8.5 miles
Explorer Map 305, - Bishop Auckland
This is a there-and-back walk using farm tracks, farm
roads, and the railway walkway. There are virtually no gradients, and
there are no stiles or obstacles.
Although the walk is very straightforward and needs no navigational
skills, it still repays the walker with pleasant countryside views.
At the end of the walk a visit is paid to the delightful Church of St.
Brandon in Brancepeth, Brancepeth Castle, and Brancepeth Village itself.
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 by Sunderland Bridge (NZ26459 37814).
Take the Weardale Way footpath (a broad track) that passes under the Croxdale
Viaduct.
Where the Weardale Way leaves this track, do not take the left turn but
continue to follow the track past Holywell Farm.
When the farm track meets the minor road, turn right to continue along
the road until it meets the A690 main road.
At the main road, turn right for a very short distance
then cross the road. Continue Northwards on the road to Brandon.
After about 100 yards, before you reach a pub, turn left onto the Brandon-Bishop
Auckland Railway path.
Follow the railway path for about 1 mile until you come to the road by
the Brancepeth Railway Station car park.
Here turn left and walk to Brancepeth Village.
Cross the A690 road (CARE needed) and continue to Brancepeth Castle and
St. Brandon's Church, Brancepeth.
Retrace your steps back to Sunderland Bridge.