Isaac’s Tea Trail newbies usually get taken on the same walk. It’s a linear route that showcases the character of the North Pennines with a variety of scenery, plenty of history, and a few steep hills for those who want a bit of a workout. And while it’s a great introduction to the Tea Trail, the walk is never ever dull or repetitive for those who have done it many times.
Six of us met near Whitfield to leave a car at the walk’s end point before travelling to the start at Isaac’s Hearse House in Ninebanks. There are a couple of parking places there, and also a large layby down by the River West Allen. The Hearse House’s stone walls and cobbled floor meant it was blissfully cool as we looked at the exhibits in the two-roomed building, then the heat hit us as we set off. The first half mile is all uphill.
After crossing a couple of stiles we reached the plateau of Pasturehead which is usually soggy or downright boggy. Today it was completely dry underfoot, which must have been a treat for the runners taking part in the ultra marathon around the Tea Trail a few days before. The winner ran the 37 miles (with a total ascent of 5,000 feet) in 6 hours 35 minutes 12 seconds. Mega impressive, but not enough to beat the record set last year by Cees van der Land of 5 hours 48 minutes. The event can also be run as a relay, with this year’s team names such as Darjeeling Darlings and the Lady Greys honouring the route’s tea trading heritage. The winning relay team ran a time of 9 hours 29 minutes and 25 seconds.
Meanwhile, back in the land of mere mortals, we were tackling our 3.8 mile walk (with a total ascent of 539 feet) at a marvellously leisurely pace, partly because the views deserved prolonged gazing and partly because of the heat. Dotty the dog managed to find a mossy spring with enough water to reach her belly. If there had been more room we’d have all been in there with her.
She also hopped into the Dry Burn a couple of fields later (it wasn’t dry despite the weather), and we all enjoyed a rest and some restorative flapjack. The official guide to Isaac’s Tea Trail told us that in the 1800s a farm building nearby had been the meeting house for a breakaway sect of Methodists known as the Bochimites.
Heading back out into the sun we passed a couple of ruined farm steadings so typical of the North Pennines. I found myself walking even more slowly than usual to make the most of a patch of shade nearby, and I always like to pause here and pay homage to a group of gnarled old beech trees that must have watched the former residents hay-making and shepherding until the farms failed or there was no-one to carry them on.
I was starting to get enquiries about when we’d stop for lunch but I wanted the two walkers who were new to the Tea Trail to picnic where we always stop for lunch, so we pressed on and they had to be content with a whole new set of views as we headed north.
There’s something uplifting about the scent of hay drying in the sun, and something visually pleasing about the pattern of the windrows across the fields. Ample compensation for a delayed lunch.
Finally we reached the appointed spot. It’s above Parmontley Hall and has views north and south along the valley, and west to high purple moors. Crucially on such a hot day, it marks the transition from 2.5 miles of walking in the open to a final mile through shady woods. We sat beside a stone wall that cast a strip of shadow exactly as wide as Dotty the dog so she was able to cool off while we marvelled (yet again) at the scenery and the peace and quiet.
Then, with a final look up the valley, we walked the length of Monk Wood before diverting off the Tea Trail to our waiting car and a short drive to the nearest purveyor of ice cream.
There’s more information about Isaac’s Tea Trail at https://isaacs-tea-trail.co.uk/
and https://www.northpennines.org.uk/location/isaacs-tea-trail/
You can follow me on Twitter @isaacsfootsteps
walkingisaacsteatrail 
I thought that little museum in the hearse house was one of the gems of the trail.
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Yes, isn’t it brilliant? It’s curated by Roger Morris, who created the Tea Trail, and he frequently adds new objects.
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I met him whilst I was up there – lovely man.
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