Lanchester: a moderate 5000m ramble through the woods
Starts at Malton Picnic Area outside of Lanchester
1 hours 30 minutes | 3.0miles 4.9km | Moderate
ID: 407.3 | Developed by: Dominique Meissner |
A circular walk in the woods outside of Lanchester. Take extra care at the end of the route when you walk along a busy road without pavement. This route is not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs.
Main Route
Alternative Route
Point of Interest
Waypoint
*move mouse over graph to see points on route
Starts at

Malton Picnic Area Car Park Durham Road Lanchester DH7 0TH

Getting there

Parking is available at the Malton Picnic Area car park. This route is also accessible via public transport. From Durham and Consett, take Go North East bus no. 15 or 15 A.

Route instructions

[1] Walk along the railway footpath towards Lanchester. Follow the path for a distance.

[2] You will reach the first houses of Lanchester on your right. Walk up after the bench up to the houses and walk up the road to the main street.

[3] Cross the main road and turn right to walk along the pavement.  After a while you will reach a public footpath on your left which leads you into a field. Follow this footpath diagonally over the field. If you follow the alternative route, ignore the public footpath through the field and walk straight ahead until you reach a tarmac road. Turn left to follow it uphill. After a while you will reach the end of the public footpath. You can follow the normal instructions from here.

Take care as there may be livestock in the field.

[4] Go over the stile to exit the field. Turn left on the road to walk up to the farm house. Before entering the grounds, there is a public footpath on your right. Go over the stile and follow it through the field up to the gate to go over another stile. Walk straight up to the woods.

[5] You will exit the field over a stile. Walk uphill and follow the path when it brings you right and left along fields.

[6] After a steep hill you will reach a small footpath sign on your right. Turn right into the forest and follow the path. There is no obvious wide path, but the small path takes you through the forest over a couple of tree branches.

[7] When you reach an opening and a wooden electricity pole on your right, the path will fork out. Take the path slightly downhill on your right. The path will have a stone pole on your left and further stone poles throughout the way.

[8] You will reach a junction of paths (big stones on the ground). Stay straight ahead to walk towards a fallen tree laying on the way. Follow this path around. It will lead you through wooden poles and between barbed wire fences. Follow this path around when it goes off to the left.

[9] When you exit the path through wooden poles, turn right to walk down the old quarry way. You will walk through woods and after a distance you will reach a field on your right. Walk further downhill and you will walk through fields on both your sides.

Be very careful on this way down as there are many holes in the ground and it is uneven.

[10] At the end of the footpath you reach the main road. Be careful as you follow the road for a distance. Try to stay on the right side as there is space to walk on the grass and after a while there will be a pavement coming up.

Take extra care as there is no pavement and the road is busy!

[11] You will see the Malton Picnic Area sign after a while. Turn left to follow the road down to the picnic area and the starting point.

Lanchester has a vibrant community centre and offers a fitness suite which was opened in 2008. In there, you have the choice of treadmills, cycling machines, rowing machines, cross trainers, multi-gyms and much more! The villagers can also take part in Country Dance, Taekwondo, Pilates and Aerobics. A table tennis club is also available. 

Acknowledgements
Developed by: Dominique Meissner
Beautiful views outside of LanchesterBeautiful views outside of Lanchester
Walking down the old QuarryWalking down the old Quarry