and descends sharply to the saddle 300ft (91.5m) below. Here a small gate in the fence marks the point where the route leaves the Pennine Way by turning right, i.e. west, onto a descending grassy path, and then a track through the bracken-clad hillside of Steer Rig, to cross the shallow burn to the ruin of Old Halterburnhead in the valley below.
The Pennine Way Tom Stephenson, late of the Ramblers’ Association, was the founding father of this long-distance walkway, 270 miles (434km) from Edale to Kirk Yetholm. It is immortalised in the writings of A Wainwright in his Pennine Way Companion, where he described the traverse of the Cheviot range from Byrness to Kirk Yetholm as, ‘the longest and loneliest of all’.
Leave the sad ruins of Old Halterburnhead to the squabbling rooks and take the farm track north along the valley floor towards the working farm of Burnhead. Two hundred yards (183m) before the steading a Pennine Way finger post directs us right, by footbridge, wicket gate and wallside path, east of the farm, before rejoining the road in the Halterburn Valley. It is a pleasant stroll to the starting cattle-grid, allowing the walker time to pause and ‘smell the roses’.
The Halterburn Valley This 2½ mile (4km) stretch of the valley is perhaps more familiar to Pennine Wayfarers than resident Borderers. Forlorn reminders of former days still remain in the crumbling and decaying ruins of Old Halterburnhead, inhabited by itinerant sheep and noisy rooks. The walk alongside the burn is a delight, where from spring to late summer plants in bloom please the eye and brighten the day, primroses in particular, and musk on the banks of the burn.
Old Halterburnhead
Kirk Yetholm This village, so close to the English border, was at one time the rallying point for the Scottish Border Gypsies, providing a convenient springboard from which to nip over into England in times of strife – a far cry from 1540, when Gypsy King John Faa signed a treaty with James V of Scotland in which he was described as, ‘Our lovit Johnne Faa, Lord and Earl of little Egypt’. The last king, Charles Blyth Faa (whose coronation coach was drawn by six donkeys), died in 1802, and was succeeded by a Gypsy queen.
WALK 5
Up and Down the Cheviot Hills
| Start/Finish | Halterburn Valley, GR 840277, approximately 1 mile south-southeast from Kirk Yetholm |
| Distance | 8 miles (12.9km) |
| Total Ascent | 1821ft (555m) |
| Grade | 2; 3 in winter conditions or poor visibility |
| Time | 4–4½ hours |
| Maps | OS 1:25 000 Explorer OL16, The Cheviot Hills OS 1:50 000 Landranger sheet 74, Kelso & Coldstream Harvey 1:40 000 SuperWalker, Cheviot Hills |
| Parking | Below cattle-grid between road and Halter Burn |
| Accommodation | Kirk Yetholm and Town Yetholm – hotel, bed-and- breakfasts, caravan park, and youth hostel in Kirk Yetholm |
In addition to a rich mix of upland and hill flora and fauna, one of the principal highlights of this walk is the view that meets the eye with every turn as height is gained. Few walks can match the constantly changing horizons; none can surpass them.
A walk that typifies the Cheviot Hills, with frequent ascents and descents, following as it does both the ‘high way’ and the ‘low way’ alternatives of the Pennine Way. The pathways, a mix of dirt or peat, stone and occasionally grass, are mainly sound and firm in summer, though wet spongy sections are met in winter.
Choose a fine, clear day, it matters not what time of year, as all seasons have their highlights.
Start from the off-road parking below the cattle-grid, heading south along the narrow road across the valley floor towards the few buildings of Halterburn. On our left the busy Halter Burn, although this is crossed several times as we progress into the valley, and above it the steep slopes of Green Humbleton, met at the end of our journey. Cross a cattle-grid and pass a stable and store before the steading of Burnhead. The Pennine Way leaves the farm lane left, as per the finger post, onto a narrow dirt-and-grass wallside path that bypasses the farm, and with stiles and a bridge rejoins the Pennine Way farm track running southeast. From this point, as we meet the silent, sad stones of what was Old Halterburnhead, surrounded by the evidence of ancient settlements and homesteads, the solitude of this curving, narrowing valley kicks in.
Kirk Yetholm Together with its twin, Town Yetholm, Kirk Yetholm was home to the royal line of Faa Gypsies – several houses around the village bear names such as Gypsy Row and Gypsy Palace. Knowledgeable travellers of yesteryear gave Kirk Yetholm a wide birth, for the sight of a stranger aroused the cry, ‘Oot aik sticks and bull pups.’ Nor was there any love lost between the two Yetholms, and even today ‘Yetholm cleeks’ still adorn the walls in Town Yetholm, very useful when it came to repelling intruders from that other place.
Above on our left is the high ridge that carries our return pathway from Black Hag via Steer Rig to White Law, one of the best viewpoints in the eastern Cheviots. Heading south and rising more steeply towards the nondescript lump that is the Curr 1849ft (564m), we meet and pass through a drystone wall that runs down from Latchly Hill en route to ascending Steerrig Knowe. Although our path, flanked by bracken, heather and white grass, tends to zizag and contour around the hill’s shoulders as it climbs by Birky Knowe, the direction is south to the col ahead, between the rounded summits of the Curr and Black Hag (not the most charismatic of summits). Once through the gate, however, it is a seat ‘in the gods’ from which to enjoy the unique display of the Cheviot Hills. Continue east then southeast with the slightly descending grass track to the triple finger post ahead, passing on the left the rocky outcrop of Corbie (crow) Craig below the well-named 1801ft (549m) summit of Black Hag. It’s a track that can be seen spearing south to the rock-crowned summit of that ‘nearly mountain’ the Schil 1985ft (605m); we go only as far as the triple Pennine Way finger post.
The Curr Flat topped and sombre, it stands at the head of the Halterburn and Bowmont valleys, its position rather than its form being the lure. The northern prospect from the Curr is particularly pleasing as the wide and graceful sweep of the Tweed Valley meets the eye.
Black Hag Appropriately named, ‘black’ refers to the heather cover, while ‘hag’ applies to the bunkers of peat. From its summit attractive views can be seen to the south, freestanding Schil crowned by its rocky tor and circlet of outcrops, and beyond the dour north face of Cheviot and the Border Ridge extending westwards for 9 miles (14.5km) to Lamb Hill 1677ft (511m).
White Law north of Steer Rig
Views of the Cheviots and beyond West and below the Schil there is Sourhope Burn Valley, its floor and flanks peppered with the remains of ancient settlements, homesteads, cultivation terraces, forts and cairns. The burn runs southwest towards Cocklawfoot and the Border Ridge from the Cheviot, then west to beyond Windy Gyle, Beefstand Hill and Lamb Hill (Walks 7–10). These names reflect that this was and still is a prime site for cattle and sheep farming. (There is of course a famous breed of sheep known as Cheviot.)
One finger points to the Schil, ‘Pennine Way’, the second finger points the way we have just walked and says ‘Low Level Alternative Route’, and the third finger ‘Pennine Way’, which is our pathway (also the Scottish–English border line) on a bearing of 345° over the flattened summit of Black Hag. The fence ahead is crossed by ladder-stile and marks a gradually descending fenceside walk north along Steer Rig that provides not only sightings of White Law, our next ascent, but also east over the V that is Trowup Burn Valley to the Northumberland coastline, and ahead to the Tweed Valley and the Lammermuir Hills beyond. Surrounded by a carpet of wind-bent white grass our twin track drops to the col above Old Halterburnhead.
