The North Pennines - The Weardale Way

With large areas of Open Access land being restricted I decided to hike along The Weardale Way, a long distance footpath running from Wearhead to Sunderland. I start by catching a bus from Eastgate to Wearhead before retracing my route back to Eastgate viewing some gorgeous scenery along the way, complete with small surprises around every corner...
Total Distance covered :- 11.1 miles (17.9km)
Summits achieved :- None
0:00 Intro
0:26 Start at Wearhead
1:48 West Blackdene
2:38 Coronation Bridge
4:28 Westgate
4:50 The Ascent
6:30 The Descent Into Rookhope Valley
7:55 Rookhope Village
8:45 Hiking Into Paradise
9:35 Summary Of Todays Hike

[@Lighting_Desk]

Absolutely dreamy. I need to get my life in check and get back out walking and exploring!

[@DuncanBaxter]

You do, it is so much better both physically and mentally, more positive than sitting in the house, even round the local park is a good place to start 😊

[@TheRanch4Life]

Thank you for capturing and sharing what I like to call my back yard. Family down south always talk about the Yorkshire Dales but ours is just as stunning but without the tourists haha

[@DuncanBaxter]

Exactly, the Yorkshire Dales is stunning in it's own right but as you say the North Pennines wins hands down for total serenity and solitude 😊

[@mrmrH21]

Hi Duncan. I’m glad I suggested the walk and you went for it. You looked really happy and after seeing you suffer some bad luck with the weather recently, Its great the walk got a deserved sunny day. Even got a Daddry Shield shout out from you. Saw you that day getting out of your car at the Cross keys, but wasn’t sure you would appreciate a random car pulling up to say hello. Keep up the good work.

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks, you should've popped over to say hello as I'm never too busy to talk, was very fortunate with the weather and the route, some truly stunning scenery was viewed that day and thank you for suggesting the route to me, atb

[@CraigKoppel]

Beautiful scenery. I love the open fields and stone walls. I liked and subscribed. Hopefully, we can keep this going. Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks for the subscription, there are a lot of open fields, moorland, walls and fences in the North Pennines, have already done a few videos on the area and have a lot more planned 😊

[@danexitsstreetview3273]

Like the look of this walk Duncan. Especially liked the falls and woodland you passed by and through. Cheers.

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks, it made a nice change from the wide open hills and mountains I am normally used to, that woodland was something else though didn't realise it was so idyllic!

[@jimmy.mccutcheon.1961]

Nice one Duncan 👍

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks, really enjoyed doing this one, a perfect combination of weather and landscape 😊

[@TheWrightLifeTravelChannel]

This was a stunning walk!!!

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks, thoroughly enjoyed doing this hike with gorgeous scenery and weather all rolled into one, just one of many in this gorgeous area (and found in my other videos...😉)

[@tonypaddler]

A great video of an area that I know very well. Thanks Duncan.
Why are there large areas of Open Access land being restricted?
Cheers 👍

[@DuncanBaxter]

Hi, it's part of the CROW Act, landowners can close Open Access land for 28 days of the year which most do in the North Pennines around May-June time to protect ground nesting birds etc. I have done a video on it which is here
m.czcams.com/video/293FFEiFYvI/video.html

[@colinwatkins2950]

great walk duncan,me and my brother have walked that bit from rookhope to eastgate were you crossed that wooden bridge.while on that route there is an old ruin building among the trees do you know what it is because i dont thanks for the memories again duncan.

[@DuncanBaxter]

Hi, thoroughly enjoyed doing this one, I know exactly the building you mean, it's almost like an old church in ruins but my hunch is an old mine pump house or something similar. Nothing shows up on any maps etc, I will have to do some research 😊

[@peakfreak01]

That looks a stunner Ducan. Do you have a route you can share pal?

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks, I do get asked quite a lot about sharing my routes etc, I can export GPX files etc but I am having difficulty finding somewhere to host the files, I am researching it though 😊

[@mkbasketballclub2530]

Hi, how long did it take you to do this hike? Where did you park and how did you know which way to go?

[@DuncanBaxter]

Hi, it took me just under 6 hrs to do the full route which is quite short by my standards. I knew I was doing the Weardale Way, knew the start point (Wearhead) and just plotted along the route till I got to approximately 12 miles which happened to be near Eastgate so parked there. Checked online for bus timetable for the bus from Eastgate-Wearhead (it was £1.90 btw) and took it away from there.

[@kevinwilde]

canny crack you take care marra.

[@DuncanBaxter]

Thanks 😊