After a good night’s sleep we left Winton House via the Market Place to purchase sandwiches from the bakery for our picnic lunch. Wooler has a very traditional High Street, with lots of old buildings perched above the river, Wooler Water. Patchwork farm fields bordered by hawthorn and beech hedgerows and gorse bushes now dominated the landscape. We reached Chillingham around 10:30, although the castle was closed (it would require a scheduled rest day here to visit the castle while walking the Reivers Way). St. Peter’s Church, dating from the 12th century, was well worth a visit. This morning’s route was mostly on quiet lanes and farm tracks, with attractive views of rolling countryside planted in grazing grass, barley (we think!), and rape. The route leaves Chillingham by a long straight track, referred to as “The Drive,” which was constructed in 1872 for a visit to the castle by the Prince of Wales. Before reaching the farm at Shiel Hope, we were surprised along the lane by a loud humming sound; it turned out to be more than two dozen beehives, placed directly in the middle of the track! We had no desire to test our luck, so climbed a fence and suffered no serious setback, as we were able to keep to the end of the field and rejoin the track past the hives.

We found an attractive spot overlooking Chatton for our “elevenses,” then walked on to Warenford in the hope of a pub lunch. However, the pub was closed for midday meals, so we settled for our sandwiches along the quiet road through Warenford, and then walked on to Lucker for a cold drink at the Apple Inn. From Lucker it was an easy 4 mile walk into Bamburgh, although all of the day’s road walking was hard on our feet, which were already tired from three long days. Bamburgh Castle dominates the landscape, perched as it is on a massive rock directly above the attractive town. After a brief rest at our very comfortable B&B, Hillside, we walked around Bamburgh, had ice creams, and took the footpath around the base of the castle—finally meeting the sea! We had an excellent evening meal at Blacketts, then returned to the B&B for a taste of single malt while watching a program commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hilary’s and Tensing’s ascent of Everest.

Rolling farmland outside of Wooler, looking north

View back to Wooler

Final glimpse of the Cheviots!

Wildflowers on the path near Newtown

Fields of barley(?) near Chillingham

Rape is another common field crop in Northumberland

The road into Chillingham

The main gates of Chillingham Castle

Lovely old oak across the road from the castle

St. Peter's Church, Chillingham

Views north from Amersidelaw Hill

Panorama from our lunch spot, looking north to Chatton (click on image for larger version)

Bluebells near Shielhope Farm

Chatton Moor

The road to Lucker

Pasture near Bamburgh

Bamburgh Castle dominates the town

We finally reach the sea at Bamburgh!

Panorama of Bamburgh Castle

on to Day 10
back to Day 8
return to Introduction

Write to us:  (gowalk@pacbell.net)