Alston to Dufton: E2 Day 58

A sunny day with excellent views from Crossfell the highest point on the Pennine Way.

Leaving Alston the Pennine Way took me up the valley of the River South Tyne to the village of Garrigill.  My path, in the shadow of the sun on the east side of the valley, was white with frost. The crisp blades of grass outlined with ice crystals. On the other side of the valley the morning sun highlighted bright green frost free fields bounded by dry stone walls, and dotted with sheep. The river ran brown and fast, sparkling in the sunlight among the yellow and green leaves of the October trees.

Morning frost.

River South Tyne.

Arriving at Garrigill, thinking as I have on earlier trips that it would benefit from a tea shop, I looked in at the Post Office for a banana and bar of chocolate. Then I started the long climb up to the first of four summits I would cross today. The gravel road wound up among the heather covered moors. Grouse stood and muttered to themselves, then flew off as I came close, squawking with much flapping of their wings. As it was grouse shooting season I thought they ought to keep their heads down, out of sight. Other sounds included the trickling of water from unseen streams, and as I climbed higher, the noise of wind in my ears. Around me empty moors, stretched far away, cut by valleys, with few signs of any human settlement.

Empty moors north of Crossgill.

Renovations at Greg's Hut.

I climbed past the spoil heaps of an old mining operation. Low ruins of  buildings, their drystone walls blending into the surrounding rocks, were tended by sheep. Surmounting a rise, my next milestone came into sight - Greg's hut. There was much activity at the hut. A person who thought the hut saved his life (was he caught out in bad weather I wondered) made a generous bequest which was being used, together with donations from an appeal by the Mountain Bothies Association, to completely renovate the bothy in a traditional style. Builders were finishing the roof as I arrived. Stone flags were being used as slates on the new roof. The local builder in charge said the roof timbers had been replaced, sarking boards had been installed, new windows would be arriving shortly and cast iron guttering was in place with new drainage ditches. Work could not start until the nesting season was over and they were now battling the weather. The remote location did not help. The builder was proud he had used an ancient Egyptian technique of laying the stone "slates" on sand to stop them being cracked on the trip up the rough track to Greg's hut.

Leaving the workmen I continued to the summit of Cross fell, at 893 metres the highest point on the Pennine Way and my walk so far on the E2. As I ate my lunch, the walls of a drystone shelter on the summit provided a limited barrier to the cold wind that was blowing. In front of me I looked over to the mountains of the Lake District, the visibility was far better than on my previous visits to these mountains. 

After Cross Fell I had three more summits, Little Dun Fell, Great Dun Fell and Knock Fell. Owing to the Air Traffic Control radar dome on top of Great Dun Fell, the Pennine Way did not quite reach the top of this mountain. 

After the excitement of reaching these summits in good weather, from Knock Fell down to the village of Dufton, the path seemed long, wet, tiring and poorly signed. My knee was painful and refusing to bend properly at the stiles. There were also mud and cow manure covered farmyards to be negotiated. It was a long day at 32 kilometres and over a thousand metres of ascent, although it was the descents that my knees do not like. 

Stone slabs designed to make walking easier are under water. Either they have sunk or there is too much water.

I booked into the YHA at Dufton, showered and then visited the busy pub opposite for a a pint and a thick slice of chicken and chorizo pie. A reward for a long day. Finding my way back to the hostel, just the other side of the green, was made difficult by the lack of street lighting. After peering at a few buildings in the gloom I am now back inside.