Wednesday 3rd March 2010

Walk Rookhope – 10 Miles

It is Wednesday, the weather forecast is good, that can only mean one thing, a walk is on the cards.


Peter is out of action, recovering from his hernia operation, but myself and Phil are joined by Jimmy Fairweather, a new comer to the world of retirement, but learning fast how to relax and enjoy.

We set off at 9:00, arriving at Rookhope at about 10:15. This is remote, there has been no mobile phone signal since Stanhope, and we do not get a signal again until we return to Stanhope.


By 10:30 we have the map marked up from Phil’s book of 100 walks in Durham and are booted up and ready to go.

From outside, yes outside, the Rookhope Inn, we head North and slightly west, up hill past High House Farm. The first surprise is the amount of snow on the ground, we were walking not far from here a fortnight ago, and at that time there was less snow on the ground than there is today.

I am sure there is a well marked track, there are occasional yellow way markers, but the snow has covered everything, so we head up the hill by a combination of guesswork, and following the footprints of another walker. Unfortunately, we do not know if the are taking the same route we are!

Despite the amount of snow on the ground, the sun is shining, the air is crisp and clear, the views are absolutely incredible.

So far so good, just as the book says we will, we come to a waymaking post at a point where the path diverges into three possible routes, we take the rightmost track, continuing up hill until we eventually come to the crest of the hill.

The going gets slightly easier now as we walk along the contour.

Eventually we emerge onto a minor road.

Having managed to make our way through quite deep snow with little problem, Phil promptly falls flat on his back on joining the tarmac road it is so icy. He is unhurt, his packed lunch having broken his fall, not so sure about the packed lunch however.

We head along the road, more or less North, for about a mile.

It is totally peaceful, the silence only broken by the Black Grouse breaking cover and flying off as we approach.

The road has been ploughed clear for the most part, but still has a covering of packed snow and ice in some places.

We see a grand total of three vehicles, and a mechanical digger, which is clearing the snow.

Eventually we come to a public footpath sign, which points us South West at an angle of about 45degrees to the road we have been walking along. Althouth there is a sign to indicate a footpath, as you can see, no one else has ventured this way, and the path is obliterated by snow.

The guide book actually gives us a compass heading to follow, and Jimmy has a compass. We have a brief discussion on the feasability of continuing. Naturally we decide it is feasable.

We follow our compass bearing across the snow, climbing slowly over the summit of Cuthberts Hill. Eventually we come to a well marked track, where someone, presumably a farmer has driven  a small tracked vehicle. The track follows a fence which is marked on the map, and makes walking much easier.

After following the fence for a mile or so (a bit vague on the distances, we do not have Peter here to read the distances off on his watch), we decide to stop for lunch.

There are no convenient seats to sit on, so we place our seat pads on the snow, use the fence posts as back rests, and eat our lunch, looking out over this view.

After lunch, we continue on following the fence now, rather than the track, since according to our reading of the map, it is the correct thing to do.

We come to a "trig point", the highest point on the walk at 561 metres, here is Phil, photographing our triumph.

We are in the right place, Ray Mears eat your heart out!

From this point, we must go down hill a little way, then follow the contours to a ridge, and then downhill to briefly rejoin the "main" Rookhope to Alston road.

There is no sign of the track, so we are again using a compass bearing from the book, and our gut instinct of where we think we should go.

We come to the ridge, and then we can see the road down below us.  We head for the road, and find we are just about spot on with where we should have rejoined the road, ie just beside the disused mine workings.

We think it is down to our superior navigation skills.

Now we must cross the road and join a track which runs along the northern bank of Rookhope Burn. This is level and easy walking. We come to a bridge beside a ruined farmhouse. The route now goes up the hill, bearing to the left and then follows a wall until we are above Wolf Cleugh Farm. 

The snow is really deep here and it is hard going walking up hill. Every few steps, you get a soft patch of snow and you sink in up to your knees, or if you are unlucky, lose your balance and end up spawled in the snow, much to the amusemant of your companions.

It is now 15:00, we stop for a break, sitting on the concrete cap of an old mine shaft. Phil has nuts and raisons to raise our energy level. Jimmy it emerges has chocolate, Joan (his wife) has given it up for Lent. Luckily for Jimmy and I, so has Phil, so we polish it off.

 Suitably re-energised we set off, but looking at the rough terrain ahead, common sense (for once), prevails, and we realise we do not have time (or probably the energy), to complete the planned route. We consult the map, and head down hill to rejoin the "main" road, and head to Rookhope.

Another really excellent walk, the book of 100 walks in Durham is proving to be a real winner.

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