If you want to get a head get a G.P.S.

The Head in question being Coquet Head, the source of the river. I never thought that you could be moved by standing looking at some tall grass with a gurgling sound coming from it.
Setting out from beside Chew Green, Mr. Cheviot and i headed along the Pennine Way in so so conditions initially, on our quest A brief chat to a couple who were walking the whole of the Way and with the Scottish Border immediately on our right we picked up the small track which was to lead us to our goal after only a few metres. The G.P.S.indicated immediately where we could find it as without the gadget it may have proved elusive.

The view from the head of the river towards the Coquet Valley

We left the scene happy chappies and continued our walk back-tracking on ourselves for a short while before leaving the "official" Pennine Way and joining the alternative Pennine Way. There were hundreds of Meadow Pipits all the time we were out and apart from a couple of Swallows and a few Corvids here and there, as expected not much about. A brief venture north of the border into Scotland for about 20 seconds as by now we were following the line of the border fence........Mr. Cheviot wouldn't join me, he said he didn't have his passport with him.

The land of the Jock. Expect whisky, ptarmigan, haggis and a lot of "red" people.

We were actually "winging it" as far as the walk itself was concerned as the original plan A had been scuppered due to the red flags in the Danger Area. An encounter with 3 Mancunians who were doing the P.Way in stages, due to work commitments, in 2 and 3 day stages. They were looking forward to the free beer you get at the end of the walk which they were expecting to down, along with a few more today in Kirk Yetholm. Up to Brownhart Law then back on the true Pennine Way along a stretch of Roman road called Dere Street then past the Roman remains and we were back at our set off point having covered only 14 km. but had more importantly to us managed a total ascent of 398 metres.

We are so lucky to have all this on our doorstep. Everyone you bump into whilst out and about who are visiting the area tell you so.

Ironically we saw more from the car while out. A Goosander was spotted on the river in the morning and i saw her on the return home. Also seen before we had reached Alwinton were a Ring-tailed Hen Harrier, 2 Buzzards on fence posts overlooking the river. 6 female Goosanders afloat together along with the single female i saw again from the morning. All sightings were very close and of course camera and bins were in the boot.