Hidden out on the moors, shrouded by a thick sea of heather lies an old smugglers tunnel. An old smugglers tunnel with 18th century graffiti, a ceiling that glitters with fool’s gold and a passageway long enough to lose all outside light.
In short, it’s the stuff adventurous kids (and adults!) dreams are made of! I love the fact that it has been left open for anyone to explore, all you need is a torch and a rough idea of where to find it.
And that’s where we come in. We’re sharing exactly how to find Cateran Hole and what to expect when you do.
The walk to Cateran Hole
The stats
Distance: 0.85 miles (1.4 km) each way
Elevation gain: 80m
Difficulty: Easy
The trail
From the parking area (details below) the walk follows the public footpath sign, heading up the grassy path between a sea of heather. It’s a flat and easy start to the trail, and if you’re walking when the heather is in full bloom it will be especially pretty.
We were a touch early, walking on a very overcast day at the start of August, but there were still some vibrant patches, which gave the otherwise bleak moors a splash of colour.
After 750m you’ll come to a small footpath sign and head left. The path continues in much the same way: flat and inbetween the heather. The one difference is that this section can be a touch muddy and boggy in places (after heavy rain), although almost all of the wet ground was easy to skirt around.
After another 450m (1.2km into the walk) you’ll notice a small rock in the centre of the trail with the letters ‘CH’ carved into it. This is when you know to take the turning on your left.
This next path is slightly muddier still, although we were visiting during a particularly wet period, so it may not always be the case. It was still easy to get round and didn’t venture into soaked boots territory.
Just 150m after making the left turn you will arrive at the entry to Cateran Hole, marked with a small white post.
Entering Cateran Hole
The entry to the Cateran Hole is exactly what the entry to a smugglers tunnel should be: dark, a touch overgrown and very mysterious. There are a couple of stairs and then a little bit of dirt track before you reach the mouth of the tunnel.
When wet it can be a bit muddy, but still straightforward enough to get in with care. The start of the tunnel has a decent amount of natural light and it’s at this first bit of tunnel on the right where you can see the the numbers ‘1765’ engraved on the rock.
Just past the entryway you’ll see fool’s gold sparkling on the tunnel ceiling, which definitely added to the smugglers atmosphere!
The walkway through the tunnel is uneven at first and you quickly lose the outside light. We only had our phone torches, which were good enough to see where we were going, but not good enough to get clear photos - for that you’re better off bringing a torch.
The uneven floor gives way to a short smooth section just before you reach a sort of boulder wedge, which decreases the height of the tunnel significantly.
You could crawl through into the next part of the tunnel, but we didn’t fancy the idea of that and decided to turn back.
Our watch measured the tunnel as 50m, but it definitely isn’t that long - I think it’s because our stride was so short due to the uneven terrain. The tunnel is said to be 35m long, which seems much more likely.
Cateran Hole history
Although I’ve been calling Cateran Hole a smugglers tunnel, there is still a little debate as to what it was really used for, as nobody truly knows. On reading what little is written about Cateran Hole, I thought it was most likely that it was indeed a smugglers tunnel (and it’s probably the idea I was most attracted to as it seemed the most exciting).
Others believe that it might have been a secret passageway between Hepburn and Chillingham Castle, but apparently it doesn’t appear to go in that direction, so smugglers tunnel it is as far as I am concerned : )
Parking for and getting to the Cateran Hole
The Cateran Hole is located close to the village of Eglingham and has no official car park. Instead there is room to pull fully off the road at these coordinates: 55.5151910, -1.8413653 (you can see it on Google Maps by clicking here).
Cateran Hole is approximately 25 minutes drive from Alnwick, 45 minutes from Morpeth and an hour from Newcastle.
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