Come and try orienteering alongside Hadrian’s Wall in a country park not previously used for an orienteering event.
Venue, travel and parking: Walltown Quarry Country Park is located in Northumberland National Park just off the B6318 Military Road near Greenhead: OS grid reference NY668659, what3words – awesone.smile.pelt. The postcode is quoted as CA8 7HF but this is imprecise and unlikely to be of use in a satnav.
Parking at Walltown costs £3 for 1 hour and then a further £1 per hour afterwards up to a maximum of £6 for a whole day. Pay machines accept contactless card or coins. Please park carefully and do not obstruct where the bus needs to pass through and stop. Please do not park on the narrow road outside of the entrance, nor park in the Roman Army Museum nearby.
You can be intrepid and travel to Walltown Quarry by bus from Hexham…. The AD122 bus service provided by GO North East appears to run every 2 hours.
Border Liners will be using a cabin located a short walk from the car park as our event base. Look out for the BL feather flag which will be placed within sight of the car park. The visitor centre in the car park, which provides information about the country park, may or may not be open on the day.
Terrain: The country park is partly rough open and partly dense mixed woodland with a number of marked trails around it’s path network. The rough open will be fairly easy to progress through, some of the wooded areas may require a bit more determination but it’s never far to go around. The national park have been adding accessible trails through the park with many of the paths providing good footing.
Courses: TBA
Entries: Online entry will be on SiEntries; entries will close on Thursday 22nd October 23:59. Entry fees £7 senior, £3 junior & full-time students. There will be some on-the-day entry available on all courses.
Map: New geo-referenced map with Lidar contours. Scale 1:2500, 5m contours, A4 printed by BL on waterproof paper. Control descriptions on the map only.
Start Times: TBD
Refreshments: We plan to offer tea/coffee in the cabin. Please bring your own mug.
Toilets: Public toilets in the car park on the outside of the visitor centre (which we expect to be closed on the day).
Dogs: Allowed on leads.
Safety and Risk: A comprehensive risk assessment has been prepared by the organiser. Participants must download even if they retire so we can be sure everyone is back and that we do not need to start a search and rescue. Participants take part at their own risk and are responsible for their own safety during the event.
Specific to this event, please do not under any circumstances go into the quarry lake, and do not cross the fences and walls marked as uncrossable. Be aware of moving vehicles should your course cross through the car park.
Note about Insurance
If you are not a member of British Orienteering please read the important note regarding public liability insurance here
Officials: Organiser – Anita Laird, Planner – Tricia Davies.
Acknowledgements: Walltown Quarry Country Park is owned and managed by Northumberland National Park. We are grateful to them for granting permission to hold the event. We would also like to thank NATO; many years ago they created a small permanent course here and we are grateful to them for allowing us to update their map and hold this event.
Historical information: Walltown Quarry, established in 1876, was once the largest ‘whinstone quarry’ on Hadrian’s Wall and produced huge quantities of road chippings. The ‘whinstone’ at Walltown is part of a series of huge sheets of dolerite which underlie large parts of northeast England and known collectively as the Whin Sill. This same rock outcrops east of here in a ridge extending to Sewingshields Crag, then again at Craster, Bamburgh and the Farne Islands; and to the south at High Cup Nick and High Force in County Durham. The old quarry has since been transformed into a compact country park of trees, wildflowers, and wildlife. The park lies within Northumberland National Park and needless to say from it’s name you can probably guess that Hadrian’s Wall passes through the park. The Pennine Way national trail also passes through the park.
After you have ran you could take a walk up through the country park onto Hadrian’s Wall and admire the views to the North and East.
The Country Park holds a Peach Labyrinth, constructed with more than one thousand willows in 20 different colours planted in 2011. It is marked on the map so by all means take a walk around it once you have ran.
Nearby is the Roman Army Museum and Magna (Carvoran) Roman Fort, open 9:30am – 5:30pm each day, where you can “experience the edge of the empire”.
Border Liners Orienteering Club 