Northumberland 2024 - Day Three

Saturday morning and, with Jeb now here, we were up to our full complement of 8 for the ridge walk on the Simonside Hills. Ken had indicated there was an optional shortcut for those - like me - who might perhaps struggle a bit with the climb.

I accepted Ken's suggestion with alacrity and was joined by Gordon and Rob. The remaining 5 set off at 9:30 and we planned to meet up at what Northumberland National Parks state is the official start of the route at the Forestry Commission's car park.

Gordon, Rob and I arrived there a little early so we thought we would take a walk up to see the remains of the hill fort, thinking we would still be able to see the others as they came over the first hill. Like most ancient hill forts, there is little left to view:

The town in the distance is Rothbury

As the 3 of us made our way back down to the car park, we still hadn't spotted the other 5 - until a few minutes later when we saw a group of 5 leaving the car park and heading up the next hill. They had seen Gordon's car and, with us not being around, they assumed we had started off on the walk. This was the sign at the start:

Anyway we soon all met up. The route up to the various cairns had been beautifully laid with large flagstones - all the way to the tops of the hills - a tremendous effort from some. There were so many peaks with cairns that I lost count. Some of the rock formations reminded us a little of our Peak District ridge walk 2 years ago. Here's a selection of photos from those hilltops:

Coming down wasn't as easy as going up - at least initially. Steep rocky miss-shapen steps were very tricky - especially for those of us with dodgy joints. One stumble could bring a nasty injury. Eventually we reached a more gradual and safer route and headed for the village of Thropton for our lunch stop. First we had to cross the river:

We were shown a shortcut to the Three Wheatheads (https://www.threewheatheads.co.uk/) by a local - through grasslands, watching out for more nettles. We settled down in their lovely beer garden and ordered lunch, washed down by pints of Mad Jack Ha' (https://www.firstandlastbrewery.co.uk/products/box-of-12-mad-jack-beers):

We still had to retrieve Gordon's car so he and I opted to take the bus for the short trip back to Rothbury and we were joined by Nigel. The rest decided to walk - via differing routes - with Stewart taking charge of Daisy.

Here's my stats for the route - Ken, Dave, Jeb and Stewart didn't use any form of vehicular assistance, while Rob took a lift up to the car park but walked back after lunch and Nigel just used the bus back from the pub, so the distances they covered were roughly 7 kms longer:

For pre-dinner drinks and to watch the footy we opted for a change of pub and headed up to the Turks Head (https://www.turksheadrothbury.co.uk/) - note no apostrophe! Dinner that evening was in the small bistro-like Bewick's, with Jeb leading some of us astray by ordering ports after dinner.

Day 3 complete - just one more left.