The Morpeth Wolf enjoys a six mile linear walk from Kenton Bank Foot to Newburn
| Distance | 6.0 – 6.5 total approx. |
| Terrain | Mostly tarmacked paths, pavements, footpaths can be muddy. Good strong walking shoes or boots recommended. |
| Grade | Easy to Moderate |
| Starting Point | The Twin Farms, 22 Main Road, Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE13 8AB |
| How to Get There | Bank Top Metro station is 5 minutes’ walk from The Twin Farms.See: https://nexus.org.uk/ |
| Description | Starting at The Twin Farms the walk continues to three other pubs mainly in a southerly direction and finishes at The Tyne Amateur Rowing Club, Newburn, NE15 8NL |
| After The Walk | Regular buses depart from Newburn to Newcastle City Centre. See: https://www.stagecoachbus.com/ |
Not all of our CAMRA rambles (CAMRAmbles) are out in the countryside and our latest adventure started in the suburb of Kenton Bank Foot in Newcastle. It finished by the River Tyne at Newburn.
On a glorious Saturday morning 17 of us gathered at the benches outside the Twin Farms pub enjoying the sunshine before setting off on a 6½ mile ramble to include four other pubs.
The Twin Farms is a large stone-built building in the form of a farm house standing in its own grounds. It is very comfortable with various areas inside and out to sit and enjoy the extensive well-kept selection of beers on offer. I enjoyed a very light and refreshing pint of Jarl (3.8% ABV) from Scottish brewers Fyne Ales. I would like to give a special mention to Laura and her team at the Twin Farms for their superb hospitality during our visit.
The first part of our ramble was a 45-minute 2¼ mile walk which crossed the A696 traffic island, skirted a housing estate and continued through Westerhope Golf Club. Upon reaching the end of the driveway at the main road we turned right and continued to reach our lunch venue the Greene King operated Jingling Gate.
The Jingling Gate pub restaurant stands on the leafy outskirts of Newcastle and provides a good selection of cask ales from the Greene King portfolio. The food menu is brimming with choice from which my wife and I tucked into a “Butchers Board” sharing platter consisting of Scotch egg, glazed pigs in blankets, sticky pickle sausage rolls and toasted ciabatta, piccalilli and caramelised onion brown sauce. The platter was so filling that we didn’t quite finish it all and saved the sausage rolls till later in the day. Our group chose to sit in the pubs very spacious patio area which offered some shade from the hot sun. The Greene King – Abbot Ale (5.0%) was delicious.
After our luncheon we continued to along the main road, wound our way around St. John’s Church to join the North Walbottle Road. We soon left this to walk on a former waggonway established by The North Walbottle Waggonway Group in 2017. This area was previously the site of North Walbottle Colliery which opened in 1893. It produced excellent quality coal before eventually closing in 1968. Leaving the former waggonway we wound our way through the edge of Chapel House estate to arrive at Chapel Park Shops, the location of The Bear & Barrel micropub. This former pharmacy has been converted into single roomed micropub and our numbers filled the micropub to almost capacity. But all of us managed to find seating to sample a choice of three cask ales on offer. Locally brewed Tyneside Blonde (3.9%) by Hadrian Border Brewery was very pleasant and refreshing.
It was now late afternoon and the weather was still beautiful as we headed down a pathway adjacent to Knop Law Primary School, crossed Barbondale Park to reach a subway with the A69 traffic rumbling above us. Crossing the path of Hadrian’s Wall we again used a southern section of the North Walbottle Waggonway. At a junction we headed south-west to descend a path towards the village of Newburn. This beautiful country path passes the site of the former Walbottle Brick Works, now a nature reserve.
Walbottle Brick Works was owned by Kirtons and produced very good quality “Newburn” red bricks and “Walbottle” white bricks. Originally named Walbottle firebrick works it was owned by the Walbottle Coal and Firebrick Company from 1869 to 1906. Newburn bricks were mainly used for industrial building work including sewers, tunnels and arches.
Eventually we were walking alongside New Burn and, upon reaching and crossing Walbottle Road, we entered Winnings Courtyard Business Centre the site of another micropub, PAC Newburn. A 60th birthday party was in full flow but we were grateful that management had kindly left us enough outside seating to accommodate our group. Unfortunately, no cask ales were available so I enjoyed a very cool and refreshing hazy draft ale from Ouseburn-based Two By Two Brewery, Nelson Idaho (4.3%).
The last 1-mile leg of our CAMRAmble, which in some parts was on very uneven cobbled paths, descended through the village of Newburn to reach the north bank of the River Tyne.
Standing proudly there is the Tyne Amateur Rowing Club, a modern rowing club building with a balcony overlooking the river and the bridge at Newburn. The club was founded in 1852 and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in the country. We were aware that birthday celebrations were also taking place but again we were made very welcome with tables being set aside for some of us while other members of our group chose the glorious view from the spacious balcony area. Unfortunately, I wasn’t on the balcony to witness a seal putting on a show which delighted onlookers as it enjoyed a tasty meal of fresh salmon.
From a perfect range of ales available I chose Pagan Queen (4.0%) from Firebrick Brewery based across the river in Blaydon.
We were delighted that the days event had been successful. We even had some non-CAMRA members who enjoyed the day out with us and hopefully they will join us again for future walks.
Please check out our website and social media for the details of our walk in October where we will be visiting pubs who are taking part of the Tyneside & Northumberland CAMRA’s Gateshead Beer Month.
Tara-a-bit!
@MorpethWolf