Part and parcel of staycationing in the UK is dealing with weather which doesn’t always play along with your plans. We visited Northumberland at the end of May last year, when you’d expect spring to be fully sprung and summer well on the way. Therefore, we were lucky enough to have only one day of torrential, all day rain! Determined not to lose out on a day of adventures, we hopped in the car to venture further afield to somewhere with a bit less precipitation.
We ended up travelling about 90 minutes away to the quiet forestry plantation of Craik Forest near Hawick, just over the border in Scotland. While it was still a little damp, it was infinitely better than the weather we’d left behind in Northumberland, and we set off on a walk to find the forest’s resident waterfall. Sam was navigating, but it seemed more like we were just wondering around the wood until we stumbled across the waterfall! Our route also included lots of fighting our way through the undergrowth and not following the nice paths, so I’d recommend sticking to one of the forestry trails.
Some of the tracks here have been severely damaged by storms and there were times that we needed to scramble along degraded banks or clamber over fallen trees – this was in May 2022, so they may have been repaired by now. We had the place almost entirely to ourselves, and I can’t imagine that it’s ever hugely busy here. The forest is home to red squirrels but they were probably all sheltering from the rain during our visit!
Dog friendly rating – 5/5. This is a fab place for a dog walk, especially if you have a reactive dog and want somewhere nice and quiet. There are no stiles, and the dogs had a lot less difficulty with the damaged trails than we did! Best of all, the burn was easily accessible the whole time, which was perfect for both of ours who love to paddle.
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