Last weekend I began to head south along the Pennine Way, being a Bank Holiday weekend I managed three consecutive days of walking. After work on Thursday I loaded up my Rucksack and took the train down to Newcastle followed by the train to Haltwhistle. From there I had a lovely evening walk along lanes and across fields to Greenhead where I stayed the night in the Hostel. This is one of those YHA Hostels which is independently owned (it is actually owned by and run from the hotel over the road). Here I met a large group of cyclists who were cycling Hadrians Wall- from Ravensglass to Newcastle, as well as a pensioner who was walking the Pennine Way North to South to raise money for WaterAid.
As you can see in the picture above it had just started to rain as I left the Hostel in Greenhead on Friday morning. I set off along the old A69 out of the village, this has now been left as a dead end road since the bypass was built but it is still possible to follow this and join up with the Pennine Way on its route down from Hadrian's Wall.
The point where I had to cross the A69 was treacherous to say the least. It is three lanes here and the traffic thunders past at 70 mph, add to this the spray thrown up by the lorries after a rain shower and it becomes a dangerous game. I waited several moments before walking across as quickly as possible, I heard similar tales from other walkers.
As I walked up the hill onto moorland, and away from the A69 the weather cleared up a bit and I looked back to see Hadrian's Wall along the crags over to the East.
The path was quite easy to follow here but it didn't last...
...after these few flagstones the path became very faint across the high moorland. The weather also changed for the worse, I stopped at the barn and put all my waterproofs on. As I climbed higher I could see the rain storms as they came towards me, and when they hit it was like walking in a bathroom shower!! I soon found that my waterproof coat had a design fault in the hood, namely that it did nothing to keep the rain out of my eyes and face, so much so it was difficult to see where I was going and I lost the path for a while. I was soon back on track though and heading downhill again into the South Tyne valley. With the change of landscape came a change of weather and I had sunshine for the rest of the day.
The meeting of the walkers..several times over the three days I met other walkers mostly going the other way (most people seem to go South to North).
This pretty little valley is actually the border between Northumberland and Cumbria so at this point (with the exception of 18 miles still to do) I achieved walking the length of my home county.
Counsulting the map to ensure I get the last bit of the day right. (Thanks to Andrew, a fellow North to South walker for taking the picture)
At last I reached Alston, the highest market town in England. This is a pretty little town with a steeply cobbled main street running through the centre.
I stayed at the YHA Hostel in Alston, again with other Pennine Way walkers and also more cyclists - this time doing the C2C cycle route from the west coast to the east coast. Alston was a lovely hostel with great facilities, I enjoyed a full english breakfast on Saturday morning and just as I left the lady that runs it gave me a £5 donation for Cancer ResearchUK.
So on to day 2 - Alston to Dufton - a 21 mile stretch which includes the highest point of the Pennine Way over Cross Fell. I had friends walking with me today and it was great to have company on this, one of the most challenging sections of the Way.
The first part of the walk was easy enough, along the Tyne valley again and then up the 'corpse road' from Garrigill. This track continued for 7 miles, almost to the top of Cross Fell. Just before the summit is a bothy called Greg's Hut which was a welcome respite from the weather, which by now had really closed in around us. We stopped there to have lunch, some people also sleep there and it must be haven if coming off Cross Fell late in the afternoon in bad weather.
On top of Cross Fell, in thick cloud and a very cold north east wind. Note the compass in my hand, without a compass bearing it would have been very difficult to acurately find the path off Cross Fell and onwards towards Great Dun Fell. At the top of this fell is a Radar Station but the cloud was so thick we almost missed it!! After another couple of hours we came down off the fells and into the village of Dufton.
We stayed Saturday night in a campsite in Kirkby Stephen, not without mishap due to the wrong tent poles and a missing sleeping bag! Less said the better...
Day 3 Dufton to High Force - 18 miles.
We all set off together from Dufton up the track towards High Cup Nick. Although the weather looks sunny it was still a really cold wind blowing from the North East.
So although at this point coats were being rapidly shed, they just as quickly got put back on as we climbed higher and the track became more exposed.
Looking back in the other direction were great views of the Lakeland fells.
On the track up to High Cup Nick with Dufton Pike in the background. I am beginning to feel like a proper Pennine Way walker and actually getting quite fit now!!
The view from the top of High Cup Nick was absolutely stunning, we would have lingered here for longer than a few minutes but for the biting North East wind which was making it very, very cold. Livi is sat on the edge of the cliffs that form the end of this amazing glaciated valley.
Cauldron Snout waterfall, apparently it is normally bigger than this but rainfall has been low recently. Actually I am quite glad it was only this big as the path involves climbing down the rocks right next to the waterfall and it is a lot steeper than it looks in the photo.
From Cauldron Snout waterfall we followed the Tees river all the way through to High Force waterfall. Today was a long walk into a biting wind, great views but too cold for hanging around to enjoy them. After High Force it was into the car to drive home again, we will return to continue along the Pennine Way at the beginning of June.