Crossing the bridge you can take the more straightforward path to the right or you can follow the river bank more closely via a slightly overgrown footpath. keep a lookout for a path on your left which takes you underneath the railway track then up a tarmac path to the entrance of Elba Park. An alternative route after crossing the road to continue for a few metres to the roundabout rather than taking the steps then turning right and walking down to Elba Park. You follow the path from the entrance and take a path to the right. Cross an attractive bridge over the Herrington Burn follow the path out of the park, crossing the road to the left of the roundabout and then going right down the road until you see a public footpath sign on the opposite side of the road....

Philip Le Marquand

A short climb takes you out of the park and then following roads through the village of Fatfield and down to the River Wear. Crossing the bridge you can take the more straightforward path to the right or you can follow the river bank more closely via a slightly overgrown footpath. keep a lookout for a path on your left which takes you onto the next footpath. You follow that until it meets the road where you then go left following the road underneath the aforementioned railway track then continue to follow the road as it takes a right turn at the entrance to Elba Park....

Philip Le Marquand

On the first half of the route there are extensive residential and industrial estates nearby, but on leaving the Houghton estate there is a remarkably rural character to the route. The original Slow Way passes the acid test of being an attractive, publicly accessible route between Houghton and West Rainton....

Richard Hockin

This Slow Way takes a direct route between the two settlements, mostly on a shared-use footpath/cycleway along the dismantled Hetton Colliery Railway line, with additional sections on other rights-of-way and pavements....

Richard Hockin

After the A19 you are on a shared cycle path riht into the City Centre....

Philip Le Marquand

Turn left beyond it along field edge to meet path along A19 boundary fence. Cross to far side of B1286 and follow pavement on north side of road to bear left onto tarmac path near traffic light crossing Photo 10. A possible alternative route early on but not investigated would be to continue eastward at Field House Farm (351501) to 368506 and turn north to join original route at 365525...

Chris May

A minor deviation, very easy to find , will take you through the Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve where there are toilets and a cafe. There are no public toilets in West Rainton or Houghton , but as pointed out in a previous review there are toilets at Lidl in Houghton and some of the pubs there seem to keep long hours...

Jeff

There are no public toilets in either West Rainton or Houghton-le-Spring but in Houghton-le-Spring both Lidl and the public library have toilets for customers....

Annette

In reality, this path is quickly lost in the overgrown grass and gets quite boggy towards the end and it appears the locals have created another route that diverges Easterly of the suggested footpath that then runs Northerly alongside the fence towards the stile (this 'new' path is easily identifiable on satellite imagery) and future walkers may consider this slight alteration....

DavidMMMXXI