Low Level
Walking in summer at the lower levels, particularly in sheltered valleys, can induce heat exhaustion or dehydration if the walker is unprotected and exposed for long periods. A lightweight cotton hat with a floppy brim and a full waterbottle will provide all the protection needed. The debate of shorts versus long trousers generates much heat, but suffice to say that some walkers prefer cool, brown, scratched legs, while others prefer protected legs, albeit hot and white.
MAPS
The following maps cover the routes in this guide.
OS 1:25 000 Explorer: OL16 – The Cheviot Hills; 338 – Galashiels, Selkirk & Melrose
OS 1:50 000 Landranger, sheet nos.: 67 – Duns, Dunbar & Eyemouth; 72 – Upper Clyde Valley; 73 – Peebles, Galashiels & Selkirk; 74 – Kelso & Coldstream; 78 – Nithsdale & Annandale; 79 – Hawick & Eskdale; 80 – Cheviot Hills & Kielder Water; 81 – Alnwick & Morpeth
OS 1: 25 000 Pathfinder: 460 – Innerleithen; 474 – Jedburgh; 485 – Hawick & area; 486 – Chesters & Hownam
Harvey: 1:40,000 Superwalker – Cheviot Hills; 1:40,000 Walker’s Route – St Cuthbert’s Way; 1:40,000 Peebles Manor Hills & St Mary’s Loch
Forestry Commission – Scotland: Craik Forest Walks & Cycle Trails
This guidebook should also be carried at all times.
Safety
All the walks in the guide are designed primarily for the walker’s pleasure, but safety in the great outdoors is something we must still be aware of. A careless step into a rabbit scrape or on a loose stone could break a bone or tear a tendon, causing a major problem for the solitary walker. As many of the walks may be completed in total solitude, it is prudent to be familiar with emergency procedures and the equipment needed to minimise discomfort and aid rescue in the unlikely event of an accident occurring.
ACTION
1 Prevention is always better than cure, as advocated by two pedestrian giants of the past, Edward Whymper and A Wainwright, who both suggested ‘a walk or even a life could be ruined by careless placement of the feet’.
2 Solitude in the hills is to be prized and is much sought after, but from the safety angle solo walks are to be avoided, the ideal number being five walkers of a like mind and similar ability. Such perfection is rarely possible, however, so to reduce the risks observe a few simple guidelines and use that underemployed asset, common sense.
3 Always inform someone of your route and estimated time of return (ETR). If that is not possible, leave your route plan with details, i.e. destination, number in the party, colour of garments and ETR, in a visible position in the car. One school of thought regards this is an invitation to the car thief, but cars can be replaced when lost, whereas human life cannot.
4 Should you have the misfortune to be immobilised and require help, and you have access to a mobile phone, dial 999 for the police. On receiving full details of the accident and your position, they will call out the local mountain rescue team and coordinate the rescue operation. Should a mobile phone not be at hand, use the international rescue call – either six long blasts on a whistle or flashes with a torch, and repeat at one minute intervals. The reply is three short blasts at minute intervals. Should you be without whistle or torch, shout, using the same code. When waiting for help, use the terrain to gain protection from the elements. Shelter from wind and rain or snow, or the sun in summer, and utilise spare clothing and the survival bag (feet pointing to the wind) to maintain body temperature.
5 If a mobile phone is used to call 999, have a six figure map reference ready. Find this as follows: ‘eastings’ first, i.e. the immediate vertical grid line to the left of your position, then the number of tenths from the grid line to your position, then ‘northings’, repeating the procedure using the horizontal grid line below the position (also as instructed on the legend of the OS map). When the mountain rescue team is requested, the victim must stay put until help arrives.
6 Should an accident occur when with a companion, write your position, plus all the details in 5, above, on paper, including name, injury and time sustained, general health, age and type of clothing, and dispatch an able-bodied party to the nearest telephone (e.g. farmhouse, or phone box as shown on the OS map).
Two mountain rescue teams cover the Borders: the Cheviot Mountain Rescue (based at Kelso and Yetholm), and the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue (based at Selkirk). The principal Borders hospital is the Borders General, Huntlyburn, Melrose.
Equipment
1 First-aid kit, including sterile dressings, lint or zinc tape, antiseptic cream, crepe or elasticated bandages (tubigrip), scissors or a knife, and medication (including salt tablets, painkillers, etc.). The medication must only be for personal use – it is unwise and risky to administer medication to another unless medically qualified.
2 A basic knowledge of first aid should be carried in the head or in the sack.
3 A knife, torch (with a spare bulb and batteries), whistle, spare laces (double up as bindings), emergency food and water, survival bag, compass and map, paper and pen or pencil.
Take Care
Remember that the grouse shooting season runs from 12 August to 10 December, so avoid relevant areas.
Adders and bulls are also best avoided. The adder (60cm in length, brown with a dark zigzag on the back) is more concerned about avoiding contact with humans. Bulls are somewhat larger and have no such inhibitions.
North Dean to White Law summit in its Autumn glory (Walk 4)
CHAPTER 1 THE CHEVIOT HILLS
Endless ridges straddle the eastern and central border of England and Scotland, in a tangle of green and rounded summits split asunder by steep-sided sinuous valleys. Windswept grasses continually ripple on these upland fells, with the plaintive cries of whaup (curlew) and peewit, together with the bleating of sheep, heard more often than the human voice. The hills and mountains of the Cheviots cannot be likened to the exalted giants of the Western Highlands or the winsome English Lakes, yet these lonely and now peaceful hills have their own appealing romanticism.
The principal summits are clustered in the east, as supplicants to the massif of the Cheviot 2676ft (815m), after whom the range is named, and with the exception of Windy Gyle, Auchope Cairn and the Schil (which straddle the Border Ridge), they all rise in England. Of these, Hedgehope, Cairn Hill, Comb Fell, Bloody Bush Edge and Cushat Law all top 2000ft (610m). At the western extremity of the range the principal hills of Peel Fell and Carter Fell also have a foot on each side of the border. The very nature of the Cheviot terrain makes it possible for the hill walker to traverse the tops without any great loss of height or energy, while still maintaining a steady pace.
Pathways, trails and directional markers are sparse, and in places nonexistent (with the exception of the Pennine Way, the Southern Upland Way and St Cuthbert’s Way, some Roman roads and the occasional drove road). Although the majority of walks are over paths and trails that ease the walker’s progress, there are isolated locations where ‘traffic’ is heavy. Before the installation of the slabbed pathway, the summit plateau of Cheviot and sections of the Pennine Way could degenerate into a mire in adverse weather. Exposed rock in the Cheviots is a shy bird, rarely revealing itself in any quantity, making these hills an unhappy hunting ground for the rock climber, and an area with only an occasional pitch for the scrambler (Walks 7 and possibly 9 include scrambles).
The majority of ‘walk-ins’ are from the Scottish side, where the approaches are not hindered by the serried ranks of conifers in the forests of Kielder and Redesdale. Nor are the Scottish foothills restricted by the activities of a very vigorous MOD, as at Redesdale, where high-powered missiles ‘crump’ daily into the English side of the range.
Few if any roads, apart from the