LEJOG
Distance walked – 32km (20miles)
Total Distance – 1140.7km (712.9miles)
And still they lead me back
To the long winding road
Don’t leave me waiting here
Lead me to your door
The Beatles – The Long and Winding Road
I will be the first to admit that mistakes were made in the planning of our LEJOG. We both finished yesterday’s long day wondering if we are going to be able to compete this journey. Louisa has an ankle injury which seems to be getting worse while I am developing some numb patches on my persistently sore feet. We are currently on day 13 of a 23 day stretch without any rest days and the long days on the Pennine Way are taking their toll. In retrospect we should have had a rest day or at least a half day programmed in at this stage. However, we are committed now, with all our accommodation booked through to Inverness, so we have little choice but to carry on.
Setting off Uphill
Luckily it was a beautiful fine day that greeted us as we emerged from our Hobbit Hole this morning. The sun was shining, things didn’t seem that bad, and the gloomy thoughts of last night were forgotten. We set off with optimism, despite our guidebook warning that this is the hardest/toughest day on the Pennine Way.
View across the Vale of Eden
We left the deserted village of Dufton, past the village green, and down a lane past a farm. The road slowly rose and became stoney. We climbed with Dufton Pike on our right and Knock Pike to the left. As we gained elevation, the scenery became more spectacular. The Vale of Eden, green and shining in the sun, was laid out behind us. Ahead of us the climbing got serious as we ascended beside Swindale Beck.
Knock Old Man
The path was very steep and we soon reached the cairn at Knock Old Man (780m). Despite the brilliant sunny weather, the wind was still quite cold requiring us to put on windproof jackets and gloves.
Great Dun Fell and Cross Fell
Ahead, the path stretched on to Great Dun Fell, topped with a radar dome, and beyond it, to the plateau summit of Cross Fell, the high point of today’s walk.
Foggiest place in England
We traversed the high ground, on intermittent flagstone paths, before climbing again to pass just below the radar dome enclosure on Great Dun Fell. At 848m, this was the highest point on our LEJOG so far (until we got to Cross Fell 30 minutes later). Our guidebook says that the small attached weather station holds many all-England records, including greatest number of foggy days, highest wind speed, and most prolonged frost. Apparently over 200 days a year feature mist, so we are quite lucky to have such great weather today.
Towards Cross Fell
We left Great Dun Fell and struck out for the flat-topped mass of Cross Fell. The walking was easy and we soon gained the summit where there was a substantial cross shelter, cairn and trig point.
At the Top
Highest Point on LEJOG
The View
Anyone got a copy of the Guardian?
This is the highest point we will reach on our journey at 893m. We celebrated with some photos and lunch in the shelter, before getting mildly lost on the descent off the mountain as the track was quite ill defined. For the first time in weeks we got wet feet as the ground was quite boggy (we really have been lucky with the weather).
Greg’s Hut
We eventually found our way back to the track (thank goodness for GPS), and soon reached Greg’s Hut, a remote mountain bothy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t have a look inside or sign the visitors book as it was being renovated by several builders. It would be a great place to stay overnight though.
After the excitement of peak bagging and 360-degree views, the Pennine Way had need to punish us. The punishment ws delivered in the form of a 12km stoney road of despair. From Greg’s hut, the descent off the mountain was 12 long kilometres on a rough stoney road that was extremely painful to walk on. We have no photos as I think we were just concentrating on getting down. The road went on and on and on. Everytime we reached a crest, the road would disappear to the horizon again. The only bonus was an intermittent grassy verge in the last few kilometres that gave our feet a break.
Village Green Preservaton Society
Footsore, we eventually reached the pretty village of Garrigill, where we sat for a well-earned rest on a bench under a beech tree on the village green. Looking at the map, we realised with some sadness that we still had another 6 or 7 kilometres to go before we reached Alston, our destination for tonight.
Along the River
The path onwards, however, was easy as it followed the South Tyne River towards Alston. We walked close to the river and then high above it, passing through many beautiful wildflower meadows. The weather was perfect and we felt like we were really enjoying the journey again.
We passed through many gates which lead to the invention of a new game called `Rate my Gate’. This involved devising a new 0-5 scoring system for gates, which takes into account factors such as ease of opening, self-closing mechanism and action, and general appearance. We gave out several fours, a two, a zero (worse gate imaginable) but no fives. In no time we reached the Youth Hostel in Alston, our home for the night. The search for the perfect gate will resume tomorrow . . . . . .
