[1] From the Derwentcote Steel Furnace car park, take the footpath at the rear of the car park and follow it into the wood until it reaches the Derwent Walk. Turn left along the old railway track and follow it over two road crossings and two viaducts. The next overbridge is at the former Lintz Green Station.
(A) The Derwent Walk is the track bed of the railway from Consett to Swalwell which was operational between 1867 and 1962 and has been converted into a Country Park.
(B) Lintz Green Station was the site of the murder on 7/10/1911 of the stationmaster, Joseph Wilson, who was shot, probably in a failed robbery. No one was convicted of the crime.
[2] Take a path on the right which goes up to the top of the bridge and turn left over it, then follow the path down the hill until the hamlet of Lintzford is reached.
(C) Lintzford was the site of a Paper Mill from 1785 to 1923 when it became an Ink Mill.
Turn left on the A694 road for 50m and then carefully cross the road and go down a footpath on the opposite side through two gates. Walk along the fottpath towards the woods.
(D) The concrete tanks at the start of the wood are settling tanks for water used at the Mills and were built in 1800.
[3] Enter Chopwell Woods by a signboard and follow the path straight ahead up a hill and then bear left. At a path fork by some picnic tables, turn left along a level path with the River Derwent below on your left. This is the "Red Route" signed through the Wood. After a conifer plantation on your left, follow the path to the left and downhill, and at the bottom of the slope turn right and follow the path uphill again.
[4] Pass a narrow footpath to the left running into a larch plantation and follow the main track as it turns right. After a further 100m, leave the "Red Route" and turn left at a very straight Forest Drive and follow this to the edge of the Woods (the pond passed on the left along this track was caused by a German bomb during the Second World War) . Turn sharp right at the end. After 100m turn left and follow a newly made footpath signed in light blue, which soon emerges from the Woods into fields. Join a farm track and follow it to the road bridge at Blackhall Mill.
[5] Cross the bridge and turn left and follow a narrow signed footpath (not the wide unpaved track) on the left edge of fields. Where it meets a wood, climb a steep path to the top of the slope.
[6] Turn sharp left and follow the path round to the right behind a garden cross a stile and then straight across a field. Cross a double stile and a small watercourse, and follow a track up a slope. On the left is the Derwentcote Steel Furnace which is worth a visit. Continue up the track to the A 694, turn left and the car park is 50m further up the road on the right. Take care crossing the road.
(E) Derwentcote Steel Furnace was a very early example of a steel furnace. A description board explaining the process is in the grounds.