Walk from Walltown
When we do the walks from the Northumberland National Park website, normally we do them to the letter. The Thirlwall Castle walk is one we’ve done a couple of times now, but always with a slight variation. The walk is circular, with a starting point of Greenhead, however we normally start at Walltown Quarry, which is ///scrolled.possibly.petrified on What3words. This change of starting point has some advantages, such as putting the castle itself at the halfway point, rather than the very start.
This may not seem like much, but its quite important for keeping the children motivated on a walk. Seeing the main sight after just 5 minutes of walking will undoubtably result in the next hour hearing “are we almost back at the car yet?”.
It does also come with a disadvantage as well however, as this puts the steepest uphill stretch right at the end. Honestly the hill isn’t that bad, but for tired 6 year legs it probably feels like a mountain.
From Walltown Quarry, you head past the Roman Army Museum, and then downhill through the sheep towards the intended starting point of Greenhead.
Sheep by the Roman Army Museum.
As you walk down the hill, don’t forget to look back up. There are several trees that make great subjects, such as the one I liked in the below image. I took a couple of variations on where I applied focus. The tree vs the wall vs stopping down to try and get it all crisp. I will put one of the other variations in a gallery of images at the bottom of the blog.
Tree through the gap in a style in Northumberland National Park.
Greenhead itself is a quite a pretty village. I particularly like the church in the centre. I debated with myself for a while as to whether or not to photoshop out the cable that cuts into the church. Honestly I am not sure sure I made the right decision, so this one may change if it features on my instagram grid in future.
The church in Greenhead, Northumberland.
From Greenhead there is a short walk along footpath, sandwiched between a river and a set of train tracks. As you reach the other end, you will see the castle to the right, but there is a rail crossing to the left with a cottage that is worth a quick diversion for a snap or two, before you head to the castle.
Walking towards Thirlwall Castle from Greenhead in Northumberland.
The cottage across the tracks.
To this point, most of the pictures I’ve taken have been on my workhorse xf35 f2, but as you approach the castle wider focal lengths become preferable. My widest lens is my xf16 f1.4 and that is what I switched to for the images of the castle. In winter I think this is the perfect focal length, with bare trees. However in the peak of summer in July, it feels like an extra couple of millimetres wouldn’t go a miss to help with composition.
My wife and daughter walking past Thirlwall Castle in Northumberland.
As you walk from the castle back towards Walltown you cross a bridge. As it was the height of summer, I was able to walk through the water intead without it reaching the zipper of my boots, which allowed for a composition I’d not been able to get from previous visits here in winter.
The ruins of Thirlwall Castle looming over farm buildings and the river.
After crossing the river, again don’t forget to look behind you. There are some great shots to be had of the castle with lane as a leading line. As with the front of the castle, I feel like these shots are better in winter when the foliage to the sides of the lane are less prominent as I feel it allows the curves of the lane to breathe more in the image compositionally.
From this point, you follow a stretch of Hadrians Wall back up to Walltown Quarry. Although it is relatively steep, it is also quite a short climb which is still quite accessible. The first time we did this walk my youngest will have only been 3 or 4 years old and they still managed it no problem.
Looking up the hill towards Walltown Quarry.
Sheep taking shelter in the shade.
If you would like to see more of my landscape work, moving forward most of the images will be here in blog format, but I will notify of new entries on my Instagram page for landscapes - @photog.righ
If you are interested in following my portrait and product work, links to my instagram and twitter for those accounts are just below at the bottom of this page. A small selection of other images from this walk are in the gallery below.
