Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Two and three quarter miles with 140 metres of climbing, an easy hour and a quarter up through the pines to the enormous free-standing sandstone block of the Drake Stone and on to the dark water of Harbottle Lake. Start from the small free car park in West Wood at the west end of Harbottle village, which holds about 15 cars and is the only parking; the village street is narrow and lined with houses. The forest tracks are fine off the lead, but the bog around the lake conceals very deep water and neither dog nor walker should stray off the path, the crags above the Drake Stone are unfenced, and the reserve beyond is grazed with ground-nesting birds from March to July.
Four and a half miles and 160 metres of climbing in a little over two hours, taking in the Drake Stone, Harbottle Lake, the open crags above and the earthworks of the Norman castle on the way back into the village. Start at the free West Wood car park at the west end of Harbottle, about 15 spaces, with the walk finishing along the Coquet edge of the village. Forest track for the first mile is safe off the lead and the Coquet at the end gives a swim, but the crags are a grazed nature reserve with ground-nesting birds where leads are asked for from March to July, the lake bog is dangerously deep, and the castle mound has sudden drops.
Three and a half miles in an hour and three quarters on the flat, from the hamlet of Holystone to the stone-lined spring the National Trust keeps as the Lady’s Well and round the oak and juniper of Holystone North Wood. Start at the small free car park in Holystone, two miles east of Harbottle, which holds a dozen cars and is signposted from the village lane. Woodland tracks make good off-lead walking with the Holystone Burn for water, but the Well itself is a walled enclosure that dogs should stay out of, and the wood is a nature reserve where the juniper and the ground flora do better for a dog kept to the path.
A walled spring pool in a stand of trees outside Holystone, said to have served as a baptismal site and now a strangely quiet place with a stone cross standing in the water. Five minutes from the road, on a short lane from the village. Leads on: the surrounding fields are grazed and the national park asks for dogs under control throughout.
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