The weather forecast had predicted heavy rain up until 11:00 and then a sunny afternoon. I decided to wait in until it stopped raining. I drank coffee and read a book, but by 10:30 I was getting  bit restless and so decided to make a start. Today's walk would be from my hotel in Alnwick up to the golf ball of Brizlee Wood radar station on the top of the hill to the west of the town. Its shiny sphere is visible from the A1 and I'd always thought it would be worthy of an investigation. Well, today was the day. 

Alnwick

The early morning heavy rain had now turned to a lighter version as I walked into town. It is worth having a pootle around Alnwick with its pleasant mixture of history and shops. Anybody who wants to purchase a book, then buy an antique vase and finish off the day drinking a mocha in one of its many cafes, will love the place. My wanderings brought me unexpectedly into a council estate that seemed to have had some additional houses built since my OS map had been printed, but I managed to get myself back on track via some allotments.

In fact, this would be the last time that I'd get lost today since navigation from hereon in was obvious. This was due to the footpath following a stone wall right up to the top of the hill where the Brizlee Wood radar station was located. This was no normal stone wall either. It must have been around 8 foot high and prevented any views to the north throughout the walk. The wall is actually on the boundary of Hulne Park and it had been brought to my notice when I'd walked through the park on a previous occasion (see Alnwick Panoramic). The sheer scale of the thing is quite amazing. It feels like you are walking alongside Hadrian's Wall. The stones are cut to shape and it is very well made. I found one account on the internet that says it is 20 miles long. I can well believe it. It must have cost a fortune to build and was erected between 1806 and 1811. 

The Wall

It turned out to be a curious walk. I can't think of any other ramble that I've been on where one half of the panorama is blocked from view. The other half was very pleasant though with a mixture of rolling fields and moorland. The leaves of the trees were various shades of gold. In the early stage of the walk the footpath dipped down to a couple of pretty becks. The path weaved through sparse woodland which was evidently home to a variety of birds. It was rather moist underfoot, especially after the overnight  and early morning rain, but the worst bits were easily avoided. Patches of gorse also encroached on to the path occasionally, but I managed to escape their prickly arms without injury. It was quite nice when I left the woodland and had an uninterrupted view over the moorland. I thought I might have been able to see the radar station at this point, but it remained elusive behind that massive wall. It wasn't until I reached a dip in the ascent, and the wall had to descend too, that I got a decent view of the geodesic dome. My first and, as it would turn out, my last impression was that it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I rushed on to the summit with the naïve expectation that I would get a better view of the radar station. I shouldn't have bothered; the wall seemed as high as ever at the summit.

The view on the other side of the hill was tremendous with extensive views over to the Cheviots and Simonside hills. Somehow, I seemed to be higher up on the west side, than on the Anwick side. Amazingly, the stone wall just continued down the hill on the west side, heading off to infinity. I noticed on the OS map that there appeared to be a track access to the radar station a little further down the hill on the west side. There must be a break in the wall to allow this access. I decided to head down to see if it provided a view of the radar station. The 'track' was actually a tarmac road and a couple of cars were parked in the terminus area. There was a break in the wall, but also lots of wire fences, barbed wire and signs saying visitors should report to the guard house. Given the high security I figured my presence with a couple of cameras strung around my neck might invoke unwanted attention and so I decided to retreat back to the top of the hill. At least the stone wall provided a very effective windbreak as I ate my lunch. 

Return

I initially felt a little disorientated as I made my way back down, with the stone wall now being on my left. It had turned out to be a wonderful, sunny day and despite the haze, I could actually see out to sea. There was a small island slightly to the south that I took to be Coquet Island. Alnwick was also visible although the stone wall blocked off the view to the castle. I decided to forgoe the route through the allotments and housing estate and continued down the track until it came to the entrance to Hulne Park. From here, I just followed the road back into Alnwick's town centre. 

It had been a curious walk, with one half of the views blocked by that amazing stone wall. It was worth getting to the top of the hill though to see that glorious view westwards, on the other side. It was just a pity that I didn't get that close-up view of Brizlee Wood radar station. At least I get a good view of it every time I drive up and down the A1.