A Walk in the Foothills of the Cheviots

There are two sounds that can often be heard when walking the path that leads to Darden Lough. The first is the disconcerting crump of heavy artillery that drifts across the moors from the MOD ranges at Otterburn. The second is the ‘back, go-back, go-back’ call of the Red Grouse that make their home in these hills. Hear the two together and you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’re not really welcome in these parts.

Fortunately, an information board at the start of the walk is cheerfully reassuring about your prospects of surviving the forthcoming expedition. There is even a picture of a Red Grouse on the board that shows him to be a very jolly looking fellow despite his rather irritable call.

The seven kilometre circular walk to Darden Lough climbs from the floor of the Grasslees Valley, across heather moorland to a maximum height of 372m. In places the ascent is quite steep, so a moderate level of fitness is recommended (though it’s amazing how often the need to catch breath coincides with a desire to check out a potential photographic composition). The route is well marked with white-topped posts poking out of the heather at regular intervals, but carrying an up-to-date OS map is still advisable.

After leaving the lay-by, there is a short walk over grassland and through a line of trees to a bridge over Grasslees Burn. After a quarter of a kilometre the path splits and it is a matter of preference which route to take to Darden Lough.

The landscape of the first stretch of the walk is peppered with lichen-splashed boulders of Millstone Grit, a coarse-grained sedimentary rock. Taking the right fork where the path splits leads the walker around the scar of Cloven Crag to a prominent rocky outcrop. In late summer, the heather surrounding Darden Lough bursts into flower, painting the landscape a rich purple. With a rain-soaked sky as a backdrop and the last glow of an evening sun lighting the rock, this outcrop gleams golden in a patchwork of violet and green. Such a scene is too tempting to ignore photographically!

From the outcrop, the path continues to climb and the boulders gradually peter out, leaving an unbroken carpet of heather. However, in winter this carpet becomes distinctly threadbare, with the route occasionally crossing square patches of burnt heather. This deliberate burning allows the heather to regenerate fully each year and maintain the ecosystem that allows the grumpy grouse to survive and prosper.

At the summit of Darden Pike there is a cairn known as ‘Darden Lough Pele’. The cairn is tall enough to provide welcome shelter on a windy day. From the cairn, the path skirts around the banks of Darden Lough, an oval shaped lake that in the winter months is home to visiting Canada Geese.

From the lake the path drops downhill, threading an occasionally slippery way through Miller’s Moss. On the right, the crags of Key Heugh and Darden Parlour erupt from the landscape, and in the far distance the rugged shoulders of Cheviot can be seen dominating the range of hills that bears its name. After crossing the waters of Clovencrag Sike, the path meets up with the route-split encountered earlier. From the junction it is a simple matter to retrace the path back to the beginning. Back at the car, there is the cheering prospect of a third and final sound, the welcome gurgle of a well-deserved hot coffee being poured from a flask.

Location: Roughly three miles north-east of the village of Elsdon, starting at OS Ref: NY 958 981.

How to get there: From Newcastle, follow the signs for the airport and the A696. Drive north along the A696 to the Elsdon junction and follow the signs to the village. From the village centre follow the B6341, signposted Rothbury.

OS Map: OL42

(First printed in the May 2008 issue of Outdoor Photography Magazine)