A great walk to a great pub: The Wallace Arms, Rowfoot, North Pennines

A walk through an area once populated by murderous clans leading to a cosy pub in rural Northumbria

Start The Wallace Arms, Rowfoot, Haltwhistle
Distance 4½ miles
Time 3½ hours
Elevation gain 215 metres
Difficulty Moderate and potentially muddy

The connection between William Wallace and Tynedale is as gory as a Sam Peckinpah movie. In 1297, Braveheart and his warriors tore through the Tyne Gap, ransacked churches, razed three priories and, in Hexham, burned a class of schoolboys alive (proof, if any more were needed, that you should never trust Mel Gibson). That the locals chose to name a pub after this bloody villain is proof of the grisly streak that runs through the Northumbrian sense of humour and the historic love of a good scrap.