Cheviot First Timers

Included on the walk were my friend Chris, Denise's daughter Chloe and her friend Kennedy, both 10 years old. As with every walk or climb, you must choose a route and style that best fits the abilities and experience of the team. For Chloe and Kennedy, this was their first major walk in the countryside and therefore this determined our route - we would take the simplest and most gradual route possible. Further, being only ten years old, I fancied the day may seem daunting to them and probably boring, so I attempted to add some kind of interest and involvement for the girls.

We drove up the A1 & A697 towards the Cheviots with an optimistically clear sky, the girls enjoyed the brief excitement of the ford crossing on the way into the Langleford valley. The girls guessed from the back seat which was the highest mountain in the valley, hoping to identify Cheviot as a small hill with an easy ascent.

We parked at the end of the public road and got ready. I wanted to include the girls in the decision making, give them some ownership of our walk and provide some interest in our day, so I pulled out the map and traced our route, explained the contours and other interesting parts of the map, then we played guessing games on directions and hill names. Then the compass entered the game and became the responsibility of Chloe to lead us in the correct direction.

We left the road behind and started up the picturesque valley following the Harthope burn, wild heather proudly coloured the surrounding hill sides with sheep offering a little contrast. We chatted about many things and enjoyed the fresh air and views all around, we stopped every 30-40 minutes for a quick drink, a little rest and to check on our progress - a gamble on my behalf because it could be disappointing for the girls to see our slow progress, but I think they liked the involvement.

I have climbed Cheviot over 20 times, usually 2 or 3 times prior to an expedition for training, but usually circumnavigating the mountain to Bizzle Crags or the Hen-hole before traversing back over the top. However, even with my familiarity with Cheviot this was a surprising walk for me and shows that no matter how often you visit an areas in the hills, there is always something new and different for you - I hadn't walked up this side of the mountains since the floods of last year and earlier this year. The floods have carved out deep canyon sections into the burn about 10 foot deep in sections. It was amazing to see the force of nature, the floods had actually washed away parts of the road in Langleford and College valleys.

We stopped for lunch sheltered from the breeze in a curve of the burn, with views back down the valley and out as far as the sea. We had sandwiches, crisps and chocolate, I argued that the "junk" of crisps and chocolate are allowed in the country because we're burning it off, and anyway, it's a reward for the exercise we're doing.

We climbed further as the valley closed in and clouds began to threaten above, we crossed the river 20 times in just 20 minutes, the rock & boulder hopping was fun and exciting for the girls. We eventually made the head of the valley and started the only steep section of the day with a final rise to the summit plateau. Kennedy took control of my altimetre watch and updated our progress of ascent, we needed 100m of elevation which we achieved with no problem. All that remained was a walk across the boggy summit plateau on the stone flagstone path, leading to the true summit with a trig point.

We climbed to the trig point and unveiled the Northumberland flag, we were on the roof of Northumberland. I congratulated Denise and the girls on their achievement. They were excited. After a few minutes, we continued our way to the end of the plateau for great views across Northumberland, from Berwick in the north to Holy Island, then down to the Alcan chimneys at Newbiggin and across to Simonside in the south, it is a great spot. We then descended steeply to the really boggy section - we had all worn old clothes and trainers, so rather than worrying about staying clean...we enjoyed wading and jumping through the mud and peat pools. The girls achieved mud to their thighs! We made it back to the car and then started a boys vs. girls water fight in the river - very important to wash out as much mud as possible.

When asked to rate their day-out with a score from ten, the girls both enthusiastically burst out "TEN"!