Broadstruther and Gains Law from Wooler

The route

From Wooler the route drops into Happy Valley and climbs southwest onto the moor edge above Wooler Common, through gorse and bracken, to reach Carey Burn Bridge at 5km. This is the gateway to the hills and a retirement point on the Chevy Chase, so you are in good company. From the bridge a stony shepherd's track climbs steadily west to Broadstruther at 7km, a restored shepherd's house standing on its own in the middle of nowhere and one of the best-sited buildings in the National Park.

The moor

Above Broadstruther the route pulls onto the watershed and reaches its high point at 370m on unnamed moorland between the Broadstruther and Common burns. There is no summit here and no cairn, just open ground, curlew and a lot of sky. The line runs north for around 4km across the head of the Common Burn towards Tom Tallon's Crag at 352m. This is the section that needs attention: faint paths, heather, peat in the hollows, and very little to navigate by if the cloud is down.

St Cuthbert's Way home

At Commonburn you join St Cuthbert's Way and the character changes completely. A clear waymarked path runs east through heather over the trig pillar on Gains Law at 319m, then down over Coldberry Hill and into the forest tracks at Wooler Common before the run-in to town. It is downhill, it is obvious, and it is the fastest 5km of the day.

Why it works

Twenty kilometres and 613m of climb with nothing steeper than a steady grind, but it takes you into ground most visitors to Wooler never see. The Cheviot round is the famous one; this is the route you do when you want the same emptiness in half the time. It also makes a good navigation practice run, because the moor section is honestly hard to read and the waymarked return means a mistake costs you time rather than a night out.