A-Walking: Fir Tree to Wolsingham via Salter's Gate

Our three walks on Sunday, 27th October, each took place in the Weardale area of County Durham. The A-Walk set off from near Fir Tree while both the B-Walk and C-Walk each started at Tow Law. All of the walks finished in Wolsingham. We set off in very inclement weather conditions - lots of heavy rain and very strong winds. Apart from odd breaks in the prevailing weather, these conditions stayed with us throughout the day.
 
The A-Walk was led by Phil Barker - pictured below. There were five walkers in the group the distance covered was 15.4 miles. Although the weather was bad, we still had some spectacular views.
From our drop-off location on the A68 road, just west of Fir Tree, we located a public footpath at {NZ 134 350} that took us in a south-westerly direction to Black Hall and the Weardale Way. Following this in a northerly direction, we passed through Low Harperley, Eels Bridge and Old Park - where we left the Weardale Way. At this point we headed north to the small village of Thornley. After passing through the village we took a westerly bearing that took us to Snipe Gate and Greenwell Hill. Continuing in a north-westerly direction along the high-ground, we made our way to the B6296 road at {NZ 088 381} near Redgate Head. From here we made our way to Castle Hills and stopped just afterwards for a short lunch-stop at {NZ 087 391}.
 
After lunch we made our way north to Redmires and continued over Wolsingham North Moor thereby making our way to the dismantled railway track at {NZ 098 409} near Greenfield Cottage. We then followed a north-westerly bearing in order to reach Salter's Gate. From here we made our way in a southerly direction to a point just south of Nine Acre Plantation {NZ 075 408} where we took a westerly-going path. This took us on a nice down-hill trek to reach the dam wall at Tunstall Reservoir {NZ 063 407}. We stopped here for a short tea-break.
 
Leaving the tea-stop location on a south-westerly bearing, we navigated a route to High Jofless and the old ruined building at Park Wall. From here we had a steady down-hill trek in a south-easterly direction in order to reach our destination in Wolsingham.
 
Many thanks to Phil for leading a splendid walk.
 
A selection of some of the photos that we took during today's walking expedition can be seen by clicking on the pink button below:
 

Credits:
Many thanks to Jane Thompson and Phil Barker for taking the photographs.
 

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