Knowesgate to Rothbury

The Knowesgate Inn (at the time also known as the Countryside Express Hotel) is not exactly the poshest place we have ever stayed; from the outside it looks really tatty and they still have some problems (most notably when we were staying, there was plenty of hot water in the evening but absolutely none in the morning). However the staff are incredibly friendly and they are trying really hard; if you want a no frills stay almost right on the route of the St Oswald's Way, stay here while you can. I'm not aware of any other accommodation in the Kirkwhelpington area. [Note from 2020: recent reviews indicate that this is now definitely a place to avoid, so I'm not sure where to suggest you stay. Sorry!]

The same elderly man who cooked dinner last night provided a pleasant enough cooked breakfast for us and the other two couples who were staying; in fact this morning he seemed to be in sole charge, so it was him we paid. We left around 9 am and were very quickly back on the route of St Oswald's Way, crossing more fields of grazing sheep, with lovely views in all directions. We were running parallel with the partly built wind farm, but this area has much older history too; close to the ancient settlement of Camp Hill, we found ourselves crossing what looked like a ridge and furrow landscape.

We passed through the farmyard of Catcherside Cottage, then followed a track heading almost exactly due north, past Stockcrag Plantation and Catcherside Plantation, then we cut through the narrow strip of Catcherside North Plantation, to be greeted by a new vista and a bog! We turned right and squelched our way along for a kilometre or so, past some grazing white horses and Fairnley Plantation. In our not very humble opinion, forests, woods, plantations and other patches of trees are not terribly useful landmarks for map reading because sometimes they have been cut down since the OS last properly surveyed the area (often rather longer ago than the copyright date on a map!), sometimes new trees have been planted, and sometimes what appears like notable woodland on the ground has been ignored by the OS, perhaps because it is deemed to be a row of trees rather than a wood. Fairnley Plantation fell into the first category.

We were heading generally to the north, so it was slightly puzzling that both map and sign indicated a turn to the right (south) just before Green Hill. It seems that this was to get us on a track with a bridge across Hart Burn; we climbed slightly then cut across a field of sheep, causing much fuss, then we descended over the burn and slightly up the other side. We crossed a field boundary and headed diagonally across the field towards a road; we weren't at all sure what angle to take so wandered about a bit before seeing the stile in the distance.

After a short walk along the road we turned right into Harwood Forest. Disappointingly, we were still on a road, leading to Harwood, where we passed first Harwood Health Spa and then some ordinary houses. What an amazing place to live. From Harwood the road became a hard stony Forestry Commission track, not exactly my favourite walking surface, but it did enable us to make rapid progress. We stopped for a break sitting on some sleepers which had been left in a clearing. Remarkably comfortable!

At the end of the long straight section of track, the map shows the route doing a wiggle through the trees. In fact at this stage we just took a right hand turn onto a more minor track, but it was pleasant enough, with orchids by the side of the track. We emerged into a clearing, with grazing cattle; Redpath appears to be just one house, and it is possibly no longer lived in, but it made for attractive photos. Here we did head off onto a footpath through the forest. It was distinctly squishy underfoot in places, and there were ascents and descents, over Jacky's Knowe then down to Fallowlees Burn, but it was forest walking at its best.

My sense of direction then rather let me down. We were sometimes on paths through little baby Christmas trees (of a variety of types, but my tree identification also let me down), and sometimes on paths through bigger trees. Then we emerged onto a forest track; Richard was happy enough but I felt as if we were heading in the wrong direction! We took another path through the trees which climbed, and suddenly there we were at the apex of the forest, Coquet Cairn (which really is a cairn) and views to the Simonside Hills. We hadn't seen any other walkers all day, but a man with a dog appeared out of the forest behind us, and the dog expertly trotted up the ladder stile and down the other side. Man and dog sat down by the cairn whilst we continued across the open moorland, heading to the east (right) of Simonside itself. The route was marked with footpath signs, but we didn't see a St Oswald's Way sign until we were down in a wooded valley crossing the stream by Whelp Law, which was somewhat worrying up to this point. However having seen the sign on the footbridge, we felt more confident.

We continued to climb on a track across the moor, stopping for a rest on some well-placed boulders. Man and dog passed us, and we didn't catch up with them again. We climbed over a pass to the east of Simonside, then descended steeply to a car park. There was another short climb to a little ridge, with heather just coming into flower, and from here there were excellent views to Rothbury, with a wooded area to the east - this is where Cragside is. We could also see a tower of some sort rather closer to us, which according to the map was "Sharpe's Folly"

From here it was downhill all the way! We were not in a rush to get to Rothbury because the owner of the B&B had said that she would be out, clearing her mother's house, until 5pm (the arrival time we had estimated a couple of days ago). We descended via Whittondean and Hillhead Road and as we approached Sharpe's Folly we noticed that it was at one end of a caravan park. However, a board describing its history told us that as well as being the oldest folly in Northumberland, it was perhaps rather more useful than the term "folly" would imply: Thomas Sharp was son of the Archbishop of York and Rector of Rothbury from 1720-58. He was something of an eccentric, but he hit upon the idea of building the structure as a sort of job-creation scheme for the unemployed of the parish. Furthermore, after its construction, Revd Sharp used the tower for his astronomical interests.

We walked through Whitton, with some distinctly des res houses, then down to the road bridge which crosses the River Coquet into Rothbury. Last time we were here the bridge was being renovated, and now it looked suitably pristine. Just as we crossed the bridge it started to rain, but it didn't come to much, and we were happy to sit for 15 minutes or so on the attractive green in Rothbury until it was close enough to 5 pm to arrive at Katerina's Guest House. We are very fond of Rothbury, though our opinion was slightly soured on our last visit when we were in a car and wanting petrol, and discovered that it doesn't have a petrol station. However it has lots of shops and it is very pretty. Cath and Ian welcomed us warmly to Katerina's Guest House. Cath had indeed just got back from clearing her mother's house, but she still cooked us a delicious meal in the evening, and Ian was waiter and in charge of the wine and the cheese. They are a lovely couple and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

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