More quiet National Parks

NORTHUMBERLAND

Just 2200 residents means this is by far the least populated of Britain’s 15 national parks and its visitor numbers spell tranquility too, with 1.49 million a year. Many of those cluster along the great Roman line of Hadrian’s Wall and particularly at the forts like Housesteads, leaving much of the rest of the park tumbleweed empty. Solitude seekers will particularly enjoy the Cheviot Hills, where slopes swell from deep-cut valleys like the Coquet (above) and the College, to lofty, rounded tops with views into Scotland. Try Windy Gyle or the highest of them all, The Cheviot itself at 2674 feet. Or head to Hedgehope Hill where crag ruffles the smooth gradients and Linhope Spout tumbles into the valley below, its falling water echoing in the silence. WALK HERE: Turn to Walk 19 in this issue for your Hedgehope Hill route.

THE CAIRNGORMS

A few more visitors – 1.77 million a year – make it to Britain’s largest national park but with 1748 square miles to play in, the people to mile ratio is low. Its fearsome reputation – a windswept plateau of Arctic cold that’s home to five of Britain’s six biggest mountains – can be daunting, but there are achievable ways up many of its hulking peaks, like Ben Macdui, Braeriach and Lochnagar, and those long, spectacular miles are best tackled in the plentiful light of summer days. The glens between are extraordinary too, from the Lairig Ghru (above) that bisects the plateau, to Glen Muick with its beautiful loch, and Glen Clova, with Corrie Fee at its head, where the great river of ice that carved the glen was formed. WALK HERE: Turn to Walk 26 in this issue for your Corrie Fee route guide.