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I finally made it over to make an attempt at climbing the six Hewitts in the Cheviots. It has been a wet summer so this two day trip has been delayed on a number of occasions, but, with a 48-hour window of good weather I was fully expecting clear summits and some quite wet underfoot conditions.
The drive up the Harthope Valley is quite impressive in itself. It's a long narrow road, not in the best of conditions, but Hedgehope Hill quickly came into view as I progressed westwards and eventually a large off-road parking area is reached just before Langleeford.
The climb up to Scald Hill follows a good track, ascending steadily to the 549m mark and it is at this point that the sharper climb up to the top of The Cheviot appears. To the south the route across from Comb Fell to Hedgehope Hill becomes clear, but that's for a little later.
It's a tough ascent up to the 800m mark, but the ground then flattens out and the path joins a series of near perfect stone flags across to the summit. It's still a good distance to the raised trig point. Was it possible that the hills lit up far to the west by the setting sun were in the northern Lake District? Surely not from here!
The stone flags continue to the parting of routes with the Pennine Way at Cairn Hill and then there is a good fast descent to the south eventually following the source of the Burn. Take care to watch out for the fence path heading off to the right as height now needs to be gained across the more challenging ground leading up to Comb Fell.
As I reached the level ground near the top I actually crossed on to the right hand side of the fence where I found the ground conditions a little easier. You have to make your own decision here, but there is a lot of up and down into peat groughs on both sides of Comb Fell although good long jumping technique and many handy wooden planks, and some handily placed long metal bars helped to make things easier.
The route up and down Hedgehope is a nice relief after Comb Fell, and it is a much more distinctive hill with a great summit and super views to the south. I headed northeast off the top heading for Long Crags and then picked a line down from Housey Crag along the permissive footpath. I must say, I was moving quickly at this point as the sun had now set so I missed the line of the path. The trick is to aim for the junction of the fences just above the car park. There is a stile here which leads to a field path down to the river, where I was relieved to find a wooden bridge. I was rather expecting I might have to wade across the water.
If you just pause for a moment on the bridge it really is a beautiful spot in the early evening. This was a really great 10 mile walk, but the stretch up to, across and to a lesser extent, down from Comb Hill is quite hard work in wet conditions. But it's not that bad. Everything else was wonderful!
