A funfilled, pastry-fueled walk in the Hills of Northumberland.
The day started (as all good days should) with a trip to the Longhorsely Village shop, where we ordered our sausage sandwiches and fresh barista coffee and idled at the baked goods & extensive chocolate selection (plenty more of these to come later).
From here, we headed North West to the Foot of the Simonside Hills, Parking in Joe's Wood Car Park. We set off with a thoroughly over-exited Springer Spaniel through the woods and began to climb, heading for the east side of the hill where the sheer wall of steps met us. Daunting though it is, the climb is about 10 minutes at a moderate pace to the peak known as “Tosson Hill” standing at 440m.
At the top we hydrated with supplies from Longhorsely Shop and gazed across the idyllic panoramic views, before setting off along the sandstone path leading across the top of the ridge, riddled with dramatic cliff faces.
Folklore says this route is riddled with kackerling mythical creatures called a Deaugar, who use their laughs to lure traveler's off the path to their peril. Luckily we managed to avoid the Deaugars on this occasion. Each year Simonside Hills hosts The Duergar Nightcrawler, a 10-mile trail run held at night in honor of this intriguing folklore.
Once reaching the cairn, we took a sharp left to descend through the spruce plantation, before descending through the woodlands that bought us up the hills. The route took us an hour and a half, including a few short breaks, and was around 6km.
The Running Fox, Longframlington was our final stop of the day, welcoming us to an exuberant afternoon tea for two (which could have fed the 5 thousand) - a must-visit for your visit to Northumberland.
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