Cheviots Walks

Lordenshaw Hill

Date: 8th August 2013
Distance: 2.1 miles
Ascent: 307 feet
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
With: Lisa and Rhiannon
Start Grid Ref: NZ052987

Walk Summary:
A short family ramble searching for antiquities on Lordenshaw Hill and a visit to the trig point on Garleigh Hill.

Route Summary: No actual route as such more like a ramble within a small defined area.

Photos: Click on the photos below to enlarge.

Walk Detail: Lordenshaw Hill, just to the south of Rothbury and at the end of the main ridge of the Simonside Hills, is reputed to have the largest concentration of rock carvings in the country. In addition, the top of the hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort and there also a number of Bronze Age cairns in the vicinity.

With numerous antiquities waiting to be 'discovered' I thought it would be an ideal place to hold Rhiannon's interest, and so it proved to be as she enthusiastically examined each stone we came across for any carvings. To be honest we didn't find that many carvings apart from on one particularly prominent rock near the start of the walk. Rhiannon did however uncover an official Northumberland National Park geocache and was rather pleased to be the first person to enter their name in the log book.

Having wandered around a number of the clear paths on Lordenshaw Hill I wanted to try and visit the trig point on neighbouring Garleigh Hill. Although the latter was very close there did not seem to be a clear path to the top and so to get there required a bit of heather bashing and as a result I had to give Rhiannon a piggy back over some of the rougher ground.

After reaching the trig point and large neighbouring cairn we ate a small picnic whilst enjoying the views. Afterwards we had a little potter around the top of the modest crags on Garleigh Hill before returning to Lordenshaw Hill and back to the car park.

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