Consett and Sunderland Railway Path – May 2022

30th May – Day 1

On a pretty wet day, I left Ushaw Moor and headed along the Lanchester Valley Way, going through Bearpark, Langley Park and the village of Lanchester. Beyond Lanchester things got a little bit wilder and the drop down to Knitsley lead into clear pastures. The landscape soon changed to be a little more industrial towards the outskirts of Consett, and the rain set in a little more. With further climbing the Lanchester Valley Railway Path (14) intersects with the Consett and Sunderland Railway Path (7) and heads back into Consett town more.

I decided to try and hike and camp the 24 mile route in 2 days. More detail on the route can be found here.

Passing the Templetown Monument and then I followed the path, alongside the A692, crossing several times. Eventually you pass through some urbanised areas, playing fields and into Leadgate. At this point I was low on water and hadn’t taken advantage of the streams nearby. To be honest, there wasn’t really any easy access to fresh running water for most of the route. I popped into a Co-op and bought a bottle of water to keep me going until I found a stream to filter water from.

Coming out of Leadgate it was starting to get dusk, so I started looking for a suitable stealth camp spot. I eventually found a small piece of waste land, opposite a church yard. I setup a tarp and put my sleep mat, air mat and sleeping bag into a bivvy bag and made a meal of pasta and sauce. By this time it was about 9pm so I decided to get some sleep ready to start again tomorrow.

31st May – Day 2

Early start at around 5am to make sure I was packed away and left no trace of my camp. Following back onto the Consett and Sunderland Railway Path, towards Annfield Plain, the sun was starting to come up and there was mist in the valley below. Passing a lovely fishing pond there was a bit of an issue with waste collection. The bin was overflowing. Luckily I always take all my rubbish with me and dispose of it at home. The route took me further into Annfield Plain and they the Kyo Bogs Nature Reserve before dropping down and heading towards Stanley.

It started to rain. Once through the semi-urban space of Stanley in-between peoples back gardens. I got to a delightfully named “Hell Hole Wood”. There was serious consideration for a possible camp spot there in the future, but it was pretty steep. Following Hell Hole Wood, there was a small stream that I didn’t fill up at. (Note to self: Always fill up where you can!) and I stopped for a snack break at the picnic benches near Beamish Open Air Museum. It continued to rain more. My boots were starting to let in water as they hadn’t been adequately waterproofed. I’ve not got a Fabsil spray that I need to apply.

Leaving Beamish it felt like the path was heading down to the sea, psychologically this was helpful as the pain of the rubbing boots and blisters was growing. To be honest, the section around Pelaw, South Pelton and into Rickleton are all a bit of a blur due to the discomfort, but I rested in an underpass of the A1M and got out the rain for a while. I tried to swap socks but it didn’t seem to make much difference as the blisters were starting to impact how well I could step on my feet. After walking on a few more meters and decided to call it a day.

I left the path, found a sheltered bus stop and phoned for a lift home. The adventure was over.