Alston Friday 29 May 2015
Start: Dufton
Finish: Alston
Miles walked today: 19
Total miles: 609
Oohh hello! How are you today dear reader? Good day? Grab a hot beverage, pull up a chair, and find out how my day went...
Breakfast. I'm finding the full English a bit much so the marvellous hostel sends me on my way full of the vegetarian option. The weather is damp, not raining, and the tops of the hills are lost in cloud.
Quite early on there are stacks of huge stone paving slabs ready to pave yet another part of the Pennine Way. The photo below is a bit pants, apologies for that. I presume they have been dropped by helicopter. I know the purists don't approve of paving, but I'm happy to keep out of the sticky bog. I know some object to the cairns as well, but on a filthy day they are a welcome reminder that you're on track.
The path leads ever upwards, past Knock Fell, Great Dun Fell with ita ghostly radar globe, Little Dun Fell and finally Cross Fell at 2930 feet. The cloud occasionally parts and gives me tantalising glimpses of the views I'm mostly unable to see. On a clear day it's possible to see the sea and, to the north, the hills of Galloway in Scotland. The weather plays games, and in the space of ten minutes there is weak sun, rain, and, at the highest point, sleety snow. Mercifully, the Helm Wind, notorious at Cross Fell, is absent.
Greg's Hut is a refuge just a little down from the summit, where I stop briefly for a snack, and am startled by a fellow Pennine Way-er who arrives just as I am leaving. He's the first person I've seen all day. The rest of the descent is pleasant, with views opening up to the north, then a riverside few miles to Alston, where the youth hostel awaits me.
As I shower I ponder on the good advice I've been given, several times, to "Look after your feet." Just how does one not look after ones feet? Leave them outside all night? Wear stilettos over Cross Fell? Let them eat too many sweets? I know what these kind folk mean, but no one advises me to look after my ears, for example. They should, though, as they are sunburnt and slightly uncomfortable. Poor me... Night night :)
