Windy Gyle

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

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

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

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.

Northern Solitude

For the second time in under a month, an early start marked the beginning of a day walking over remote Cheviot summits.  At Wedder Leap car park I laced my boots after eating a breakfast butty and set off, crossing the River Coquet to start what was to be another long day in the hills.

At a junction in the track I decided to follow the track uphill.  I soon worked out that this was a navigational error that would take me to the summit of Kyloe Shin but at the point of realisation I reckoned that it would be easier to continue than to reverse and descend.  The summit turned out to be a worthwhile leg-stretcher and descending the grassy north-west ridge was a pleasure.

towards Uswayford

The route ascended the felled forestry slopes of Middle Hill, skirting around the top before descending to the col below The Middle and then taking the traverse path on its east slope.  Uswayford could be seen clearly at the head of the valley over a kilometre away.  The well maintained track allowed quick progress and as I at the farmstead I crossed the bridge and skirted the farmyard boundary, walking around the enclosed solar panels while looking for any clue as to where the way ahead went.  Although the ground was boggy I decided to roughly follow the fenceline and was soon on a vague path.

Bloodybush Edge trig point

I crossed the stile at the point 506 col and followed the fence on its southern side to the summit of Bloodybush Edge.  I knew that there was a triangulation pillar at the top but as I crested the convex slope I could hardly see it.  Because it was so white it successfully blended in to the sky in the background; it was probably the whitest trig point that I’ve ever seen.  From here the broad dome of Cushat Law dominated the view ahead with the fenceline meandering the three kilometres to its top.

Cushat Law from Bloodybush Edge

Cushat Law summit towards Hedgehope Hill

Views from Cushat Law’s summit cairn towards the higher Cheviot summits had improved.  I had a quick conversation with a man who had followed me up with his dog, before he set off towards the Breamish valley.  My route off was to retrace the three kilometres to Bloodybush Edge and then back down to Uswayford.

I had been calculating the time that would be needed to tick Windy Gyle and I worked out that chasing the tick would add two hours to the walk; probably more as my variation of Naismith’s rule starts to fail if the day’s total time exceeds 8 hours.  I thought it almost certain that heading for the third summit would result in me finishing the walk in the dark – the extensive cloud cover would exacerbate the lack of light – and the resultant tiredness being a hindrance to my own safety.  And thus the decision to head straight back to the car was made.

Windy Gyle from Bloodybush Edge

Although at some point in the future I would have to make the long drive again to tick off Windy Gyle, I consoled myself with the thought that combining the trip with a return home via some northern Pennine summits would offset the petrol expense.  That plan will have to wait until BST arrives in 2022 with the lengthening days.

As I walked over The Middle it was clear that Windy Gyle summit would have been reached at or after sunset which justified the decision not to climb it.  I got back to the car 15 minutes before sunset, having been going for over eight and a half hours.  Considering the looming long drive home in the dark I was happy with the day’s route choice decisions.

But the long day did make me feel good about the stopping off at Burger King on the M6 for my tea!