The Grey Panthers

The bulk of this walk uses graded tracks, - the Haswell to Hart Railway Walkway and the Castle Eden Walkway.
Although the walk had been selected as a "wet weather walk", what we found was that recent heavy rains had made sections of the Castle Eden Walkway partially flooded, and we had some difficulty getting past these flooded sections.
This must be a bit of an exception, though, as normally the railway walkways offer a level and easily walkable route.
From the Hurworth Burn to Station Town we used farm footpaths and tracks as an alternative to the Castle Eden Walkway. Although this route was also wet underfoot, the main difficulty lay with the stiles that had to be crossed. There were three or four of these stiles, mostly in a poor state of repair, - one especially.

For a Memory Map overlay of the walk described, please select the above link.
(Overlay made with Version 5 of Memory Map)

Some new mapping software is now available which you may want to try, - QUO mapping. You can download the software for free from the link below, complete with demonstration maps. Having installed QUO, you can import and export Memory Map overlays. Thus YOU DON'T NEED Memory Map to use any of the overlays provided on the Grey Panthers web site, - just use QUO!!

Start from the small parking area by the railway walkway in Hesleden (NZ442 379).
Follow the railway walkway from Hesleden to Castle Eden, and continue along the track for a further mile.
When you come to a copse of Beech trees, there is a footpath on your left that takes you to a surfaced track that leads to Station Town.
Continue on this track, and when you reach to small park in Station Town continue straight ahead until you come to the main street.
Head Southwards down Station Town's main street. Just past a road junction the entrance to the Castle Eden Walkway is clearly found on your right.
Follow the Castle Eden Walkway to the disused railway station at Hurworth Burn.
About 200 yards past the station, there is a cycle path sign directing you to the Hurworth Burn Road. However, the actual path leading down to this road is a bit further ahead on your right.
Follow the Hurworth Burn Road Westwards for a short distance, - but CARE for traffic. Keep well to the side, facing the oncoming traffic.
Take the farm track on your right that heads Northwards on the Western side of Hurworth Burn.
Having crossed the footbridge, there is a footpath on your left that initially follows the edge of Hurworth Burn then crosses North Westwards to White Hurworth Farm.
However, we found that continuing past this footpath there is a lane on the left which leads to a small field gate that seemed to be a well-used alternative footpath.
Take the track that heads Northwards past White Hurworth Farm. After one field, there is a footpath on your left that takes you to a track that runs between White Hurworth Farm and Woodlands Close Farm.
One stile on this track was in a very poor state of repair.
Take the road West at Woodlands Close Farm, - but CARE for traffic. Keep well to the side, facing the oncoming traffic.
Take the track to West Woodburn Farm. On the map the track is shown as continuing Northwards past the farm. However, we found that this wasn't the case, and the footpath past the farm had a somewhat hidden entrance.
Once at the railway walkway, head East into Station Town.
From Station Town, retrace your steps to Hesleden.