24 April 2013: 33km. Started 08:15. Arrived 17:45.
This was the day with the Pennine Way highpoint at Cross Fell. Tom had kindly reminded me about Greg’s hut – a bothy available for shelter just below the summit. The weather looked decidedly wet so I set out in full waterproofs. However soon I was too warm and Tom who had set out five minutes after me overtook as I was removing a layer.
Before long I was walking in cloud with poor visibility, but a well defined path. At around the 500m contour line, the cloud behind me parted like a curtain revealing a view of Dufton below me. I was concerned to have to cross a band of hard snow as I knew I wasn’t anywhere near the high point. I made my way across by kicking steps into it at a narrow point. I found out later that the path had been impassable for most walkers only the previous week – I was fortunate in my timing. The wind became stronger. As Great Dun Fell approached, I was able to avoid the slippery difficult flagstones and follow the road leading up to the “radome”. Apparently there are gale force winds here on over 100 days per year – and this was certainly one of those days.
I struggled to remain upright as I walked the short distance to Little Dun Fell, where there was a good stone shelter. Fortunately the onward route to Cross fell wasn’t quite as difficult. There was a large cairn as I reached the summit plateau and then a shelter in need of some renovation next to the trig point. I didn’t hang around – it was very cold and wet as well as exposed and windy. besides that, I felt that my progress had been slow and I had a lot of walk left to do.
I had planned to reach Greg’s Hut for lunch, which I did, albeit a bit late at 13:15. However the conditions had been tricky to say the least. I tried the door which was unlocked as Tom had said it would be. There was a noise in there and initially I thought it was a sheep. Actually it was Tom who had been there for thirty minutes. I had just missed a brew as he had packed up and was ready to leave. However the good news was that he said he would inform the hostel that I was safely off the top of Cross Fell and so I didn’t need to worry about being late. Actually knowing the route, he predicted that I wouldn’t be that late as he thought that the afternoon walk would be relatively straightforward. I wrote in the bothy book and ate lunch. Unfortunately the place was a bit of a tip really as other walkers had discarded bottles etc. However it was dry and out of the wind. I left at 13:45 after a thirty minute break.
As Tom had told me, the track down became progressively easier. After thirty minutes walking I was out of the cloud. I made rapid progress down the track – a gradual slope. I saw lots of logs across ditches each with what seemed to be a mousetrap mounted on top and what looked like cat litter trays on the other side. Later I learned that these are for pest control on grouse moors.
The weather in the afternoon improved – the sun came out. However there would still have been no good view from the cloud covered tops.
Eventually I reached Garrigill, a small village with post office and shop. I rewarded myself by buying some jelly babies from the chatty and friendly shop keeper.
I still had a further four miles to cover to Alston, following the banks of the River South Tyne. This was relatively populated countryside with a smattering of farms and other houses so I saw a runner and a lady walking with four whippets.
The hostel at Alston was sited close to the river and an area of woodland just before getting to the town. Just like Middleton-in-Teesdale, it was a town that had everything – food shops, petrol station, pubs, banks and even a cottage hospital with a 24 hour minor injury unit. It is still countryside though and the next morning I was entertained at breakfast by red squirrels racing up and down trees just outside the hostel.
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