Clennell Street And Shillhope Law Hike

Alwinton is a perfect launchpad if you are looking for a wander up Clennel Street or looking to bag some trig points in Northumberland.

There are lots of routes with a mixture of low level hills with more chunkier ones if you are up to the challenge, but best of all, some absolutely amazing scenery to enjoy and keep you motivated.

For this walk, I didn't have an exact route other than I knew I wanted to head up Clennell Street as far as I could and then turn back seeing if I could find a hill to traverse if my legs were still up to it. There are plenty of paths to take on the return, so thought I would just see where the wind took me.

In Alwinton there is a big chunk of green where everyone tends to park which is right at the foot of Clennell Street, so a great place to get started. From the village, there are signposts and clear tracks up the street.

Not long into the walk and already spectacular views.

Clennell Street is an ancient route through the Cheviot Hills that gives a path between Morpeth and Kelso.

Everywhere you look is just glorious rolling green hills.

The street exits the hills onto a forest track so I headed through the wooded area and as I was a few hours in, I decided to start my return leg, so followed the path west and downhill.

First tricky task of the day was to traverse the Usway Burn without falling in. Lunch first to get my strength and concentration up and then using those precariously placed rocks I managed to get across with dry feet.

Although I had ascended to 450m on Clennell Street via a nice steady climb this was my first steep ascent of the day up onto Kyloe Shin.

From here there was a fork in the road. Head down and skirt the side of the hill or head direct up it. My lunchtime dose of Fruity Malt was kicking in, so powered by Soreen, I headed up the hill.

This is Shillhope Law and stands at 501m and the ascent was a bit brutal as I climbed around 150m in just 1km. I was rewarded with the Shillhope Law trig point though!

A quick stop to admire the views and then it's pretty much all downhill from here.

I can just make out the Usway Burn which trickles down towards Alwinton, so I am heading in the right direction.

And pretty much back down now.

If I keep following the burn it will meet up with the River Coquet and we'll nearly be back.

A fab little bridge and crags at a place called called Linbriggs where the burn meets up with the river.

Then just a matter of following the road back to Alwinton.

Nearly 23km distance with 788m of climbing, but more importantly, it didn't rain!