At the car park a group of youngsters, looking very professional with backpacks and maps, were getting ready for what looked to be a serious trek. However appearances can be deceptive because before we had gone very far they stopped us to ask if we could tell them where they were! We left them still pondering over their map.
From the car park at Wooler Common we walked up the lane for about half a mile to join a footpath through a gate to our right (NT969271) that climbed around Coldberry Hill to meet up with St Cuthbert's Way. The wind was picking up now but we managed to find some shelter in a gully to allow us to stop for a coffee break.
We turned left onto St Cuthbert's Way, keeping a wire fence to our right. Soon the path bore right towards Humbleton Hill, then left, with the hill on the right.
Humbleton Hill is crowned by a major Iron Age hill-fort. It was also the site of the Battle of Homildon, fought in 1402 between the English and the Scots, with Harry Percy, known as Hotspur, leading the English and the Earl of Douglas leading the Scots. The Scots, having been raiding in Northumberland, were set upon by the English and were routed. Although the Scots outnumbered the English, 14,000 to 9,000 - they lost 4,500 troops to English fatalities of just 15. |
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Walter Bower, the Scottish chronicler depicts the scene at the Battle of Homildon thus;
...the English bowmen, advancing towards the Scots, smothered them with arrows and made them bristle like hedgehogs, transfixing the arms and hands of the Scots to their own lances. By means of this very harsh rain of arrows, they wounded others and they killed many.
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Ken tried to impress with his knowledge of the Battle telling how archers fired longbows from nearby Harehope Hill but Mick doubted this because of the distance. Some reports suggest that archers stationed on Harehope Hill fired at the Scots on Humbleton Hill, 1 km away, but a quick search on Google suggests that the range of a longbow was no more than 400m. But then if the wind was the same as it was now I'm sure Wooler and beyond would have been well in range!
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Now we had a high-level moorland walk, on a wide grassy track, up to Gains Law, with fine views of the Cheviots in all directions. This would have been an easy stroll if it wasn't for the strong westerly wind steadily building up. The three Eildon Hills or Trimontium as the Romans called them, near Melrose come into view in the distance. Just after passing Gain's Law the waymarked St Cuthbert's Way bore to the left, away from a wall with a deep gully on our left and Yeathering Bell coming into view ahead on the right.
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We continued on the waymarked path, close to a wall until we turned right onto a less distinct path towards a conifer plantation.
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The excitement was too much for Mick! |
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Just before the plantation we had lunch in a sheltered area beside Akeld Burn. Now we joined a track which took us to the west of the plantation. As we passed the plantation St Cuthbert's Way continued ahead but we turned right through a gate onto a stony track with Tom Tallon's Crag on our left and the plantation to the right. The track descended down to Gleadscleugh with Harehope and Humbleton Hills coming into view ahead. |
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Just before Gleadscleugh we stopped at a gate to wait for the back markers. Marjorie couldn't hold on the gate and it went crashing into Ken. Thoughts of "no win no fee" went though Ken's head so he laid it on a bit but nobody seems bothered with his injuries!
After the gate we bore right onto a grassy track heading towards the house and then sharply right downhill to cross a stream, then sharply left uphill, the house at Gleadscleugh now below us.
The path skirted the base of Harehope Hill before climbing over the remains of a settlement - not obvious but as we knew it was there (it's shown on the map) it was possible to see where some of the remains were. As we approached the base of Humbleton Hill various short cuts could be made, quite legal as we were on open access land but Ken continued on the right of way which squiggled a bit then climbed along a gully between Humbleton and Harehope Hill.
The path climbed, continually curving to the left, until just before a fork (the left fork going towards a gate), there was a footpath sign on the left marking the Hillfort Trail.
After a stop to let everyone catch up and have a coffee break we followed the sign, the permissive path taking us steeply uphill, the strong wind pushing us at our backs, to the summit of Humbleton Hill.
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Some of us perform a strange dance at the summit. |
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It would have been nice to pause to admire the views and catch our breath but it was all we could do to keep on our feet in the strong wind. Just to the east of the summit there is an opening in the inner rampart. From here a path can be seen descending steeply downhill. |
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View of Humbleton Hill as we near the end of the walk. |
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We followed the path to the bottom of the hill and a gate. Here we turned right onto a track before rejoining St Cuthbert's Way to our left, the path taking us downhill through some woods back to the car park. |
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