Viper Rocks

Northumberland

Description: Above the town of Rothbury is an incredible assortment of erratic sandstone
boulders and small craglets scattered across a wooded hillside, offering scenic views of the
Simonside hills and beyond. These are known on OS Maps as Addycombe and Addyheugh.
The venue is south facing on steep, well draining mixed woodland, spanning the entire
breadth of the escarpment and is divided into three sectors: East, Central and West. The
wooded sectors provide visitors both shelter and warmth in winter and coolness in summer,
making it a pleasant venue throughout the year.
All styles of bouldering will be found in this magical woodland with circuit, slab, high ball,
steep roof, low ball, thuggy and technical styles catered for.
History: The escarpments of Addycombe and Addyheugh were planted in the early 1980s,
obscuring most of the boulders from view. Around 2010, the moor at the top of Rothbury
had a significant forest fire; charred wood and scars can still be seen to this day.
Development began in the spring of 2022 with what would become the Central Sector, with
East and West sectors being developed in subsequent years.
Due to the dense treeline, the woodland is quite a labyrinth to navigate. We would highly
recommend downloading What3Words for each bloc’s exact location

Crag information
Climbing Area: North East Rock Type: Sandstone
Importance: Local CRoW Land: No
Ownership: Unknown No. of Routes: 153
Within National Park: No Year Developed: 2025
Grid Reference: NU 05711 02312

As the parking and the crag is in a residential area, it is likely that insensitive parking and behaviour would result in residents making access difficult.

The area was first used by mountain bikers who have put many hours into building trails.

Parking and Approach

Approach: The venue has two separate parking areas, both of which are accessed from
the west side of Rothbury village by driving up Gravelly Bank (same turnoff for
Gimmerknowe) and then taking Hillside Rd East.
East Sector - 2 minute walk-in from parking on Hillside Rd East
///verbs.acclaimed.occupy - see East Sector section for more details.
West Sector - 5 minute walk-in from parking on Blaeberry Hill Rd ///starlight.bitter.funny
- see West Sector section for more details.
DO NOT PARK IN ANY TURNING CIRCLE!
Marked trails have been provided to help guide visitors through the steep sided
woodland and each bloc described in this guide has an associated What3Words
hyperlink.

Group Advice

Consider coming in as few cars as possible

Area information

Weather Information

There are no guidebooks assigned to this crag

There are no files associated with this crag

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