiding Barabrian.

Following the Pennine Way, our path passes this lake, but only from afar - and instead our focus is on clearing the ridges that lie ahead.

The hills before the wall

Clearing the penultimate ridge

At Cragend we make our way up this penultimate ridge - and then as I crest the top of this ridge a group of cows do a good impression of a Roman scout cavalry - lining up on the hill to watch me pass.

Roman Scout Cavalry

But now it is time for the main event, as we hit a ridge that forms part of the Great Whin Sill (a large slab of Gritstone that helps make the Pennines the Pennines).

Quite an easy ridge to defend

Our climb up

Final stretch

But whilst it is quite a climb up to the line of the wall, in the end getting across it from the Barbarian lands into Roman Britain, proves quite straight-forward - with the choice of a style or gate (and here I think the Roman's could have been more strategic in their defences, and maybe not included the gate).

End of the Barbarian lands

Here the Pennine Way turns to the right and heads along the same route as the Hadrian's Wall Path - and that is a walk I have already done in the other direction walking from Haltwhistle to Bardon Mill.

And whilst much of the day has been either boggy, or fairly average countryside - but this final stretch closing in on the wall has been brilliant - and gives a whole new perspective on the wall to the one you get walking Hadrian's Wall Path. 

And having made it here there are a few choices as to where we go next (as we will no longer follow the Pennine Way).

We could turn left, and take the short walk to Housestead Roman Fort, where we can catch the bus to Hexham (the AD122 service) - or we can cover the relatively short amount of ground down to Bardon Mill (one of the closer villages to the wall).

And here I decide to stick with my plan to head to Bardon Mill - but first I decide to head up onto the ridge on my right, and enjoy the view for a bit.

The view from above looking east

Looking out towards the South Tyne valley

With this break over, it is back down off this hill - and then on down a permissive path that takes us to the road (to the south) - and there turn right to briefly follow this busy road - before a left turn takes us onto a quieter road.

On the quiet road

This quiet road winds round to a very slightly busier road (where I usually head over the ridge to Bardon Mill) - but today I fancy something a bit different, and so ahead of reaching the slightly busier road, I turn off onto a footpath that cuts across the fields (crossing the Stangate Roman Road along the way).

And here you get the first of a series of good views out towards Vindolanda.

First good view out towards Vindolanda

There are a number of cows in this field that are on alert, and wary of anyone getting close to their calves - but they don't overly mind my walking past once they are sure I'm not going to be an issue - and soon we return to that busier road - which we now follow.

This then takes us on along a ridge that passes above Vindolanda - and here we get the best views of this former Roman fort.

From one side (zoomed in a bit hence the blur)

From the far side (no zoom needed from here)

You can turn off here and visit Vindolanda - but the view from above is a particularly good vantage point.

And this fort was built to guard the Stanegate road (which we had recently crossed) - and that was the major road that used to run behind the wall, connecting up forts on a relatively (for Roman Road's) winding route, that sought to minimise the gradient of it's path.

The most notable part of the site (at least in my opinion) is the reconstructed section of wall - and this is what can be seen on the left of the photographs above - giving an idea of how the wall would have looked in reality.

But from here, our main focus is now on continuing round along the road, where - ahead of meeting up with the A69 - we turn off to the left on a footpath, that takes us round to Bardon Mill itself.

Bardon Mill 

Here we find the last remaining UK-based commercial producer of salt-glazed pottery (founded in 1878) - which is now based at the former wool mill (hence the village name).

And we head through this site and on to the train station - and our train home.

Total Distance: 16.0 miles (12.6 miles on the Pennine Way)

Total Ascent: 2,018 feet (1,870 feet on the Pennine Way)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

Overall it was an enjoyable walk that is probably worthy of a higher rating - but done again, I would not walk it from Bellingham, and would instead focus around Hadrian's Wall itself (skipping that boggy and not particular exceptional section down to the wall). As a result, it feels appropriate to give this walk starting from Bellingham a lower rating - whilst acknowledging that the area immediately before the wall is well worth a visit.

Click for the previous section of the Pennine Way (heading south to north) from Haltwistle to Bardon Mill (joining up with the Pennine Way at Kellah).

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 80 and 86 OS Landranger maps - while there is also a Pennine Way guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.