Cheviot tester

Learmonth and myself tackle a night on Lamb hill.

We decided to head up into the cheviots a couple of weeks ago just for 1 night to test our map reading, weather endurance and to overall, get back into the swing of things up on the hills. 

We decide that Saturday the 15th was the best time for the both of us so the date was set and i was buzzing to get out there for the night. We set off from Berwick at 13:30 and was at Byrness for about 15:00 this is where we would start from en-route to the refuge hut on lamb hill about 9miles away. We both had day sacks with enough gear just in-case something went wrong, if something is going to go wrong it's usually the short trips where you might just switch off a bit.

We set off at 15:15 and joined the Pennine way, the going was good and the route is well sign posted so there was nothing to worry about we just bimbled on buzzing to be out there. You get a good view of the reservoir to your let and immediately to your right is the military's otterburn training ground (a no go zone). As we went on the light started to fade away and the wind picked up dropping the temperature to around 6 above it started raining to so out came the jackets but it never lasted long. After 2 hours walking the light was gone and what was a comfortable walk with signposts marking the route became an altogether different occasion. We decided to give ourselves a challenge by not using torches to see where we were going and only having the use of the map with no compass or GPS allowed. After passing the roman ruins the going got tough the ground underfoot become riddled with marsh outcrops, also the map reading became hard as the place is so bleak and it was dark. We plodded on struggling to keep on course due to the wide marsh areas, we pulled the map out at a cairn and found the track again we were about 2km away from the refuge hut on lamb hill to north and feelings were good. We set off again and 20min in we lost the track in a huge marsh area, we presumed that where we were on the map we should be veering off to the righ slightlyt as the track did on the map so we spread out a bit to see if we could pick up the track, we found a well walked track and decided that it was the one we were looking for so again we walked on. After walking for about 20min we stopped at a fence line and looked at each other both thinking the same thing.....we are not in the right place...We decided to get the compass out and see whats what, when we saw that the compass was pointing south we never believed it so we got the spare out, again the compass showed we were heading south it was time to get a grid reference so we powered up the Garmin and once it had a fix it had accuracy to within 6meters of our location. Once we had the grid we checked it to the map and couldn't believe where it was putting us on the map and the place where it had put us we did not want to believe as there was no fence line showing on the map. The fence looked allot older than the map so again we were confused and disorientated, we decided to believe the gear (as you always should) and took a bearing to the refuge hut from where we were we decide that we should pace out 100m then check our Garmin again and it confirmed that we were heading towards the refuge hut we carried on and made the refuge hut about 30min later after crossing more marshy ground.

The refuge hut on Lamb is small approx 12ft x 8ft wide and placed in the centre of a saddle, 

In the hut we got the wet gear off and hung it up. After that we got the food on the go i had spicy meatballs and Craig had soup and something else i cant remember, once sorted we got into our Baggies chatted for a bit about what had went on then crashed out for the night.

In the morning the weather was great and the temperature was 4'C so it was nippy but OK. We packed up had a brew took a picture and left the hut around 8am. We walked along the pennine way to the cairn we had been at the night before and realised where we had gone wrong, we checked the map at this point and kicked ourselves for being to confident the night before and just assuming we were going in the wright direction. After a good walk and nice weather we got back to Byrness around about 11:30-12:00am and headed home.

If the weather had changed that night when we were lost things could of been allot worse for us, you should never try and feel your way around the hills especially in an area so bleak as the Cheviot's.

Lessons learned from a one nighter:

• When it gets dark get the map & compass and walk to a bearing and always check it.
• Always trust your equipment and always carry a back up compass.
• Never assume anything.
• No matter how short the walk a good route card would of made the difference.
• And always carry hot chocolate it makes all the difference.