Harthope 5 Crags Walk

There are plenty of crags dotted around the Harthope Valley. Housey Crags and Langlee Crags are probably the best known, but start looking at the map and you'll find plenty more, including Hawsen, Long, Middleton, Tathey, Steel, Lamb, Carling and Steely.

This circular walk bags five of them.

Starting in the Harthope Valley, we'll climb onto Cold Law before visiting Carling Crags and Hawsen Crags. From there it's back down into the valley and straight up the other side for Housey Crags, Long Crags and finally Langlee Crags.

It's a cracking circuit with plenty of rocky outcrops to explore and some huge views across to Hedgehope Hill and The Cheviot. And if five crags aren't enough for you, there are plenty more nearby for another day.

Park on the small grassed area beside the road near Langlee, next to the track leading across the Bailey bridge to Langlee Cottage. We'll be coming back over that bridge at the end of the walk.

Before setting off, it's worth having a look up the valley. Housey Crags and Long Crags can be picked out on the hillside ahead, while the deep cleft cutting into the hill below Langlee Crags is Easter Dean.

These features have been appearing in walking guides for a long time. F. R. Banks mentioned Housey Crag, Long Crag and Easter Dene in his 1950 Guide to the Cheviot Hills. The Ordnance Survey has since pluralised the crags and changed the spelling of Dene to Dean, but the landscape itself is still reassuringly recognisable.

From the parking spot, head back down the valley road with the Harthope Burn over to your right. It's a nice easy start and after around 450 metres you'll cross the Backwood Burn as it disappears beneath the road and winds away through the trees.

Keep going until you've walked around 1km, where you'll find a small stile on the left signposted for Cold Law. Over the stile, pick up the clear track heading uphill. It doesn't take long before the views start opening up behind you, with Hedgehope Hill, Housey Crags and Langlee Crags all coming into view across the valley.

As you climb, look out for an old boundary stone marked SH. You'll see a few more of these on the way towards Hawsen Crags.

Cross the fence using the stile or small gate, then follow the fence directly uphill. There's a faint path through the heather to help you along. Eventually you'll reach another fence and stile.

Cross over and turn right onto the track for our first little detour of the day.

Carling Crags

Carling Crags are just over 100 metres away on the left. They're the smallest and probably least impressive of today's five crags, but that's not a particularly strong reason to walk straight past them.

There's a good backdrop of the surrounding Cheviot hills and, more importantly, we're on a Five Crags Walk. It would be a bit daft finishing with four.

Once you've had a look around, retrace your steps and continue alongside the fence.

At the first gate, cross over and follow the fence uphill, passing a few smaller unnamed crags along the way. As the gradient eases, a faint path heads away from the fence towards the trig point on Cold Law.

At 452 metres, Cold Law is the highest of the hills in this north eastern corner of the Northumberland National Park. It's also fairly exposed, so don't be surprised if it's a bit breezy when you arrive.

The views make up for it though. Head a little beyond the trig point to the walker's cairn for a particularly good look down into the Harthope Valley. From here, return to the fence and follow it for an easy kilometre until you meet a gravel track and a pair of gates.

Hawsen Crags

The track through the gates heads towards Broadstruther, while our route turns left and starts downhill towards the Harthope Valley. Before you get too comfortable heading down, we've got another crag to find.

After a short distance, look for a green track heading uphill on the left past a line of grouse butts. Follow this for the short detour to Hawsen Crags.

At around 311 metres, these are the lowest crags on today's walk, although only just. From here there are excellent views down towards Hawsen Burn, across to Blackseat Hill and Hedgehope Hill and over the valley towards Housey Crags, which we'll be visiting next.

Hawsen Crags also have a fan in walking author Tony Hopkins. In his 2003 book The Cheviot Hills: A Sense of Wilderness, he picked them as one of his six favourite crags and rocky outcrops in the Cheviots. Housey Crags made his list too, so we're effectively getting two of his favourites for the price of one.

Once you've finished exploring, retrace your steps to the gravel track and continue downhill. The track is good and it's easy going, but keep an eye out for a faint path and marker post on the left as you descend. They're easy to wander past.

Leave the main track here and follow the bridleway through the heather. It eventually drops towards the valley and a lovely circular sheep stell beside Hawsen Burn.

Across the Harthope Valley

We're now back in the Harthope Valley, although not for very long. Turn right, cross the small road bridge over Hawsen Burn and then turn left following the sign for Housey Crags and Hedgehope Hill.

With the stone wall on your right, head gently downhill and cross the Harthope Burn using the small footbridge. Enjoy the flat ground while it lasts. Once you're through the trees, the route turns uphill towards the very obvious grey rocks of Housey Crags.

Stick with the main path and keep heading upwards. It's a decent climb, but it's worth occasionally turning around because the views back across the Harthope Valley get better the higher you go.

The Harthope is one of the classic Cheviot valleys, running deep between the surrounding hills with the burn and little road sharing the valley floor below. Eventually the path brings you around behind Housey Crags.

Housey Crags

Housey Crags are among the best known rocky outcrops in the Harthope Valley and it's easy to see why.

You can explore them perfectly well from the path, but if conditions are good and you're comfortable on rock, it's difficult to resist a careful scramble onto the higher points.

From the top you get superb views across the valley towards the huge bulk of The Cheviot. Take your time here. There's plenty to explore and we're in no particular hurry to get to crag number four. Once you're finished, return to the path and continue towards nearby Long Crags.

Long Crags

Long Crags are close enough to Housey that this is only a short detour.

Follow the path over the crags to their highest point and you'll get another cracking view, this time with the distinctive shape of Hedgehope Hill rising ahead.

Walking writer Ann Sitwell described the route towards Hedgehope through the Harthope Valley back in 1948, writing about its grassland, bracken and birch trees changing from green and silver in spring and summer to gold and russet in autumn.

More than 75 years later, that's still a pretty good description of this part of the Cheviots.

From Long Crags, retrace your steps past Housey Crags and now we're now looking for our fifth and final set of crags. Almost immediately, a faint path wanders away to the left towards Langlee Crags. Follow it for as long as you can. Eventually it fades away and you'll need to pick your own sensible route through the rocks towards the crags.

Langlee Crags

Langlee Crags cover a much larger area than some of the outcrops we've visited earlier, with two particularly prominent rocky sections worth exploring. As with Housey Crags, there's an opportunity for a little careful scrambling if the conditions are right.

Find yourself a comfortable perch and you've got one of the best views of the walk.

Looking towards the head of the Harthope Valley, Hedgehope Hill and The Cheviot stand side by side. On a particularly clear day, look east and you may even pick out the thin blue line of the Northumberland coast. This is the final crag of the walk and a fine spot for lunch, so there's no need to rush away.

Once you're ready to leave, find the faint path running behind the two main crags and follow it downhill towards the gravel track visible ahead. Turn right when you reach the track, then left at the next junction. From here there's a long, easy section across relatively level grassland.

During spring and summer, keep an eye and an ear out for curlews which are regularly seen around here. Eventually you'll reach a marker post where it's time to leave the higher ground and head back towards the Harthope Valley. Turn left and follow the path downhill towards Langlee Cottage, which soon comes into view below.

Back to the parking

This final descent gives you another excellent look along the valley, with the road and Harthope Burn winding along the bottom and Hedgehope Hill and The Cheviot rising ahead. The path swings around the front of Langlee Cottage and joins the track leading towards the Bailey bridge.

These portable bridges were originally developed by the British during the Second World War and were designed so their sections could be transported and assembled without heavy machinery. This particular one has been here long enough that it now feels very much part of the Harthope Valley.

Cross the bridge, have one final look up the valley and you'll find yourself conveniently deposited almost exactly where you started. Five crags, Cold Law and two crossings of the Harthope Valley.

Not a bad way to spend a day. And you've still got, Middleton, Tathey, Steel, Lamb and Steely Crags on the map if this has given you ideas for the next one.