pebblesfromheaven

Very depressing place in my opinion, probably lots to do with the cemetery it sits beside. I mean, I quite like some graveyards, but this is a depressing place. Not much beauty.
Maybe it’s nicer in summer.

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I thought I’d just pop along and see what was here, there was a path nearby, I thought, should be easy. Wrong!

It was over boggy ground (thankfully mostly frozen), up a hill, fighting over a fence, all the time with some rather menacing-looking sheep watching! In the end, got where I wanted but inside the tree plantation the ground was, as you would expect, littered with needles to quite a depth. I tried a few exposed rocks, but they were loose and bare. I think any carved outcrop here would be well-and-truly hidden, and worst-case may be even damaged by the planting.

I didn’t find anything anyway :-( and I won’t be coming back unless the trees go!!

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Recommend that anyone coming here pick up a leaflet from the tourist information, it gives a wonderful aerial shot and diagrams etc.

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On a very bright clear February Saturday afternoon, lots of people had the same idea as me to come here (including moey! PS I was first :-) )

The car-park was very busy (approx 15 cars+), but surprisingly it still had a feeling of isolation, and the site is large enough to take lots of separate wanderers. If you come in the summer, come early or late, you’ll get parked and the light will be better!

There is definately more rock art than I found today, another great excuse for a return visit.

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Walked down here from the Lordenshaws fort to the south-west of here, passing the cairns. Once again, another Cheviot view! With the town of Rothbury on the hillside.

Bit of a disappointing stone, though! I almost didn’t see it at all until I was on top of it.

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Actual location of two of these outcrops is NU018328.
The large, dark stone had just had the turf removed by an unknown previous (and very recent) visitor. Was it the great Stan B?

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Walked here from The Ringses.

The OS map says this is “rems of” a circle – not fair! There are still 4 visible stones, OK two left standing but it still has the right feel. Lots of stones underfoot too. One of the fallen stones isn’t quite horizontal, you can tell which was the top surface by the characteristic weathering patterns.

Unusually for this area, the Cheviot is not visible! (shock horror) – it is obscured by Doddington Moor. To the east however, Chatton, and Weetwood to the south.

Took a few moments to enjoy the silence and to watch a pale-coloured bird flying around which I’m sure was an owl, but it was broad daylight (?)

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Visited on my way back from Blawearie, which is the burial ring cairn mentioned by some previous posters.

Tried but failed to find the piggy-looking stone, was getting dark! Very good reason to back again, like I need one :-)

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Very hard to describe this, it’s a circular, curbed site with a wall within, containing cists, with mounds inside and surrounding. I think it has been restored, but only marked on the OS map as a cairn, it’s much more.

The hillfort and carved stones of Old Bewick are not too far away and the mother hill visible as always.

The ruined farmstead nearby is also interesting (well it was for me), as are the rocky outcrops beside, which have been partly walled for shelters. You can see how people wanted to live up here. But you can also understand how it fell into ruin! Tried to work out when it was last lived in, perhaps early 20th century. Looks like it’s used a lot by campers, and is on a mapped cycle route.

A lovely day although very overcast. Definitely one to come back to when sunnier.

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Had a nice surprise today when I unexpectedly found myself passing this site on the way to a meeting... unfortunately didn’t have my camera on me, so just had to quickly write down the location so I could identify it later. Will go equipped next time I promise :-)

Originally there must have been fantastic views across the Firth from here, now blighted a bit by the closeness to the road.

Except of course for the fact that it is in the perfect position to sometimes give a nice vibe to a passing traveller.

Hurrah!

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