The Grey Panthers

This walk was described in a leaflet produced by Stockton Borough Council entitled "The Three Villages Loop Walk" The leaflet describes the route as being "fairly easy going" with a walk time of 2 - 2.5 hours.
However, the above may be the case in Summer time. On the day we made the walk, the ground underfoot was EXTREMELY heavy, - wet, clay based soil on farm land which had been churned up by horses. We found that goodly sections of the walk made for slow, heavy going and our journey time was more like 4 hours.
Navigation is basically very straightforward, though we did have a problem at Whitton where a new housing estate has resulted in diversion of the footpath. It took us a little while to find the diverted footpath.

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!!

Park in the Wynyard Woodland Park visitor car park at NZ402 244.
Head South down the railway walkway until a short distance down (at NZ402 238) a well defined track branches off to your right. Take this track (which passes the Celestial Kitchen) to cross under the A177 by a subway.
Once through the subway a footpath takes you to St. James' Church.
Turn right on the road past the church and continue along the road Northwards towards the A177.
Just before reaching the A177 take the track on your left to the farm buildings of "Hell Hole".
Continue Westwards on the bridleway to Stillington. This bridleway crosses farm land, and can be very muddy in wet.
On reaching the road on the outskirts of Stillington turn left and follow the road into Stillington.
Continue past the church of St. John the Divine, continuing along the main road to pass under the railway line.
On your left is a street, Mount Pleasant Road. Turn down this street and continue to the end where you will find a footpath heading Southwards over agricultural land. Follow the footpath to Bishopton Beck, and where the footpath meets a road turn left.
Continue through Whitton's main street.
At the end of this street there is a road junction. Turn left and past the new houses the footpath to Thorpe Thewles is signposted.
Follow this footpath back to Thorpe Thewles, and then return to the Wynyard Woodland Park