A hot day on Hartside

 A hot day on Hartside August 14th

The UK and Europe are suffering the fifth heatwave of the year. The temperature where I live is 33C  but it is cloudy. Cloudy enough to make the eclipse of the sun on August 12th a disappointment. Now you see it now you don’t. Same as 1999.

Never mind, today a few of us are off to walk-in the Cheviots, starting at Hartside. To get ther A1 north, A697 at Morpeth, not far beyond Powburn turn left for Ingram Valley. Several miles beyond Ingram stop at Hartside. You have to, only the inhabitants of the few houses at Linhope are allowed to drive further, unless you are a delivery van.

A map would be very useful, OS OL 16 The Cheviot Hills covers the walk.

Not a contender, parking on the roadside at Hartside.

Booted and suncreamed we set off on the road passing Hartside farm to Linhope.

Linhope is hardly big enough to be a hamlet, a few houses and a path to Linhope Spout waterfall. But we turned off on the left near the gates of the last house and followed the track round the side of Ritto Hill. The track became a farm track and then a hard to find footpath across hard ground with a fine crop of Lauder Grass (qv).

                    A good day for Northumbrian scenery.

We climbed steadily, and slowly in the heat. Reaching a fence line (3.5 miles) we followed it, went through a gate and followed ma rough path through the bracken downhill to High Bleakhope Farm.  (mile 4)The farmhouse is deserted and locked up, windows shuttered and no sign of any farming activity. A pile of timber made a fine table so we called a Herbie.

        High Bleakhope house. Well named, winters must have been hard here when we had snow.

No sharing today, after lunch in the sun we set off down the tarmacced road (Salters Road) to Low Bleakhope farm.

Hareshaw Cleugh at Low Bleakhope. 

Here we took the track (still Salters Road) south east that started easily and the climbed Little Dod  After a well earned descent we left the track at mile 6 and followed paths downhill across fields  to Rowhope Burn. From here we took the path through high bracken to the farm at Alnhammoor.

Alnhammoor farm, used in a TV seriws recwntly but I can't remember what.

And finally a tarmac road back to Hartside, car and home.

Contains OS data, copyright. Crown copyright and database right 2026

This is a beautiful walk of about 8.5 miles. It includes  climbs of about 1350 feet in total which I found hard going on a hot day.