Guide book
Winner Vivienne Crow
Walking in Northumberland / published by Cicerone
Vivienne accepting her award from OWPG’s chair, Peter Gillman
The ground drops away dramatically to the north of the dolerite ridge on
which Hadrian’s Wall was built
I
’d long been entranced by Northumberland’s beauty
and isolation. Driving east from my home in Carlisle
along the old military road, the largely uninhabited
country north of Hadrian’s Wall was always alluring.
(How can anyone who loves the outdoors resist the call
of those places that appear, at least on the surface, to
be relatively free of human interference? The call of
solitude?) It was that ‘emptiness’ that first drew me.
Over the years, I’d walked most of the wall, enjoyed
several trips to the Cheviot Hills, explored much of the
coast and spent many long, happy days in the North
Pennines, but I still had lots more to discover. The
county was only slowly revealing its secrets and I was
delighting in the spell it had over me.
So, when Jonathan Williams at Cicerone asked me if
12 Outdoor focus | winter 2018
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I wanted to write a walking guide to the area, there was
the briefest moment of hesitation... Writing a guidebook
would mean getting to know the area intimately over
a relatively short period of time. Did I want to break
the spell that quickly? Or did I want to savour the slow
reveal? The indecision didn’t last long though... What an
opportunity! To be able to spend weeks on end in one of
the most beautiful and fascinating counties in England
– and call it work! Yes please!
For those who haven’t yet got round to visiting
England’s most northerly county, Northumberland sits
right up against the Scottish border on the eastern side
of the country. Its English neighbours are Cumbria,
County Durham and Tyne and Wear. Stretching from
Berwick-upon-Tweed in the northeast to the tiny South
Tynedale village of Slaggyford in the southwest – two
places that, even as the crow flies, are about 105km
apart – it covers more than 5000 square kilometres. It’s
not quite the biggest county in England, but it feels like
it as you wander its hills, valleys, moors and beaches.
Much of Northumberland receives statutory
protection from unwanted development: Roughly
25 per cent of the county, including Hadrian’s Wall
and the Cheviot Hills, is within the boundaries of the
Northumberland National Park. The county also has
two designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
– the North Pennines, which takes in the valleys and
moorland to the south of Hexham and Haltwhistle; and
the Northumberland Coast.
So, what’s so special about walking here? And how is
it that, despite immersing myself in the county to write
a guide to 36 walks here, I’m still in thrall to its charms?
As I explain in the introduction to the book, it’s got a
lot to do with history. There are few places in England