🥾 Walking route
Mineral Valleys Walk: Rookhope
County Durham
- 📏 3.5 km · 2.2 mi
- ⛰ +119 m
- ⏱ 60 min
- 🐕 On lead
Walk stats
- Distance3.5 km · 2.2 mi
- Elevation+119 m
- Duration60 min
- DifficultyEasy
- Route typeLinear
- TerrainValley paths and tracks with a short moorland edge; modest ascent.
- Best seasonLate spring to early autumn for the driest ground and longest days.
- DogsDog friendly, but keep on lead near livestock and on open moorland.
About this walk
This gentle 3.5 km route begins in the small former lead-mining village of Rookhope, tucked into a side valley of upper Weardale. From the village the path heads out along Lintzgarth Cleugh, a wooded side valley that gives the walk its quiet, sheltered character before opening onto more typical North Pennine moorland edge.
The route follows the Red Burn upstream, passing traces of the area's industrial past on the way towards Rimey Law Farm, set on the hillside above the burn. From here the way loops back down towards Rookhope, with the moorland shoulder of Rimey Law rising to one side and reminders of the old Rookhope Smelting Mill and Peg's Hole Reservoir close at hand.
The finish is at the Rookhope Inn back in the village centre, a welcome spot for a drink after a short outing. At around an hour of walking with only modest ascent, it is a good introduction to the mineral valleys of the North Pennines without demanding a full day on the fells.
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
5 waypoints along the way
- 1
Start: Rookhope
- Start
The start of the route.
- 2
Lintzgarth Cleugh
- 3
Red Burn
- 4
Rimey Law Farm
- 5
Rookhope Inn
Worth a short detour
Points of interest just off the route, look for the amber markers on the map.
Rimey Law
~441 m off the route
Rookhope Smelting Mill
~185 m off the route
Peg's Hole Reservoir
~448 m off the route
Bolt's Burn
~209 m off the route
Rookhope Workingmens Club
~287 m off the route
Route & waypoint data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).