Wild Swimming

Cheviots and the Tweed To the north-east of Hadrian’s Wall lie the Cheviot Hills and a Northumberland borderland contested for centuries by chieftains and smugglers. Deep remote valleys are rich in river pools and on the northern edge you can swim to Scotland across the River Tweed.

All is peaceful in the county now and much is protected in the fabulous and remote Northumberland National Park with Kielder Forest and the Cheviot hill range. Three river dales drain the Cheviots: the Harthope, the Breamish and the Coquet. The best-known pool on all of these is Linhope Spout on the Breamish, renowned for its unfathomable depth.

It’s a long walk to the Spout but the high plume is worth it. It tips down a straight chute into an almost perfect cylindrical plunge pool on the edge of a wooded Breamish dale. Popular with walkers and families cooling off in the summer, there is a fun six-foot ledge from which you can jump. For the wildlife enthusiast, Linhope Burn attracts breeding birds like the dipper and grey wagtail – always on the move in their search for caddis-fly and other aquatic invertebrates. You may well also see an oystercatcher scurrying along the river bank.

The River Coquet is easier to reach, but feels just as remote.

A winding mountain lane runs for many miles to the head of the dale. Here it meets the Scottish border and the remains of Chew Green Roman Fort, an old staging post on the road from York to Scotland.

I followed the road to Linbriggs and Sillmoor and a stretch of perfect river pools bounded by grassy moor. The current was just strong enough to pick me up and propel me down the chute of the mini-waterfall. Although the river is generally shallow, it’s possible to swim down for at least half a mile, mainly 219