We awoke to glorious sunshine this morning. It was hard to say goodbye to Jo, who had to part company with us today. On the advice of our friend Dave, who had first brought the Reivers Way to our attention, we decided to walk from Rothbury to Harbottle via the road to Thropton rather than face a frustrating several hours trying to navigate through poorly marked farm fields. (Our diversion rejoined the guide’s route near Sharperton.) This made for both quick and attractive walking, and since traffic was light it posed no hardship. Harbottle was an attractive village, but since it was early we chose to continue on to the Rose and Thistle in Alwinton for lunch. The pub turned out to be quite strange, lacking any character or charm, but served good food so we paused there happily over Ploughman’s lunches and ginger beers.

From Alwinton we joined the old drovers’ route, Clennell Street, which took us into the Cheviot Hills. The Cheviots are truly unique: the hills are not especially high or imposing compared with the Lake District, rather, the landscape comprises many round emerald green hills covered by patches of heather that must be stunning in late summer. The walk became more remote and beautiful with each passing mile, and the walking surface on Clennell Street was good. The only tricky navigation occurred in an area of plantation forest that had recently been felled, obscuring the right of way. Leaving Clennell Street, the unmarked footpath all the way down to Uswayford Farm* was boggy and muddy, which presented some tough walking late in an already long day. As Roberts notes in his guide, Uswayford is one of the most remote farms in England, and the only accommodation for miles. Nancy Buglass, the proprietor, caters almost exclusively to walkers who come off the Pennine Way on their penultimate day (before reaching the finish at Kirk Yetholm, presumably with a huge sigh of relief!). We asked Nancy how many Reivers Way walkers she hosted each year, assuming this would accurately reflect the number doing the walk (those who used B&B accommodation, at any rate), since it is the only choice in this stretch of the walk. She said she has no more than 2-4 guests in a year walking the Reivers Way, which made us justly proud of our accomplishment! Nancy served us tea on arrival, just as a tremendous downpour began. We had gorgeous views of the valley—and the rain—from her sitting room, where we also had our evening meal. A lone Pennine Way walker from Cologne arrived just before dinner, and he had suffered through horrible weather and walking conditions nearly the entire 250+ miles he had completed thus far. This convinced us that the PW held little appeal, and that walking it would be more a “badge of honor” for us than an attractive long distance route to compare with  Wainwright's Coast to Coast, Offa’s Dyke Path (which we walked in 1998), or the Dales Way.

*Uswayford Farm does not have a website. To request accommodation, contact Nancy Buglass, Uswayford Farm, Harbottle, Northumberland NE65 7BU, tel: (01669) 650237

In front of Rothbury's memorial cross

The lovely Coquet Valley (several shots follow without captions)

Much of the Reivers Way lies within the national park boundaries

Approaching Harbottle, with the castle remains on the hilltop

The small village of Harbottle

The route follows a bridleway from Harbottle to Alwinton

Leaving Alwinton, via an ancient drover's road called Clennell Street

Our first views of the unique Cheviot Hills

Curious young lambs

We encountered no other walkers, unusual given the gorgeous lanscape

Beginning our descent to remote Uswayford Farm

The farm is nestled in a lovely, quiet valley

on to Day 8
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