Barningham - Stang Forest - Thwaite - Barningham

Alan Anderson

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Barningham is an attractive little village lying at the edge of Barningham Moor near the southern boundary of County Durham. From the village the route leads you up onto the open moor on a wide track to intersect the county boundary line with North Yorkshire.

The walk then clings closely to the county boundary wall for almost two miles as it rises gently up the moor past the How Tallon trig point, the highest point of the walk. Shortly after, the route takes a change of direction north-west across the flat, grassy moorland with outstanding views north to what seems to be the entire southern area of County Durham, from the Pennines to the sea.

A sharp descent off the moor delivers you to the large man-made Stang Forest with a walk through a corner of the forest on the route of an ancient pack-horse way. The walk emerges from the forest into arable countryside. Pleasant field-walking follows, taking you through the tiny hamlet of Thwaite before entering into the wild, wooded River Greta gorge in the area known as Brignall Banks.

The steep-sided gorge offers challenging walking on narrow paths and across small boulders that at times pass close to the river and other times rise high above it, with steep drops. The walk emerges from the gorge into farming land for a short walk back to Barningham Village.

England - North England - Durham - Countryside

Features

Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, Great Views, Hills or Fells, Moor, Pub, River, Wildlife, Woodland

16/05/2019 - MARTIN COXON

The first part of this walk is great over the moorland tops and the drop down through the Stang Forest, but from points 19 to 26 through North Wood, it is a bit of a nightmare. The path is challenging and if it has been raining, I would hazard to guess, it would be dangerous. For some reason, the directions are a little ambiguous, which is very unusual for an Alan Anderson walk. Not really a problem if using the WalkingWorld app.

27/08/2017 - Susan Puddephatt

I agree with the previous comment that this area is not widely walked although it is lovely. There have been a number of changes in the area, for example the wide grassy path is now a forestry track and a number of way markings have been removed, for example where gates have been replaced. Be particularly careful when you get to Peak Hole Farm as the farm is in a very poor state with gates tied closed etc. I lost my way for a bit in this area. If anyone else has done this walk recently, I'd be really interested to speak with them as I was quite frustrated by my mistakes. Thanks.

29/06/2015 - Tara Spooner

Completed this walk in June 2015. I would think it has been a while since it was last used but was still an enjoyable day out. I would recommend using view ranger as certain points where difficult to track