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About Kielder Water | About Kielder Wave Chamber

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Setting out from the Hawkhope car park, we wanted to follow a short route to the Wave chamber built onto the lake. It was a late afternoon walk and with the weather wet and windy, we had decided on a small, sheltered walk through the woodland.  

We started along the distinct path just above the car park and found it easy going. The path runs alongside the lake with water lapping up against the surface. Although rain was falling, the sun had come out on the opposite side of the lake, so the far-off views were spectacular. As we continued along the meandering path, following the lakes shore, we reached a small cliff face set out against the lake. Following this around, we started to get views of the Belling, a small outcrop in the direction of the Wave Chamber.  

By this point, we had passed quite a few signs advising of downed trees due to the recent storm, and that we should take care, but luckily the main path had been cleared and there were no serious issues as we travelled along it.  

Eventually, we came to the Belling. There was a small sign and some cones advising of too many downed trees and that this should be avoided. It looked fine, so we followed the path for a short while before discovering there were, in fact, many downed trees. Who would have thought! Although passable, they were probably a bit too much of a risk. We made the decision to turn around and unfortunately miss the wave chamber. If clear, is normally a simple walk around this outcrop.  

Once back on the main route, the path carried on as expected and if we had more time, we would have looked at walking much further along the Kielder lakeside. As it was, it was getting a bit later and the winter night was starting to draw in, so we took a path on our right up onto the North Haul Road and this track takes you all the way back to the car.  

This ‘road’ is just a wider track, and is used by some forestry vehicles, but none passed us on this day. It does mean that the path is muddy at points, but the higher-level walk through the woodland was nice and it is a very quick route back to the car.  

It was a shame the storm had taken down so many trees blocking our route, but it is still a charming afternoon stroll without much difficulty.