Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Three flat miles in an hour and a half along both banks of the Coquet, downstream to the narrow rock gorge called the Thrum and the restored mill above it. Start from the free Cowhaugh car park beside the river at the bottom of the town, which has around 40 spaces and is the best parking in Rothbury; the terraces above are metered. Level riverside grass and woodland where a dog can be off the lead, with easy access to the Coquet for a swim in the shallow reaches, though the gorge itself is deep and fast and best avoided, and the far bank crosses a grazed haugh.
Five miles and 220 metres of climbing in two and a half hours round Lord Armstrong’s Victorian pleasure ground, past Tumbleton Lake, under the house and along the two Nelly’s Moss lakes on rhododendron-lined tracks. Start from the main car park inside the Cragside estate off the B6341, which is large and free to National Trust members and included in the admission charge otherwise. Dogs are welcome everywhere outdoors here including the formal gardens but must be on a lead at all times, which the Trust puts down to the crag drops, the roe deer and the red squirrels; water bowls and dog bins are provided and dogs may ride the free shuttle bus.
An Iron Age hillfort with cup-and-ring carved rocks on the moor below Simonside, a short walk from the roadside car park. Open, rough moorland with sheep on it in most months and no facilities of any kind. Leads on, as the national park asks across its grazing and nesting ground.
The sandstone ridge that stands over Rothbury, with a forestry car park at Lordenshaws and stone-flagged paths climbing to a cairned edge and a very long view north to the Cheviots. It is exposed, it holds cloud, and there is no shelter on the tops. The national park asks for dogs on leads: this is grazing land and ground-nesting bird country, and access land can be closed to dogs at times.
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