The Cheviot


The Cheviot is the highest summit in the Cheviot Hills in the far north of England, only 1¼ miles from the Scottish border. It is the last major peak on the Pennine Way, if travelling from south to north, before the descent into Kirk Yetholm.
Other than the route via the Pennine Way, most routes up the Cheviot start from the Harthope Burn side to the northeast, which provides the nearest access by road. The summit is around 3 miles from the road-end at Langleeford; across the valley to the east is the rounded peak of Hedgehope. There are routes following the ridges above either side of the valley, and a route that sticks to the valley floor until it climbs to the summit of the Cheviot from the head of the valley.
Although the Pennine Way does a two-mile out-and-back detour to the Cheviot, many walkers who come this way omit it, since the stage is 29 miles long.
approaching the summit of The Cheviot
bomber that crashed in World War II
The summit of the Cheviot is very flat. It is an ancient, extinct volcano. It is covered with an extensive peat bog up to 6 feet deep; the Northumberland National Park Authority have laid down stone slabs on the main access footpath to prevent erosion damage to the peat and to make the approach to the summit safer for walkers.
North of the summit, in the peat bogs, are the remains of a crashed B-17 bomber, which hit the mountain due to a navigational error in World War II. The more recognisable pieces of wreckage have been removed, but pieces of the aircraft can still be found.

Etymology

Though the exact etymology behind the Cheviot is unknown, it is generally understood to be Celtic. It can be most plausibly explained as a formation of the Brittonic *ceμ-, 'a ridge', and the nominal suffix -ed.

View

The view is obscured greatly by the flatness of the summit plateau. Nevertheless, on a clear day the following are visible ; Broad Law, Moorfoot Hills, Pentland Hills, the Ochils, Lammermuir Hills, Ros Hill, Long Crag, Urra Moor, Tosson Hill, Burnhope Seat, Cross Fell, Helvellyn, Scafell Pike, Skiddaw, Sighty Crag, Peel Fell, and Queensberry.

Subsidiary SMC">Scottish Mountaineering Club">SMC Summits

SummitHeight Listing
Cairn Hill West Top 743DT,CoH,Bg,xN