Tour of Northumberland and Scottish Borders June 2026
The Hadrians Wall Run a celebration of 125 years of the MCC
Organised by Myke Pocock and Team.
In the Footsteps of Hadrian, The Border Reivers and Leadminers
When the event was announced by Myke, Jenny and myself were keen to enter as we had planned to spend most of June in Northumberland attending two of our motorhome club Rallies. Our plan was to combine the two rallies and use the time before the Hadrians Wall Run to tour the Scottish Borders visiting interesting historical places and scenic areas.
We set off from home on a 410 mile journey with our Smart car on tow using an ‘A Frame’ behind the motorhome to the first rally at Corbridge on the River Tyne. At Corbridge there are the remains of a Roman Town and an excellent museum with a world class Roman Collection including the renowned Corbridge Hoard discovered in 1964 a significant time capsule buried between AD122 and 138. From Corbridge we also drove, using the Smart car, to the Roman Forts at Chesters and Halsteads. Halsteads Fort is set high on a dramatic escarpment with good views of Hadrians Wall to which it is joined.
The next motorhome campsite was near Alnwick, so it was a must visit to Barters second-hand bookshop one of the largest in the country sited on an old Victorian Railway station with a good motoring section, a model railway running around at a high level and coffee and cake in the waiting room. What more could you want!
We had planned two stops before the Hadrian Wall Run the first at Jedburgh and the second at Moffat, both having MCC connections. We last visited Jedburgh in June 2002 when competing in the MCC Centenary Trial organised by Dick Peachy, Jedburgh being the most northerly point after two special tests run in Keilder Forest. We arrived at Jedburgh late at night so did not appreciate how nice and unspoilt the town is. On this occasion we visited the 14th century ruined Abbey, the town jail, not a place you would want to stay at, and Mary Queen of Scots house where she spent some time in 1566.
The reason for staying at Moffat was because in 1934 it was a place on the route of the MCC Edinburgh Trial. The route led on to Tweedsmuir and then on to Talla Reservoir where a section called Talla Linn was held. This section had always attracted me to it as it is very scenic, WJ (Bill) Brunell had taken lovely scenic photos of the 1934 event of the cars competing on the section.
A run out in the Smart car was carried out following the 1934 route along the A701 to Tweedsmuir then on to the unclassified road alongside the Talla reservoir to the Talla Linn section. Here we stopped and took a photo! In much the same place as Bill Brunell would have stopped 92 years ago. The great thing about driving on the country and scenic roads in the region is the complete lack of traffic. On this drive of approximately 21 miles we saw 6 other cars! Another outing in the Smart Car from Moffat was to the lead mining town of Wanlockhead the highest habited village in Scotland. We visited aa very interesting and informative museum covering how the mine operated in the 18th and 19th centuries. There was also an option of descending into the lead mine itself.
Before participating in the Hadrian’s Wall Run we visited the Roman Vindolanda one of Europe’s most famous archaeological sites. The following day we met up with Roger and Caroline and visited the Roman Army Museum at Greenhead and watched an interesting film about a Roman soldier’s life on the Hadrian Wall. On Saturday the 25th it was up early to get to the start at the Twice Brewed Inn for the 125 Anniversary Run. We were no 2 in the running order with Roger and Caroline behind at No3. Weather was good apart from some heavy showers of rain when leaving Keilder reservoir. The route was excellent with a complete variety of roads, lovely surfaced main roads, long straights sweeping down and up, to narrow tracks across open moors and fields lined with cows and sheep wondering where we had come from and even went through a couple of farmyards! One of the main joys was to how little traffic there was on the country roads. The landscape was fabulous with wide sweeping scenic views, the three Eildon Hills were impressive an icon of the Borders Landscape, and the many isolated farms on the open slopes of the land. Lovely memories. We finished the run at 4.30 having covered 110 miles The evening was spent having a good meal at the Twice Brewed Inn with all the participants of the Run.
The Sunday again saw us up not quite so early to enjoy another run but this time abandoning the Smart Car and going with Caroline and Roger in their very comfortable BMW. Again brilliant roads and scenery with extensive views to finish at the narrow gauge railway station of South Tynedale. A narrow gauge steam train pulled in while we were there.
Overall a great event. Many thanks to Myke and his team for an excellent time.
