Morpeth Loops

March 22, 2020

In The Midst Of A Global Pandemic,

Rachael and I decided to take advantage of the weather, and the new car, before Boris Johnson inevitably put the country on lockdown due to Coronavirus. Although, even at the time of writing, 1 daily form of exercise is still permitted with members of your household – there is no limitations on where or how long that form of exercise can last – so it would have been fine anyway 😎

Start/End

Parking

#1 - Oldgate Bridge

#2 - Skinnery Bridge

#3 - Monks Lodge

#4 - Woodhill Drive

#5 - Carlisle Park Entrance

#6 - Ha'Hill

#7 - Morpeth Castle

#8 - Bennett's Walk

Route Details

6km (2 hours)
Map OS Explorer 325
Parking Free for 3 hours (Parking Disc Required)

In the relative ghost town of Morpeth,

We arrived at the car park opposite 📌Morpeth Riverside Leisure Centre pleasantly surprised to find parking is free with a parking disc Monday through Saturday with no restrictions on a Sunday when we arrived.

After changing into our walking boots and wrapping up I immediately made a beeline for the Gelato stand which was to my delight, still trading! (reminder: this was pre-lockdown, please don’t report the ice-cream stand!)

As an exception to the rule, we took what was traditionally our mid-point selfie at the beginning. Giving me an ice-cream is one surefire way to get a semi-natural smile out of me – most of the time my selfie smile looks like a prisoner mugshot.

Confession – I forgot to take a mid-point selfie 😳

Once the ice-cream was devoured, we headed to the public loos for Rachael in Carlisle park only to find they were padlocked shut…

So instead we headed out to begin the walk in the direction of the 📌Morpeth Clock Tower which was constructed sometime between 1604 and 1634 out of recycled Medieval stone (thanks Wikipedia!).

Now flanked by a modern high street and shops and buildings, it looks a little out of place but still tells the correct time which is the most important thing.

After scouring the high street – thankfully ☕ Harry’s Coffee shop was open and had customer toilets and proper English Breakfast tea available.

Morpeth Loops Clocktower

Armed with an empty bladder and a hot beverage, Rachael was ready to head out and we walked past the Clock Tower towards the 📌Oldgate Bridge.

Empty supermarket shelves? Get your waders on and catch your fish supper!

From the bridge, we spotted two wading anglers making the most of the weather and possibly the lack of tourists.

We stopped for a moment to take stock of the view and beautiful houses that lined the River Wansbeck. A quick Google told me you’d need around £500,000 to consider one of these properties and so I swiftly told my wife to dream-on before heading down a short set of stairs to the riverside path.

Next stop – Bakehouse stepping stones!

Having spied the 📌Bakehouse stepping stones from the bridge and jokingly asked my wife whether she was brave enough.

Surprisingly game, she applied no hesitation in venturing out to pose with her cup of tea before wandering back to begin meandering around the Morpeth Loops.

Bakehouse Stepping Stones - Morpeth Loops

Rachael risks the rapids

Not long after setting off along the riverside, we saw a stoic doggo sitting in the river absolutely refusing to move until his owners threw him a stick or a ball.

🐶 ‘Pleaseeeee throw the ball!’👆

Seizing the opportunity, I took a photo of the proud canine much to the amusement of his owners. As we walked away, he was still sat proudly in the water, immovable and undeterred.

As we made our way further around the river, the path forward narrowed to a riverside path called Lady’s Walk originating at 📌Skinnery Footbridge.

The path was renovated in 2010 by the local council and carves straight through to the B6343 before we needed to take a sharp left, innocuously signposted for Mitford and Kirkhill.

The lady on Lady’s walk

Blink and you’ll miss it

Passing the dream home along the public footpath

Arcing around the public footpath towards the fields and hills described in our guide – we passed a couple of stunning homes – one of which houses the remains of Newminster Abbey. Monks Lodge particularly stood out to me as an example of my dream home with it’s large estate, rustic brickwork and detached double garage – a boy can dream.

After a few fields, hills, kissing gates and a housing estate – we ended up atop the familiar hill we drove into Morpeth from. As we descended towards Carlisle Park which marked the halfway point of the walk Rachael and I had a minor disagreement as to whether we should take the picturesque steps or the official route guidance of sticking to the main road.

Shortcut to Carlisle Park

Rachael coming to terms with me being right about the shortcut!

With nothing interesting to photograph from the previous 20 minutes of the walk (highlighted by no images from that portion here on this journal) I decided to be brave and take the steps knowing my wife would never let me live it down if the path lead to a dead end.

Luckily, today was my day and the steps led not only to a more interesting route to the park, but a shorter one. Success!

We stopped on a bench to quickly devour our packed lunch before heading out on the second half of the Morpeth Loops walk.

Deciding whether to go over or around Ha’Hill

Passing through Carlisle Park, we arrived at 📌Ha’Hill which I can only assume is Northumbrian slang for ‘High Hill’ which would make sense as upon asking Rachael whether she wanted to go up and over or around she immediately exclaimed ‘I’m not going over the top!’.

Forking to the left to take the less steep route around, we were greeted by a stunning view of Carlisle Park gardens opposite 📌Morpeth Court which I initially thought was a preserved historic building only to find out that in true 21st-century style, it’s been converted into luxury serviced apartments.

Once a jail (Gaol), now luxury serviced apartments…

Votes for Women!

Once historic gatehouse to Morpeth Castle, now a luxury retreat…

Standing out against the backdrop of Morpeth Court and near the entrance to the gardens was a statue of 🧍‍♀️Emily Davison, the unfortunate suffragette hailing from Morpeth who campaigned for, and ultimately died fighting for votes for women.

After snapping a picture of Rachael next to the statue, we made our way towards Morpeth Castle, scaling the steep zig-zag staired path up the hill to where it stands.

Continuing the theme set by Morpeth Court, when we arrived at and researched whether 📌Morpeth Castle was an open tourist attraction, we found that it too had been converted into luxury accommodation.

Descending the hill from Morpeth Castle back into the town centre, we went past Morpeth Court and Carlisle Park gardens once again.

The guide navigated us past some local businesses as landmarks to a specific step of steps near Chantry footbridge which allows access to the riverside walk.

After walking underneath the 📌Telford bridge, we saw the same wading anglers from previous making their way further down the river in search of a better place to fish from.

Telford Bridge and St George’s URC Church

Kids these days… just like they’ve always been!

With the exception of seeing just how high the new flood defenses have been built in Morpeth, there was not a great deal to see for the remainder of the walk.

The most interesting scene of this section of the walk was 3 young boys trying to catch some fish with some bait and line – which reminded me of the kind of thing I used to do to kill time as a very young man.

After rounding the corner to complete the walk, we headed back to the car park along the high street. Not quite feeling ready to go home, Rachael and I decided to head to Whitley Bay for a short follow up stroll.

St Mary’s Lighthouse in the distance along a practically deserted Whitley Bay Beach

So we finished up the day with a end-point selfie on a freezing, windy and deserted beach before heading home having gotten a thorough dose of fresh air.