The Cheviot

When bagging the 99 hills in the Cheviots, do you start with the biggest and work your way down, or do you start small and then finish with The Cheviot?

I went for the "go big or go home route" and The Cheviot was one of the first hills that I conquered as part of the Cheviot 99 Challenge.

The Cheviot is a bit of a unicorn of a hill as that it doesn't really have a prominent peak, instead it's a long flattish hill, but it does have lots of fantastic features.

For starters it's the tallest hill in the Northumberland National Park standing at 815m, nearly 100m taller than second place Hedgehope Hill. Then it has lots of little rocky formations adorning it including Auchorpe Cairn, Bellyside Crag, Braydon Crag and Woolhope Crag. Obviously there is also the Cheviot Summit Trig Point.

The one thing I love about The Cheviot is that you will nearly always catch sight of it, no matter where you are wandering in the national park. It's distinctive flat summit along with the peak of its neighbour Hedgehope Hill always allows me to get my bearings.

There are loads of ways to climb The Cheviot. You can start in the College Valley and head up the Hen Hole or through Bizzle Crags. Or you could follow the Harthope Burn to near the top. But for the quickest route, start at Langleeford and then head straight up Scald Hill and then onto The Cheviot. It's a big boggy in places, even in the best of weather, but once at the top, there is a pavement along the summit.

Follow the route above or find it on OS Maps. Just over 5km, but a whopping 606m of climbing.

Follow On OS Maps

Fun fact for you. The Cheviot Hill is formed from igneous rocks, primarily granite and andesite, which are remnants of volcanic activity from the Devonian period, approximately 400 million years ago.