On the Simonside hills

On the Simonside hills. South of Rothbury in Northumberland lies a fine set of hills, especially when the weather behaves.

In local tales, there’s this mythical creature dwelling in these hills. They call it a ‘deaugar’ (Norse for ‘dwarf’). Supposedly, it tricks folks at night with its lantern glow, leading them straight into bogs or over cliffs for a deadly finale1https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonside_Hills. Never laid eyes on it myself, mind you. Only been out on these hills a couple of times back in the 1980s during the Simonside hill race and an orienteering race. And they were in daylight.

Didn’t know then that some human remains had been in the forest at those races, discovered in 1986 during yet another orienteering event. The chap had been missing for a good two years2https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19861209/028/0003?noTouch=true. Hearing that news made me a bit uneasy, thinking about how close I might’ve come to that unsettling discovery.

• 1
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simonside_Hills
• 2
  https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002240/19861209/028/0003?noTouch=true