The Great Outdoors – July 2019

Cribyn & N escarpment

from Pen y Fan

90 The Great Outdoors July 2019

lead the eye onwards to the tall
cone that’s The Curr.
The Curr is grassy. And the
grass is grasping, calf-deep and
clingy. So I go up quite slowly,
stopping rather often to enjoy
the growing view. And then
The Curr turns to that tufty
sedge stuff that’s even harder
to go up than the clingy
grassland was. For a hill
that’s only 564m high, The
Curr does have an awful lot
of sedgy slope to go up.
The summit, when it comes,
is quite different. No more
unpleasant sedge. Instead,
a whole heap of unpleasant
heather, knee-deep and peaty.
It’s also rather flat, with not
much to look at apart from
some more knee-deep heather.
So no, The Curr doesn’t

cut it. Fortunately, the Curr-

swerving bypass isn’t hard to

find. And it’s a goodie. The

older version of the Pennine

Way rises out of Halterburn by

an old green trackway carved

into the steep side of Black

Hill. So I go down the green

track to just before The Curr,

and then come back up it –

and continue to an altogether

superior hill, The Schil. The

Schil has short grass, and the

Pennine Way path, and a rocky

little tor. The Schil has grand

views backwards across the

valley, and even grander views

forward to The Cheviot.

From the Schil it’s downhill

almost all the way. The higher

Pennine Way line runs almost

effortlessly down the 4km

Steer Ridge, with a stiff but

short ascent over White Law.

The Stob Stones are where the

Gypsy King and Queen were

crowned in the days when

travelling folk and tinkers

ruled over this tricky bit of

Border hillside. But even after

lingering at the Stob Stones,

I’m still at the Yetholm Hostel

an hour before it opens.

There are hills like The

Curr you go up once and you

won’t be going back. But there

are other hills you go up once

and you want to go again, as

soon as possible. Staerough,

say: wouldn’t it make a sweet

little circuit, starting off along

the banks of Bowmont Water?

So I dump my sack on the

hostel steps, and go back up

Staerough Hill to catch the

early evening light.

Further information

Maps: OS 1:25,000

Explorer sheet OL16

(The Cheviot Hills); Harvey

1:40,000 Superwalker,

Cheviot Hills

Transport: Kirk Yetholm

(1.5km from start) has

Peter Hogg bus 81 to Kelso, with

links to Berwick and Edinburgh

(regular buses Monday to

Friday, more limited on

Saturdays, no Sunday service).

See roadhoggs.net

i

Information: Kelso TIC

01573 228055, also see

stcuthbertsway.info

[Captions clockwise from top]

Lower Pennine Way above Old

Halterburn; Stob Stones; Halter

Burn, with The Curr