The Cheviot and the Pennine Way from Wooler
This links the two great paths of the north in one loop: the final stretch of the Pennine Way over the Border Ridge, and the Wooler stage of St Cuthbert's Way back through College Valley. Almost nobody runs the whole thing.
Effort: Ultra distance and major ascent
Underfoot: Technical, navigation required
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A 45.9km round from Wooler with 1,764m of climb, taking in The Cheviot at 815m, Cairn Hill and Auchope Cairn, then the last miles of the Pennine Way along the Border Ridge and a return down College Valley on St Cuthbert's Way.
This links the two great paths of the north in one loop: the final stretch of the Pennine Way over the Border Ridge, and the Wooler stage of St Cuthbert's Way back through College Valley. Almost nobody runs the whole thing.
The route
From Wooler you climb out through Wooler Common and take the moor track southwest to the ruined shepherd's house at Broadstruther, then drop into the Harthope valley near Langleeford at around 10km. The climb proper starts here: up the long grassy ridge over Scald Hill at 549m and onto the steepening northeast nose of The Cheviot. The summit at 815m arrives at 15km, a flat triangular plateau of peat with the trig point sitting on a plinth because the ground kept swallowing it. Reclaimed millstone flags carry you across most of it. Where they run out, you get the peat quagmire the hill is famous for.
The Border Ridge
From the top you drop southwest to Cairn Hill and the border fence, then round to Auchope Cairn at 726m, the most exposed spot on the ridge, with Hen Hole falling away to the north. The Auchope mountain refuge hut sits just below at 19km and is worth knowing about: an insulated wooden box with benches and a visitors' book, and the only shelter for miles. From there the Pennine Way runs northwest over The Schil at 601m and Black Hag, on alternating flagstones and unslabbed marsh, to the border crossing near White Law and Eccles Cairn at 30km.
College Valley and home
You turn east onto St Cuthbert's Way and drop down Elsdon Burn to Hethpool in College Valley, the low point at around 117m and 33km in. The last 12km climb back over the moor past Tom Tallon's Crag, across Commonburn, over the trig at Gains Law and down Coldberry Hill to Wooler Common. It is a long way to still have 300m of climbing left, and this is where the day is decided.
What you are in for
Nearly 46km with 1,764m of climb, most of it on grass, peat and flagstone. Wet flags are slick and account for more falls up here than the rocks do. Carry food for the whole thing.
The Cheviot's summit plateau is flat, featureless peat and seriously disorientating in cloud, and the flagstones disappear into bog in places. The Border Ridge and College Valley are remote, with mobile signal usually only within 500m of the tops, and the Auchope refuge hut is the only shelter between Wooler and Hethpool. Wet flagstones are slippery at running pace. This is a full mountain day and needs to be treated as one.
Summits on this route
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
GPX checked
Distance, ascent and grade are calculated from the GPX file. Nobody has run this one for us yet, so treat the description as a plan rather than a report. How we check routes
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