The Cheviot from the Harthope valley

Eight and a half miles and 587 metres of climbing, four and a half to five hours up the Harthope Burn past Harthope Linn to Cairn Hill, along the Pennine Way flagstones to the 815-metre summit of The Cheviot and down over Scald Hill. Start from the roadside parking above Langleeford, at the end of the single-track lane from Wooler: there are perhaps a dozen informal spaces along the valley and none of them are a car park, so early arrival matters. Water in the burn for the first two miles and nothing above it, deep peat hags on the plateau that a dog will disappear into, no shelter at all on top, sheep on every field and open fell, and ground-nesting golden plover and dunlin from March to July when leads are asked for.