The River South Tyne flows muddily past Bridge End in full spate after many days of rainfall, its volume augmented by that of the North Tyne a little downstream.

The early morning rain clouds have cleared and the sun illuminates the land. Three white ponies gaze at you, tightly strapped into their winter jackets. Paths down to the river North Tyne are all privatised here, rather giving the impression that landowners in the Tyne Valley (which is more accessible and populated than North Northumberland) are preoccupied with keeping people out of their property.

The road climbs quite steeply to Thistlerigg Farm. Along its margins, walls, fences and tree trunks have been claimed by nature, with ivy, mosses and lichens clinging to their surfaces and painting them with green patinas. A bridleway, running with water, leads to the left, providing an ever-widening view of the North Tyne valley and its many hedgerows, copses and plantations. Piles of highly aromatic manure stand by the path, their presence sensed before they are seen.

Approaching Warden Hill, the land becomes rougher, and you squelch through the mud to its summit at 179 metres. There are vistas to the north and west, up the North Tyne and South Tyne valleys respectively; and to the south, towards the Hexhamshire moors, lost in the haze. The wind tears across the hilltop as clouds invade from the west.