Pennine Way - Day 12: Dufton to Alston

England

Back to the beautiful Dufton courtesy of you know who.

Luckily, the Way doesn’t take a trip up Dufton Pike – a pointless trip but what is the point of walking except to take a long time to get somewhere from somewhere going via lots of other somewheres.

And Dufton Pike looks interesting. At least from the bottom.

Tree spoiling the view

Instead, a long climb to the top of Great Dun Fell, then Cross Fell. The Way climbs both of these just for the fun of it. Going seriously out of its way to get to a high point: England to France via Canada type of thing.

But who is in a hurry.

But why miss Dufton Pike?

Petition anyone?

There was a sign, ‘15 miles to Garrigill’, a long long bit of nothingness. Save the mysterious and the possibly not there golf ball.

But at least the route is easy to follow and of course up. The point of the golf ball is a secret – probably a 4-minute warning type thing. The 4-minute warning is an actual joke not an ironic comment.

A clapper bridge

What can you do in 4 minutes.

Then down just to go up again to Cross Fell. The highest point on the walk.

Yippee.

A flat-topped wind magnet. A huge stone shelter had been built on top – to provide shelter no matter which way the wind blows. And it was blowing. On the plus side, we found a wasps nest on top. On the negative side, the wasps found us at the bottom.

Wind break

But the views were panoramic.

Lots of stone works, abandoned mines and other assorted holes. To be looked at carefully. Some were fenced but most a simple covering of grass and weeds. Surprises, if you like.

We were looking forward to a pie at Greg’s Hut. But when we got there…

It wasn’t that type of Gregg's. We may sue.

Greg's Hut

Us four courtesy of Sandal Man

Way marker

We met a man doing the Way with rucksack, tent etc. but wearing sandals. Sandal Man made an appearance later at, Greg’s Hut where he was going to spend the night. 

We still had several km to go so we left him to enjoy the solitude and sore feet. But not wet socks.

Turning our backs on civilisation

We ate lunch at an old mine. Where some artists had practiced their skills using the abundant and waste stones. A lot of time had been spent and we enjoyed their work. Possibly a dry stone wall school. But it provided a bit of a diversion. Going down the mine ,while tempting ,is not advisable. While it's old it will certainly collapse as soon as you go in.

A puddle

Garrigill was pretty but not welcoming so we passed straight through. Six km to go walking along the South Tyne into Alston of block fame.

The dad-taxi was waiting for our final pick up. From here we were on our own.  Well from here, tomorrow, we will be on our own.

		Cumulative
Distance Walked	32km	281km
Start Point	Dufton
End Point	Alston
Via	Great Dun Fell golf ball, Greg’s Hut, a lot of nothingness
General Comments The highest point The longest climb Sandal man

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