Summer Trial 2026

Scrutineering and Documentation will start from 09:00am and finish at 12:30pm.

The event starts with a short drive out of the city to our first two regularities on some lovely undulating country lanes, skirting a couple of hamlets and scaling some burns, just below the village of Lanchester allowing crews to ease themselves gently into the event.

A rest halt follows at a beautiful country Inn right on the edge the North Pennine National Landscape before we are back out competing, skirting Derwent Reservoir and then diving deeper into the Pennines National Park, where we will traverse some wide and open roads all within the spectacular surroundings, before we return to the city for the first evening.

A full day of competition awaits you as we leave Durham for the mountains.

The day starts with a handful of regularities over a couple of the Pennine hills to warm you up, crossing the River East Allen and multiple burns along the way on roads to challenge and views to impress you.

We pause for a rest halt at a beautiful river side Inn on the edge of Parkhead Fell to stretch our legs and re-energise over coffee and a snack, before we descend into Tynedale over Alston Moor.

Our route then sees us travel south with an enjoyable length road section enabling you to take in the spectacular views enroute to the next section of competition.

Starting from the Teesdale valley we will be scaling some impressive hights and spotting other competitors along route as it follows the valley around in a loop.

We will then descend to Eggleston for Lunch in the grounds of the Georgian Hall, which has previously been purposed as a finishing school, a convalescent home during WWII, and now returned to a privately owned residence with a Grade II* listing that hosts events and has walled gardens open to the public. 

Our afternoon consists of a further regularities overlooking reservoirs, crossing moorlands and passing through forests, making our way south towards our afternoon halt on the infamous Tan Hill, this 17^th Century Inn is the highest Pub in the British Isles, a staggering 1732 feet or 528 meters above sea level. It is situated on the edge of the border between Co Durham and Cumbria, is said to be haunted and houses many spirits of which some you can take home as a souvenir!

From Tan Hill we push on for our tests of the day heading through Swaledale Valley to Catterick, for three fabulous tests using the smoothest tarmac and concrete tracks of the  infamous MOD base. The culmination of the day sees a short regularity through the lanes and flatter lands on the outskirts of Darlington.

We then head back to Durham for the evening’s entertainment and stories with time to relax and tell the tales of the day, the zeros or otherwise, and no doubt relate some of those tense moments in the car as you start to unwind!

The last day, and it will be time for crews to concentrate and gel together, looking for improvements, as the rally travels south competing on the country lanes around the village of Crook and bordering on to Hamsterley Forest. The third day also means we turn the heat up slightly, increasing the navigational challenges with the aim to test the skills you have built on over the last couple of days!

Today you will tackle tests at some excellent venues used on past HERO events and following our morning halt more competition, giving you a chance to hopefully move up the leader board.

The final part of the route will see two trickier regularities awaiting you as you head to the finish, where we will crown our winners and present the awards over lunch, before you head home by early afternoon, hopefully with a warm glow following a fun weekend of Historic Rallying under your belt.