There are six Nuttalls in the Cheviots and so far I had ticked five of them. The solitary summit remaining stood as the most obvious outlier on my map of northern England, marked up with hills already bagged and yet to be ticked. I thought little of my many other mountain objectives; the time had come for a border raid!
Close monitoring of the MWIS forecasts for the Southern Uplands paid off as the forthcoming Sunday was predicted to have no rain, probable clear summits, temperatures just above freezing but and winds topping out at just 20 mph.
Leaving home at 6:30am to arrive at Wedder Leap car park at 10:30am, I ate a butty for breakfast and got myself ready before starting the walk, icy in places, along the upper Coquet valley to Barrowburn.
A clear tractor track was easy to follow but these lower slopes had not frozen and the muddy ruts needed a bit of care to pick the most solid footsteps. The views back to Coquetdale were lit by the morning light and the valley’s solitude was laid out for quiet appreciation.
Coquetdale
After
the initial climb the angle eased and the track curved to the west. A couple of farmers on their quad bikes with
terrier escort moved a herd of cows off the track and I continued towards
higher ground. Glancing eastwards I
spotted a solitary walker descending The Middle; this area has some good terrain
for the solo walker.
I passed the memorial stone at Murder Cleugh and joined a track that had another set of snowy footsteps, the first I had seen on my route today, before I turned uphill and the footprints headed towards Uswayford.
approaching Little Ward Law
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| looking towards Thirl Moor |
The views of snowy hillsides in Northumberland National Park towards the south-west opened up as I passed Ward Law. I made a quick off-track ascent of Little Ward Law and then dropped down to begin walking up the rise towards Scotchman’s Ford. Soon after crossing the trickling burn, whose flow was diminished because of the obviously frozen surrounding ground, I joined the track leading to Windy Gyle from the Trows valley. This track, although obscured with snow, was well-trodden and this appeared to be the most common way up from the English side of the border.
crossing the Pennine Way
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| Windy Gyle trig point & summit cairn |
Although not the highest point on the England-Scotland border, Windy Gyle is the highest border summit with any significant prominence, perhaps obviously demonstrated by it being the only border Nuttall.
sun pillar of Windy Gyle
I went through the gate in the border fence and walked the last few yards to the large cairn. The cairn holds the embedded triangulation pillar and also a shelter which is on the northern side. The views were expansive across the rolling Cheviots and The Cheviot itself dominated the north-east skyline. The winter cloak of snow added to the reward of reaching the top and I was happy that I had completed the Cheviot Nuttalls, the most distant of the English spine.
The Cheviot & Hedgehope Hill
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| The Cheviot |
After wandering around the cairn and taking an obligatory summit selfie, I shouldered my rucksack and started making my way down. At the turn for Scotchman’s Ford I carried straight on following the broad ridge of very easy walking down towards Trows. Near the end of the ridge I spotted an animal a hundred or more yards in front of me trotting towards the Wardlaw woods. Despite the distance I was fairly sure that it was a fox.
At Trows I picked up the tarmac road and strolled on
quite quickly, reaching the road where Rowhope Burn joins the River Coquet and
then made good time on the final mile. I
only met one other person on the whole walk and saw perhaps half a dozen more
in the distance. The Cheviots offer solitude,
if that is what you want.
