Day 15 Dufton - Garrigill 17 miles 8 hours (including an extended pit stop in Gregs Hut)
Its hadn't escaped my attention that all though the views were outstanding yesterday, we were walking a significant number of miles in the wrong direction to enjoy them. Which therefore means, to resume the course back to Scotland we had a rather chunky day of walking ahead with the addition of hiking over the top of Cross Fell. The Pennine Way would not have gone down well in Roman times as this route is anything but straight!
Over two weeks in and we are well in to the Pounding routine. Alarm goes off at 6.30-7am, prepare feet, pack bags, make flasks, fill water and sort maps before breakfast. We aim to be en route 8.30-9am, walk for 7/8 hours, find pub, find digs, meet friends, over eat and sample local sticky toffee pudding.
So today was no different, we set off to get the final really tough day under our belts. Cross Fell is the highest point in the Pennine Hills and the highest point in England outside of the Lake District. The summit is 893 metres (2,930 ft), but to get there you have to summit Little Dun Fell at 842 metres (2,762 ft) and Great Dun Fell at 849 metres (2,785 ft).
We are feeling fit and well, and with only sore feet to complain about, we weren't too worried...so mother nature thought she'd up the ante. The cloud was low and we weren't climbing long before we were walking in it, this had a massive effect of visibility and temperature. Not only were the views obscured so was everything more than two foot in front of us! Now you will be well aware of my dads cattle phobia, well mine is wind..big galey gusty wind and boy did we get some today! We managed to navigate to the Radar station at Great Dun Fell which I'm told warns us about nuclear attacks, we then climbed again to Little Dunn Fell (841meters). I'm not too proud to say, I was really scared, the wind was up and just above our heads were huge swirling black clouds, the wind was thundering though us and I was struggling to keep my feet on the ground. We couldn't see the path for the mist and by this point all I wanted to do was get off this ruddy mountain!! We suddenly saw the Little Dun dry stone, wind shelter and dived under. We sat tight under the shelter of the small wall for long enough for me to compose myself and the really powerful winds to pass.
Just as we started our final ascent to Cross Fell the cloud lifted and the winds eased a little for us to see the lovely views from the 893m summit. There is a wonderful little bothy called Gregs Hut on the way down from the summit where walkers can take refuge from the weather. Maintained by the Mountain Bothys association, other passes by will leave donations in the form of food, clothing or shelter. Decending from Cross Fell is long and painful on sore trotters, the path called "corpse road" is made of rocks and stones. It goes on for miles and miles until you eventually hit the village of Garrigill. We met the Hattons again for tea and tonight we rest our weary bodies in the Post Office. The good news is we're 2/3 of the way there!
Sorry about the lack of photos, the weather was too severe to take gloves off..
At the top
Day 15 done
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