Outer Quickening Cleugh

Davidson's Burn in a corridor of bracken, heather and extremely hummocky grass as it passes through the upper reaches of the Uswayford Plantation. Had hoped there may be a faint path down stream but no sign. 450m above sea level, this plantation creeps up almost to the border ridge.

Hedgehope Hill is on the right.

Cold Law Cairn can be seen on the ridge ahead. This can be a very boggy area of peat hags. Compare this photo from 2009: NT9118 : Fence corner , Comb Fell

Bright pink exposures of rock by the stream below catch the eye.

See also NT9119 : Ridge of pink igneous rock by upper Harthope Burn

I wasn't sure about my title or description for this interesting geological formation, and was surprised to find that such a prominent feature did not appear to have been previously described or illustrated. It is possible that the ridge alongside the upper Harthope Burn only became uncovered to this extent in recent years, possibly following the large storms in 2009 that caused so much damage in Cheviot valleys further down. An existing geological field guide excursion in the valley has its final site at Harthope Linn (The Cheviot - early Devonian rocks, granite and basement by Peter Allen, Chapter 4, Northumbran Rocks and Landscape: A Field Guide, Yorkshire Geological Society 1995). An email request for assistance in its interpretation sent to the Natural History Society of Northumbria was kindly answered by geologist, Brian Young. Although unfamiliar with the exact location and not having a rock specimen, he offered me the following likely interpretation: "The place shown lies well within the outcrop of the Cheviot Granite as shown by the British Geological Survey 1:50 000 scale Sheet 5 (The Cheviot). The Harthope valley, for much of its course, is determined by a prominent NE-SW trending fault assumed by at least one author to be a shear fault of Hercynian age. My suggestion is that the pink material forming the prominent ridge in your picture is an exposure of granite, almost certainly affected in some way by proximity to this major fault line. A common feature of the rocks of the Cheviot is the local presence of patchy zones of deep alteration which renders the rocks rather soft and prone to erosion. Various theories have been put forward to account for this alteration, though no definitive answer has yet emerged. It is possible that the rock in your picture includes examples of this sort of alteration." A second photo of the outcrop just below the ridge NT9119 : Pink igneous rock outcrop by upper Harthope Burn does give a hint of a shattered rock surface that may indeed be a form of eroded modified granite. I must get back up there and collect a bit for a closer look.

Coldlaw Cairn can be seen on the ridge to the right. Cushat Law is the hill behind. The hills to its left are Wether Cairn and Hogdon Law.

Looking towards Comb Fell and the shapely Hedgehope Hill, second highest summit in the Cheviots.

Up here the burn is just a trickle and the vague footpath constantly switches from one side to the other. Hedgehope Hill is the shapely fell left-of-centre.

A curious arete of soft, red material (almost like soil) in the upper reaches of the burn. I managed to tiptoe along the crest.

An ancient trade route

Looking towards The Cheviot

Drainage channel which probably feeds Harthope Burn

Help required at times

A Cheviot walk.

I tried to follow the dog but the ridge becomes very narrow, high up and the material of which it is made has the consistency of coarse sand. My earlier discussion of its geology is here NT9119 : Ridge of pink igneous rock by upper Harthope Burn There is another photo here NT9119 : Eroded ridge of soft, red rock by Harthope Burn

The location is just above the pink sandy ridge NT9119 : Maisy explores the sandy ridge part of which is just visible behind.