Thrunton Crag

Turn left off the A697 800 metres north of the crossroads with the B6341 at a bend signposted Thrunton Wood and follow the road over the bridge at Rough Castles to park at the Forestry Commission car park. Continue along the road until a track is seen on the left. Follow the track for about 1½ kilometres until the crag is sighted stretching across the hillside to the right.

General

The crag is situated in Thrunton Wood approximately 2 ½ kilometres north of Coe Crag and commands an expansive view of Whittingham Vale to the Cheviots beyond. There are several independent buttresses spread across a steep and vegetated hillside and because of the difficulty in traversing that hillside it is usually easier to use the Forest track, which runs above the crag to progress from buttress to buttress. These are individually described and the approach to each from the track above is given. It is not a popular crag and many of the routes are dirty.

Rock

Fell Sandstone Carboniferous, Dinantian

History

The crag has been climbed on for some time and Thrunton Front was put up by Malcolm Rowe in 1968. The main development was by Gordon Thompson together with John Grey, Kevin Watt, Bob Crossling, John Cummings and Tommy Carey in 1973. Most of the routes described here are the result of their work (though George Micheson found the solution to Birthday Crack) and it was Gordon Thompson who originally supplied the information.