Bellingham to Hareshaw Linn Walks

Bellingham to Hareshaw Linn
The short walk up this deeply cut valley offers good protection when the wind is howling. The Hareshaw Burn has cut its way down through the hard sandstone capping to the softer shales below, resulting in a steep sided dene. This is particularly noticeable at the upper section where overhanging blocks of rock, under their own weight, have tumbled down into the stream below. The route is nice and easy going, with bench seats placed at intervals along the riverside.

The walk is signposted from the carpark and its unlikely that you will get lost. You can start either from the town centre, or from the Hareshaw Linn carpark. From the town centre, take the Redesmouth road. After 50 metres, over a bridge, a sign points left towards the carpark.

The wide, open part of the dene at the bottom passes a series of small hillocks which are the remnants of spoil heaps from the old iron works which was worked here for a few years in the middle of the last century.Just above these, you enter a wooded area through a fourth small gate. You might not have noticed the previous two, as they are positioned next to two large farm gates which are usually open.

Into the old woodland now. Its full of charm, and rich in flora and fauna. If you're quiet you might just catch a glimpse of the deer which frequent the dene here. The path through the woods is very good, made up of stones and steps where neccessary. It winds backwards and forwards across the burn over a series of six bridges and a long wooden walkway, the distance between each one becoming closer as we near the top of the dene. Take a look at the upper bridges. They seem to be supported on old railway lines.

At the top of the gorge, where the waterfall cascades thirty feet down to the burn below, a nick has been cut into the strata. With time, the falls will gradually move upstream, and the remaining overhangs on both sides will eventually break away. It may seem unlikely that anyone will be clinging to the underside of the overhangs when this happens, but if you look at the right (eastern) wall of the overhanging sections you will see a selection of old rope and metal pegs left in place by an ancient and ambitious climber who was brave enough to try the ascent. Whether or the climber was successful in his or her endeavours will have to remain as speculation.

Just over to the right of the falls, a small cave provides a good point from which photographs can be taken, while offering protection from the potentially loose rocks above. It is often quite dull at this point, because the suns rays only reach the falls for a couple of hours each day. There is no other obvious way out of the dene by footpath, and so the return journey requires that we retrace ours steps back to Bellingham.