Pennine Way - Alston to Haltwhistle (★★★★☆)

Today I am heading back out to do another section of the Pennine Way - and today the plan is to walk from Alston to Haltwhistle, heading along the South Tyne valley.

My plan had originally been to walk this as part of a two-day walk - which would have started in Appleby-in-Westmorland and finished in Haltwhistle - but of late I have been favoring more frequent, but shorter, stretches of walking - and so today I am breaking this one up.

The consequence of this is that I will now end up walking the stretch between Alston and Appleby-in-Westmorland in reverse - but I don't see that as a particularly big issue.

Getting to Alston is fairly straight-forward - although it does require a very early start. And here I take the train out to Haltwhistle train station - before jumping on the 9:12 bus that heads on to Alston (and you can also use this bus to meet up with the Pennine Way at Greenhead when it is heading in the opposite direction).

Once out beyond Haltwhistle heading south, we move into an area of England that I have never been to before - but by now I am well aware of the fact that the North Pennines are a very underrated stretch of countryside - and one that I am keen to explore more of today.

And whilst it is initially a low key bus journey out - it isn't long before the bus is heading through very pretty valleys - and by the time we arrive at Alston, I'm very up for this walk.

Once in Alston, the bus drops me off outside the Texaco garage - which is handy in terms of getting a bit of extra food and drink - and then my route heads back down the road we came in from - and then down a track that takes me out across the fields.

Looking back across at Alston on the way out

Here our path takes us through sheep fields, before we past a house - on our way to meet up with the main road - which we cross over, before we start to climb up the ridge on the far side.

Along this stretch of the Pennine Way, the path (unusually) seems content to take a lower route along the valley - and without having climbed too far up the ridge, we turn and start walking along the ridge.

Before long, we dip down to cross over the Gilderdale Beck - and it is here that we get the best views of the day so far.

Looking up the beck

Looking down the beck

Crossing the beck on a footbridge

Once across the beck, we climb back up the far side of this valley - and here we meet up with the Maiden Way.

The Maiden Way is not a modern walking route, but an ancient one - and it is the former course of a Roman Road (not another one I hear you cry!).

In recent weeks we have passed a lot of Roman Roads and Roman Forts - but this is because there is a lot of overlap in the routes sought out by both the Romans and the modern day walker, as they navigate their way across the countryside.

This particular route connected modern day Kirkby Thore (just south of Langwathby along the Carlisle-Settle railway), with Greenhead (just off Hadrian's Wall near Thirwall Castle). 

This would not have been a major route - with the primary route being the much easier route up the Eden Valley to Carlisle - but up ahead we have Epiacum Roman Fort. And that fort was not just another fortification along the road, but also the site of lead and silver mines.

A map of the roads and forts in Roman times

It is believed that this road continued all the way down to Tebay (home to Britain's most popular motorway service station - and on the join between the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District).

And these days you can walk a stretch of Maiden Road on it's way to Kirkby Thore - as it passes over Melmerby Fell - but whilst this looks a particularly good stretch to walk along, the footpath looks to come to a bit of a halt as it reaches the A686 (though you may be able to walk out from Alston and join up using a minor road and a smaller section of the A686).

But in any case, that section of path covers a similar section of terrain to that we will pass when we pick up the section of the Pennine Way between Alston and Appleby-in-Westmorland.

And coming back to this walk - it is not a long trip across the sheep fields before we reach the site of Epiacum Roman Fort itself.

Site of the fort

The information board

A photo of the fort from the same side as the illustration

The fort itself (apparently) has a claim to fame as having the most complex earthworks of any Roman fort within the entire Roman Empire.

In 196 AD the fort is believed to have been demolished (at a time that coincides with an uprising of the northern Celtic tribes), and then later rebuilt - but it remained garrisoned until 400 AD (i.e. until the time when the Roman's started to leave Britain).

But we soon put this site behind us, and drop down to the main road below - and having crossed over this road, we start walking parallel to the South Tynedale Railway (still following the route of the old Roman Road).

This railway is a heritage line that runs between Slaggyford and Alston - along the route of the former Alston-Haltwhistle railway.

And whilst this belongs to a very different age to that Roman Fort, the two are tied by a common theme - and that is the theme of lead mining - with the railway having been built to transport material out of the lead mines near Alston.

The centre of that mining activity lay just to the east of Alston at Nenthead - and this was a village that was specifically built by the London Lead Company to support their mining operations.

Nenthead Mines, Source: North Pennines National Landscape

Those lead mines lie just off the Isaac's Tea Trail walking route - and here my interest might just have been piqued enough to add that trail to my (somewhat long) to-do-list.

But getting back to our walk today - we are now passing Kirkhaugh train station (a stop on that heritage line) - and the railway is here flanked by a walking trail.

There are people out walking this trail - and whilst this makes the route of the old railway line easy to spot, it does create a bit of a tortoise and hare situation - where whilst I am moving faster than those on the trail, but where they are taking the more direct route. 

And so we are largely moving across the countryside together - but with them having the much easier time of it.

But after a period of following this line, we drop down, and head under it - before making our way through the fields to the side of the South Tyne.

The South Tyne has it's source at Tyne Head (to the south of Alston) - with the South Tyne, Tees and Wear all having their source at the centre of the North Pennines.

More specifically, Burnhope Seat is the convergence point for these three river basins - with water flowing one way down the fell to the South Tyne, another way into the Tees, and another into the Wear.

And that upper section of North Pennine peatland should be appreciated for playing an important role slowing the flow of water down into the North East - whilst also filtering out a lot of sediment, before the water heads downstream.

Across the fields

To the South Tyne

By this point, we are enjoying a stroll alongside the river - before we cut up to walk along the A689 (it is a main road, but drops to a 30 mph limit shortly after you join it - and this is a local main road with only so much traffic).

This road takes us up to Slaggyford, where we turn to the left - and climb up a small hill, until we almost reach the former route of the railway line again.

Passing through Slaggyford

By this point we have reached the end of the heritage line (which runs from Alston to Slaggyford - but with a goal of reaching the main train network at Haltwhistle) - and our route takes us along a track that runs parallel to the old railway line.

From here we drop down to cross over the Knar Burn (whilst the railway heads across a viaduct overhead) - and then we head through some fields, and cut underneath the old route of the railway.

Once on the far side we continue to head out along the fields, as we cut up towards Knarsdale Hall.

Out across the fields

Thinhope Burn

The railway viaduct over Thinthorpe Burn

We cross over Thinthorpe Burn by Knarsdale Hall - and here we join back up with the former route of the Maiden Wa - as we head past the hall, and climb up onto the ridge above. 

Once again, we only go so far up the ridge - and whilst the fell peaks at 475 meters, we only reach as high as 250 meters (peaking at around 300 meters further along the trail).

The landscape here isn't exactly overwhelmed with walking routes - and indeed the only proper route I can see on the map to cross the expanse to the west would have been to head up the road we crossed ahead of Knarsdale Hall. This road later turns into a track, which should in theory take you over the top of this ridge to Armathwaite (on the Carlisle-Settle railway).

The area at the top is Open Access land, and so it is permitted to keep going up the track we are currently following - and that would take us up to the top of Glendue Fell before it came to a halt.

Heading up on the track

But soon our route heads off this track - and here we are crossing boggy terrain, that involves quite a lot of squelching underfoot - and leaping over deeper sections of standing water.

Across the boggy terrain

As we continue, three would appear to be evidence of the old road underfoot - although I suspect a lot of the evidence currently sits in the dry stone wall that we are also following.

But it is a quiet section of walking - as we continue to head along this ridge (and indeed the only walkers I spot across the entire day prove to be those following the old railway line, with no one else out on the Pennine Way)

Eventually we make it round to the far side of Hartleyburn Common - and here the North Pennines start to come to an end - with a flatter slice of country lying ahead - broken only by the ridge on which Hadrian's Wall sits.

Here we drop off the ridge, and cross over the A689 once again - as we start to make our way towards Featherstone Common.

Dropping into flatter countryside

Although we are now crossing flatter countryside, we do still have a down and up to tick off - as we cross over Hartley Burn - and having climbed back up on the far side, we make our way past Batey Shield to meet up with a minor road.

Looking back whilst climbing back up on the far side of Hartley Burn

At this minor road, we reach the point I previously walked to from Haltwhistle (whilst completing the next section of the Pennine Way across Featherstone Common) - and so here we turn off the trail, and start to follow the roads round towards Haltwhistle.

Last time I use the fields to connect Haltwhistle and the Pennine Way - but this time I am content just to follow the roads round (which are very quiet) to Park Burnfoot.

Walking over Featherstone Bridge on the way to Park Burnfoot

From Park Burnfoot we can pick up a footpath that forms part of the River Tyne Trail - and this takes us down the South Tyne, until we reach Haltwhistle.

By the side of the South Tyne again

Here at Haltwhistle we have an easy crossing over the river and into the station - where we stop off to wait for the train home.

Total Distance: 16.1 miles (11.9 miles on the Pennine Way)

Total Ascent: 1,900 feet (1,565 feet on the Pennine Way)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

It's not a classic hill-climbing stage of the Pennine Way, but it is an enjoyable walk through some nice countryside. And if you can get to Haltwhistle fairly easily, it is a fairly easy day-walk (using the bus out from Haltwhistle).

Click for the next section of the Pennine Way (heading north) from Haltwhistle to Bardon Mill (much of which goes along Hadrian's Wall).

Click for additional writeups of walks to/from Haltwhistle along Hadrian's Wall, including a walk from Bowness to Haltwhistle and from Haltwhistle to Hexham.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 86 OS Landranger map - while there is also a Pennine Way guidebook which includes OS mapping (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked, and in sections where different trails overlap the finger posts are much easier to use than the map