The Source to Alston Drops Suddenly Into the South Tyne Valley
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sections with easy going access going easy with sections globe footpaths, quiet r quiet footpaths, oads and cycleways and oads 1 35flowers 7 At Dorthgill Falls, the moorland stream Tynehead meadows are a Like many other places, Ash Gill had mines. Close to Ashgill [email protected] The Source to Alston drops suddenly into the South Tyne Valley. riot of yellow in the spring: Force you can see a mine entrance, or ‘level’, remains of storage 561601 01228 tel: 8RR CA4 Carlisle, This is an idyllic spot, with the waterfall early on come the bays and a water race but these are disappearing rapidly due to Bridge, Warwick Mill, Warwick 9¹⁄₂ miles 15.5 km approx. Project Countryside Cumbria East curlews framed by a cluster of pines. kingcups and buttercups thoughtless dismantling. 2004 c then the rare globe O On the hill above The Source is a South Tyne gorge, Windshaw flowers can be seen. rocky limestone plain. Here the In spring and summer the wildflowers Later come the purple In the river bed, close to the rain percolates down into limestone are stunning: purple lousewort and meadow cranesbill footbridge, cockle fossils may be caverns before trickling to its orchids abound, yellow splashes of and many other seen like white horse shoes birthplace. Until 2002, The Source pimpernel and tormentil, then, meadow flowers. trotting over the dark limestone. was marked only by an old fence lower down, jewels of mountain post and was easily missed. The pansy and bird’s-eye primrose. from: funding massive sculpture by Gilbert Ward At the foot of Ash Gill, the South The insect-eating butterwort ECCP and Danby Simon Corbett, Val should remedy that. Look tall Tyne is running in a deep, rocky lurks in the damp spots. by: photographs through the slot in the stone and If you are walking in gorge. Take a careful look over: you can see the birth of the South winter – come back again! mountain this is a magical, shady world of Tyne as it flows from the labyrinths. pansy kingcups ferns, channels and rock pools. Association Ramblers Hexham Ashgill Force Sustrans Raise your eyes with respect – the early purple Most of the river’s journey from Celts believed that the eye of a orchid The heavy metals that contaminate this area here to Garrigill is in this Society Preservation Railway river was the eye of God. naturally, as well as in the spoil-heaps, have an Following the river, it is easy to see the alternating bands of netherworld. Occasionally it Tynedale South unexpected benefit - they cause a sparse grass limestone, sandstone and shale, formed over the millennia, that comes up for air, then drops Buchanan Peter late the sward that allows less aggressive species of typify the area. These bands, laid down when the whole area back down again. Sayer Maureen Far from the Tyne’s scaffold of metal-tolerant flowers to come in. The heavy was covered by a tropical ocean, helped shape the landscape. Carrick, Mrs and Mr bridges, this is a wild and lonely metal areas and the alternating bands of Their erosion caused captivating waterfalls and scarp-sloped hills. by: given support the landscape. In spring, the haunting limestone create conditions that make the Can you imagine how it looked when the whole area was Take care, especially with acknowledge to like would We The Source by Gilbert Ward bird’s-eye children, close to the edge call of curlew and golden plover upper South Tyne Valley outstanding for its covered by a tropical ocean? Keep a sharp eye and you may see Council County Northumberland primrose where the ground may be slippery. echoes round this stony street. Many other birds own these sheer numbers and diversity of wildflowers. the fossils of tropical crinoids (sea lilies) or giant cockles in the with partnership in Project Countryside Cumbria East moors - merlin, peregrine, black grouse and dunlin are but some limestone bands. by: produced been has leaflet this of the notable species that are conserved here in the s ops and machinery alone machinery and ops At Windshaw Bridge, there is a good view of the gorge cr livestock, Leave Moorhouse Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The area also The cluster of derelict buildings and earthworks s downstream as the river drops into one of its surprise pools. workings mine around care Take has international designations for geological and botanical in the valley bottom is Sir John’s Mine. This Near Waterfall Cottage the London Lead Company had a tree In no time at all the river-bed can disappear from the gentle sheep are there where importance as well as for birds. mine was worked until 1941, bringing out iron nursery (the mining companies produced their own wood). You s ol especially especially ol sulphide, marcasite and other minerals from can see typical species which were planted for timber shallows into potholes 3m deep. The awesome power of the contr close under dogs your Keep s The Great Sulphur Vein. production: Norway spruce, Scots pine and winter river can be guessed by the height of the flotsam on home litter your Take s European larch. the branches. open you that gates all Fasten s Use gates and stiles to cross fences, hedges and walls and hedges fences, cross to stiles and gates Use Garrigill is a good watering hole. landscape and the Pennine weather Pennine the and landscape At Ash Gill, turn up the valley to see Close to the bridge, the lean and . to Haltwhistle to Ashgill Force - a stunning waterfall. thirsty can find the only cast iron working this respect please visit your enjoy To The Source via Alston Alston via Source The In autumn or winter you may see this fall street spout that the water company refreshed! spiritually in its full glory, hurling millions of tonnes of cycle walk from or your jour your forgot to cut off. Toilets are but tired pleasantly you leaves ney peat-brown water over its crest. opposite the spout and there is a hope We dales. and hills Pennine the exploring In summer, you can more easily walk children’s play ground to the rear. behind the sheet of water and be The village shop is a small general cyclists and walkers all to welcome warm A mesmerised by the dancing faeries. store cum post office which serves tea and coffee to take out. In summer ‘Force’ is a common word the George and Dragon (tel: 01434 for waterfall in the North 381293) serves food and drink most Pennines: it comes from lunch times and evenings (closed the in oof paper oof the Norse ‘fors’. Tuesday lunchtime). Children and Walking disused level Tynehead bugle £2 dogs are welcome. waterpr Falls at Ashgill George and Dragon, Garrigill WELCOME TO THE SOUTH TYNE TRAIL 246 89 The North Pennines are a designated Area of Outstanding Natural The track leading past Tynehead is the old pre-turnpike road Just look at the road bridge! The engineer had a sense of soul Pick up the Trail again at the north end of the village. Out of Just before Alston you reach Firs Wood. Like others in the Beauty (AONB) but this landscape is special not just for its natural from Alston to Middleton. Until the early 19th century, most of and vision. Unfortunately, he had less luck in the practical sight from the Trail, close to the footbridge at river-bed level, is valley, this wood was devastated by Dutch elm disease in THIS 22³⁄₄ MILE (36.5 KM) WALKING AND CYCLING features: it has been a hotbed of mining industry for centuries - the roads from Alston were in very poor condition and many department, as the bridge collapsed in the final stages of Tyne Bottom Mine. This is a subterranean SSSI, noted for a range the 1980s and is now growing up once more with a young ROUTE is set in the North Pennine hills. indeed the track you stand on was probably a mine road. were pack-horse routes only. The pack-horse drivers, or ‘jagger construction and had to be of mineral deposits, particularly ‘erythrite’. generation of replacements. From wild moorland with the wind in your hair, to Up or down the road you will see the greening wrinkles of men’, had control over much of the economy of the area and rebuilt around 1920. Blackburn riverside meadows with the sun on your face, it is a Bridge mineral spoil or decaying gantries of timber - silent now, but were regarded by some as extortionists, forcing prices up. Leadgate LSTON is excellent for journey of great contrasts. symbols of this area’s life-blood until the 20th century. Many Because of this and the impracticability of hauling lead out by Howburn A Alston is something of a North Pennines metropolis. It is an cafes, pubs, shops and miners farmed too and sculpted these hills and dales with pack-horse, the lead companies commissioned the eminent attractive small town, with cobbled streets and is said to be accommodation which THE ROUTE flows with the river, from The Source endless miles of walls, or ‘dykes’, using skills perfected on engineer, John MacAdam, to design and build new carriage the Highest Market Town in England. It is many years since includes a youth hostel. downstream to Haltwhistle where transport links are underground passages. roads. Some of the original routes are now evocative green it had a market but the Market Cross remains, despite good. Walkers or cyclists may choose to reverse tracks across the moors, haunted by the jingling bells of the determined efforts at demolition by runaway vehicles.