The Simonside Hills Walk

Starting from a remote forest car park, the walk sets out along a quiet moorland road to visit the Lordenshaw Iron Age Hill Fort. Surrounding the ditched mound are signs of an even earlier civilisation: a number of Bronze Age cairns can be seen, alongside cup and ring marks (saucer-shaped depressions surrounded by circles on the rocks). Although fairly common in Northumberland, their exact significance is uncertain — associated with the Beaker people of the Bronze Age, they are believed to have some religious significance (the mounds and ditches of the hill fort are clear enough, but cairns and cup-and-ring-marked stones are less so).

The walk begins its ascent to Simonside on a clear path through heather and gorse outcrops, where grouse are ever present and easily spooked. The climb continues following the top of the north-facing escarpment with superb views northwards over woodland to the Coquet Valley beyond, as well as eastwards to the Northumberland coast and the sea on a clear day. The route leads to fine rock formations on the Beacon, highlighted by Thompson's Rock (also known as Simonside Beacon Hill Solar Observatory due to a hole made for early celestial observations), with Dove Crag being another interesting rock outcrop.

The next highpoint after the Beacon is the summit of Simonside, providing an opportunity to take in magnificent views to the north-west over miles of Northumbrian landscape stretching to the Cheviot Hills straddling England and Scotland.

Next up, after a brief dip down to Bob Pyle's Studdie, is a continuous climb of seventy metres to Tosson Hill (the highest point of the Simonside Hills, appropriately marked with an OS triangulation pillar), where views are at their best — a sumptuous 360-degree panorama. Once enjoyed, backtrack to Bob Pyle's Studdie before heading down from the hilltops through plantation to the hamlet of Great Tosson (where you might be watched by a red squirrel among the trees).

The highlight at the foot of the woodlands is Great Tosson Tower, the remains of a Pele Tower reduced to ruins by scavenging of its stone for modern buildings (though 8-foot-thick walls show the scale of the original). From the tower the walk concludes with a stroll along a quiet country road back to the start, listening out for woodland finches, crossbills, and tiny goldcrests.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.