Simonside and Dove Crag Circular

The route

From the Lordenshaws car park south of Rothbury, this loop climbs onto the moor to take in both Dove Crag and Simonside, the sandstone outcrops that give the Simonside Hills their distinctive skyline. At 8.4km with only 274m of ascent, it's a short route by most standards here, but the crags themselves punch well above their modest height.

The crags

Dove Crag and Simonside are eroded sandstone tors rather than proper mountains, but they sit above the surrounding moor and forest with enough drama to make the short climb worthwhile. On a clear day the view stretches out over the Cheviots to the north and toward the Northumberland coast to the east, a wide panorama for very little vertical effort.

Lordenshaws

The car park itself sits beside Lordenshaws hillfort, an Iron Age site with some of the best-preserved Bronze Age cup-and-ring marked rocks in the country, worth a look either before or after the run. It's a reminder that this landscape has been used and valued for a very long time before it became a place for a short loop before breakfast.

Who it suits

The short distance and modest climbing make this a good choice for a quick evening loop, a warm-up before a bigger day elsewhere in Northumberland, or an introduction to fell-style terrain for anyone newer to running off road. It's also one of the more reliably scenic short routes in the county for the effort involved.

Getting it right

The going is generally good underfoot on moorland path, but the sandstone at the crag tops can be greasy when wet, and the open moor gives little shelter if the wind picks up. This is short enough to fit into most days, which makes it easy to underestimate how exposed the tops actually feel in poor weather.