🥾 Walking route
Gaunless Valley Heritage Walk
County Durham
- 📏 5.6 km · 3.5 mi
- ⛰ +69 m
- ⏱ 1 hr 15 min
- 🐕 On lead
Walk stats
- Distance5.6 km · 3.5 mi
- Elevation+69 m
- Duration1 hr 15 min
- DifficultyEasy
- Route typeLinear
- TerrainField paths, farm tracks and gentle hillside
- Best seasonLate spring to early autumn
- DogsDog-friendly on leads near livestock
About this walk
This short linear walk traces the upper Gaunless Valley in County Durham, linking the small settlement of Copley with the quiet parish of Langleydale and Shotton. Setting out near the Edge Hotel, the path climbs gently onto Foster Hill, where open pasture opens up views across the valley towards the moorland fringes.
From here the route passes the site of the former Cowley Colliery, a reminder of the area's mining past, before dropping to cross Cowclose Beck and then Steele Gill. The going is straightforward and the ascent modest, making it a comfortable outing of just over an hour. Along the way you'll pass close to Black Hill, Foul Sike and Bogle Gill, with High Hazelwell Farm marking the more pastoral stretch of the walk.
The finish at Langleydale and Shotton feels a world away from the starting hamlet, tucked into a landscape of becks, sheep pasture and quiet lanes on the edge of the North Pennines.
Route map
Route line drawn from OpenStreetMap footpath data. Numbered markers are waypoints on the route; amber star markers are points of interest a short detour away.
Waypoints along the route
7 waypoints along the way
- 1
Start: Copley
- Start
The start of the route.
- 2
Edge Hotel
- 3
Foster Hill
- 4
Cowley Colliery
- 5
Cowclose Beck
- 6
Steele Gill
- 7
Finish: Langleydale and Shotton
- Finish
The end of the route.
Worth a short detour
Points of interest just off the route, look for the amber markers on the map.
Black Hill
~500 m off the route
Foul Sike
~240 m off the route
Bogle Gill
~438 m off the route
High Hazelwell Farm
~248 m off the route
Copley
~277 m off the route
Route & waypoint data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).