Eglingham Circular via Ros Castle

Ros Castle (Ros Hill) towers over the surrounding landscape with enough relative height to make it a Marilyn. The summit is marked by a trig point and nearby there is a rather unusual walk-in toposcope built into the wall with four separate plaques. The view is panoramic and very extensive, and on a clear day, a total of seven castles can be seen from the summit, including the one on Holy Island . There is also a view over the cattle park. A Marilyn is a mountain or hill in the British Isles with a relative height of at least 150m regardless of absolute height or other merit.

We had a bit of a delay in starting while waiting for a missing car and passengers. After 40 minutes they still hadn't arrived so we had to set off minus 4 walkers. We suspected that they may have gone to Edlingham by mistake but it turns out they took the road to Belsay, eventually getting to Eglingham about lunchtime! Happily they managed to get an alternative walk in along the coast to Dunstanburgh Castle so the day was not wasted for them.

From Eglingham crossroads near the church we headed up a lane towards Eglingham Moor. At the end of the lane we joined a track heading due north to a fence then from here we headed to Cateran Hill on an indistinct path – a cairn on top of the hill easily seen in the distance. We had a coffee stop in a hollow just after the summit. I made a mental note to visit Cateran Hole sometime in the future.

This tunnel cave is in the middle of the isolated moor and extends for a very long distance under the moor. Locals say it runs from Hepburn to Chillingham Castle.

After lunch at Hepburn Crags we continued on to the fort on the edge of Hepburn Wood then joined a fairly clear path along the edge of the wood. We were treated with great views of the Cheviots from here including The Cheviot and Hedgehope Hill.

The path eventually became rougher where the heather was encroaching on to the path – the path would be very difficult in summer. The walk was a bit longer and rougher underfoot than planned so the leader – me – kept just far enough ahead so as to not hear any complaints!