TOURING – NORTHUMBERLAND Better than the If you prefer your rugged landscapes without an outdoors shop round every bend, Northumberland is your county. Where Hadrian’s Wall marks ancient divides, you’ll find a sociable seclusion... and plenty to entertain you WORDS Gary Blake PHOTOGRAPHY Gary Blake & Wendy Johnson Cheviot Hills Kielder Water Hexham Newcastle Walking the Wall is a challenge NORTHUMBERLAND but don’t forget to simply sit and stare for a while Photo credit: istock | 48 Go caravan www.go-caravan.co.uk part of | September 2011 49 | TOURING – NORTHUMBERLAND The bustling beach at Agay BUSY DAY Forest adventure The National Park around Kielder Water (www.visitkielder.com ) has so much to offer. The Canadian-style adventure forest is home of Calvert Trust, whose outdoor adventures for disabled people include exhilarating sailing, abseiling and high wire ropes, with able-bodied friends joining in. Kielder’s forest paths goad mountain bikers to go faster n my mind, I’m in a scene from The Eagle, the Hollywood blockbuster about the Romans’ Ninth Legion, lost in Northern Britain. I’m here on the wall, marching eastbound to the Walk the wall To enjoy Hadrian’s Wall, get a free garrison of Housesteads Fort and along the iconic I Kielder Water’s Lewisburn Bay, viewed from the road. circular walk map from ‘Great Wall of China’ section of Hadrian’s wall, on the It gets even better on foot Northumberland Parks Centres. The dramatic escarpment of Steel Rigg. From the high AD 122 bus plies the Wall in summer so you can walk bits, taking in the ground of the wall, it’s easy to imagine the barbarians Vindolanda Roman Museum as (the rebellious Scottish tribes) being kept at bay by the Commission’s Kielder Water, as well as a spectacular walk Canterbury. Bumpy, round-rover trip. More details, defenders of this most heavily fortified border in the to a waterfall from the site. rolling foothills lead up Northumberand Tourist Board, Empire. This is definitely the male highlight of our six-day To get a broad view of the area, we took a 142-mile to the Cheviot ranges National Trust, English Heritage. break to Northumberland. tour to Otterburn, then into Scotland, and finally around and sheep abound. I have seen both ends of the wall from motorways en Kielder Forest. Otterburn Mills was route to Scotland but never realised the sheer scale of it Northumberland National Park covers 1030 km2 of a convenient stop – a visit to buy outdoor as it blends into the countryside on top of ridges and in protected landscape, with breathtaking views, crystal clothing and lunch in the mills, with overhead shafts, valleys. It’s a longish walk but at last I arrive at clear streams, dark skies for stargazing and rich wildlife pulleys and belts which once wove wool into tweed. The Housesteads Fort where the wall climbs to the top of a havens. As few as 2000 people live within the National shop still sells rugs, as used by our current Queen. dramatic escarpment with stunning views. Park itself – a wild landscape which was once the Our reconnoitre took us uphill along Redesdale As New Zealanders, now living in the UK, we started stamping ground of the Border Reivers. Their homes, pele (nicknamed Wild Redesdale,) on the A68 to Rochester. out with no preconceptions about Northumberland. Our towers and bastle houses, (tower-like, with one window This is an area of spectacular natural beauty. There’s a trip had been heavily researched; planned out over and a small door and stone roof), can still be seen network of cycling trails and walking routes, as well as The first electric house weeks of the two of us poring over OS maps and books. attached to farm buildings around Bellingham. countless opportunities for horse riding, stretching north Cragside (nationaltrust.org.uk) is the As I stood on the Wall, our caravan had been sited for two The surrounding countryside has emerald green to the Scottish Borders. And to the hamlet of High magnificent and fascinating home of full days at Melkridge, within an 800m walk of the wall pasturelands with wild running brooks (burns) in places, Rochester (a sharp right uphill from the war memorial) great 19th-century Newcastle industrialist Lord Armstrong, and the itself. But our caravan trail then moved along the Military along with bracken and heather heaths which support first house in the world to be lit with Road, 20 miles north to three main breeds of sheep. The east coast is drier than LEFT: People have the owner/inventor’s hydro electricity. Bellingham, to a CCC site in Brown the west and is surprisingly reminiscent of the sheep always lived – and The grounds are impressive, as is the drive there over the moors and via Rigg. Here we were surrounded pastures of New Zealand’s South Island around died – in this remote place Rothbury village. by hills and close to a river with reputedly the best salmon and TOP RIGHT: Three sheep breeds cut the trout fishing in England. The mustard up here Pennine Way walking route CENTRE RIGHT: passes through the village. It’s a You’re never far from convenient campsite for a natural wonder explorers: with close proximity RIGHT: The Roman to Northumberland’s National influence can be Park and the Forestry seen in the roads FAR RIGHT: CCC’s Bellingham site is a www.go-caravan.co.uk part of | September 2011 51 | belter TOURING – NORTHUMBERLAND LAZY DAY Go for a drive Our AA ‘250 Tours of Britain’ book offered drives from Bellingham. Perfect roads for car drivers, with uplands giving wide-open views, forest and glens, brooks and burns, ABOVE: Monty the harris hawk shows off for Cath, the falconer heather, history, market towns and stone bridges. Use OS Landranger BELOW: Melkridge Camping and Caravanning Club site maps 80, 81, and 86, 87, 88. See the falls Hareshaws Linn (www. northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/ Little Whickhope Burn – which tops up Kielder Water hareshawlinnwalk) is a stunning 30ft waterfall in an area famous for red squirrels, rare ferns and lichens. It’s a LEFT: The Church of 1 whose village green and scattering of houses The centre cares for owls, falcons and vultures as well 2 /2-hour return walk (or short drive) St Cuthbert, were once the heart of Bremenium (a Roman as fallow deer and wallabies. In a prominent position was from Bellingham CC site. Take a picnic Corsenside – very and paddling shoes. fort) whose rampart and part tower and fine ancient ‘Sima,’ a white tailed sea eagle, the UK’s largest bird of west gateway are still visible. You can see the RIGHT: Eyes right... prey and the star of the film at the Roman Museum. rounded ammunition stones for giant Roman Lakeside Way’s Home-made food at The Duke’s Pantry at Kielder catapults, now built into the edges of the dramatic scupltures Castle was excellent while we watched a live webcam of gables of the stone-built house on the corner. BOTTOM RIGHT: the osprey’s nest in the forest. Over the past two years, The Otterburn Ranges are one of England’s There are occasional six ospreys have fledged successfully in the 62,000 reminders of how remotest upland areas, owned by the army since 1911 close you are to hectare (155,000 acre) wilderness using a man-made and used for military training. Red flags on roads tell you The elegance Scotlandof nest. This makes Kielder only the second location in Monte Carlo when the firing range is being used (around 250 days a England this once-extinct bird has recolonised naturally. year) but on non-firing days you can ride or walk around At Purple Mountain bike hire centre we were swiftly All about the Reivers dedicated paths and bridleways in an unfarmed kitted out with £1,000 mountain bikes to explore the The Border Reivers display in landscape which has reverted to nature. exploration and fun – a mammoth, pine-lined purpose-made track around the lakes. Our ride nowhere Bellingham’s Heritage Museum There is the alternative 12-mile ‘Kielder Forest Drive’, a playground full of opportunities for kayaking, mountain near circumnavigated the undulating, sometimes provided us with a fascinating £3 toll-road shortcut from Blakehopeburnhaugh to biking, owl feeding and deer safaris. You really must arduous 27 miles of shore line. However, help was at insight; also the colliers historical photographs and the Smithy Shop Kielder Castle. Keep a lookout for England’s native red check out the strange sci-fi sculptures lurking along the hand –a 75-seat ferry can transport bikes and people while children were entertained squirrel in one of its last remaining strongholds, plus new Lakeside Way: there’s a disembodied head as big as across to three docks to shorten the journey. Booking is with ladybird badge spotting badgers, roe deer, meadow flowers, and a house, and a sofa disguised as a sheepfold. They essential and rest stops with inspirational art and amongst the exhibits and a mini- Fergie tractor to drive www. orchids (May, June, July) in the glens. make for one of Britain’s most ambitious outdoor art architecture around the lake make it very enjoyable. bellingham-heritage.org.uk From here we moved on to the Cheviots destinations. There are trails for bikers from beginners to advanced and Kielder Water. With more than 600 Our day started at the Kielder Water Birds of Prey riders, and there are single-track, ultra-fast one way square kilometres of forest and 27 Centre.