The Cheviot, Comb Fell and Hedgehope Hill
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 11:37 am
A sunny afternoon in the far North East to climb three Cheviot hills.
I arrived in Langleeford at 4pm after work giving me limited time to get round these three hills. Fortunately air clarity was great and the route was pretty obvious throughout so I had to spend little time map reading and could just push on with getting round.
The initial climb up Long Crags is quickly done and from there the first objective Hedgehope Hill is clearly in view with a pretty steep final climb to the excellent summit and Trig Point.
The route from here to Comb Fell and on to The Cheviot is very boggy with some peat hags to climb in and out of - the whole area reminded me of my local hills in the Forest of Bowland but on a larger scale.
However the fence is a good guide throughout and it took me right over the unmarked top of Comb Fell and round to Cairn Hill where I joined the Pennine Way on it's diversion to The Cheviot.
The last 3/4 mile to The Cheviot summit is thankfully paved with stone slabs and is extremely easy.....although I can only imagine how hard and wet it would be without them.
Eventually I reached the grand Trig Point but the great bulk of the hill meant that views were hard to come by until I started descending.
The way down was straightforward enough on a big path over Scald Hill before following the fence down to Langleeford Hope and the good valley track all the way back to the car.
A decent late afternoon's walk in a new area to me. Hedgehope Hill is a really worthwhile objective and The Cheviot itself (if you stick to the paths) has a great feel of openness about it.
Comb Fell on the other hand is a bit of a bog trot and would probably not be visited if not climbing the other two.