Day 14 - Dufton to Hades

As I mentioned in yesterday's post the weather forecast was predicting heavy rain for today. What became clearer as the evening wore on was that it was getting very windy indeed, and by Sunday morning the weather forecast was issuing gale warnings for the Pennines, with gusts of 50-60 miles an hour expected. Since we've been told that wind speed up on the peaks is often much higher than in the valley it was a rather scary prospect.

Only slightly daunted by the forecast, and after a lecture on hill-walking safety from our miserable landlady, and after reading the newspaper clipping pinned to the wall about a walker blown to his death on Helvelyn, we set off anyway. The plan was that we'd keep climbing as high as felt safe, and if we got to the first of the peaks, Green Fell, and felt in danger then we'd take the emergency path down the east side of the fells, which the landlady had told us about.

Even the first mile or two out of Dufton didn't feel very safe. There were branches down everywhere, and several trees wrenched out with their roots had fallen over the path. Maybe these were weaker or diseased specimens which had come down overnight, but despite the relative shelter that the trees provided I was rather glad to eventually be away from the tree line so we would avoid being injured or killed by something crashing down.

Tree down on Hurning Lane

Large ash tree branch snapped off

As we passed through the farms on the way uphill there were loose coils of wire blowing around a farm yard, creaking and crashing doors and gates, and torn plastic sheeting flying horizontally in the trees. It felt rather like the opening credits from a horror film.

The gale was blowing from the north-east, which not only meant that it was very cold (from Scandinavia) but also that we were heading directly into it, hugely increasing the effort of the uphill walk. A gradient of only 30° felt more like 45°, and 45° more like 60°. In addition, every so often there would be an even stronger gust which would knock you off your stride, or force you to brace with both feet to avoid being blown over altogether. Sitting down to recover for a couple of minutes, I thought I should take at least one photograph before the predicted heavy rain set in for the afternoon.

Knock Pike

After crossing Swindale Beck we met an American woman with a large rucksack coming down the hill. She looked rather shell-shocked, and said that she had been blown off her feet once too often, so was abandoning plans to go up to Green Fell. She had only got as far as the first couple of cairns on the first ridge before turning around.

Half an hour later we saw the 5 men who had been walking the same Pennine Way section as us yesterday. They too had given up when they reached the first cairns, and were returning to Dufton. At that point we realised that it was likely to be suicidal to attempt to climb to Green Fell, let alone Cross Fell, which is the highest point of the Pennine Way. Since "those first two cairns" were the day's unofficial highest reachable point we agreed to at least go up there, then head back down. On the final approach to the cairns we were actually down on hands and knees a couple of times to avoid being blown over.

View from "those first two cairns" to Knock Fell

As it turned out from the GPS trace of today's route, we had climbed from the B&B at 160m to the cairns at 520m, so an ascent of 360m (1180 feet), and a total distance for the day of 6.5 miles. Quite an effort for no real satisfaction, apart from still being alive.

So we returned to the Stag Inn at Dufton, and downed hot coffee (the stuff at breakfast this morning looked like weak Jasmine tea) to warm up, before catching a taxi onto tonight's B&B at Garigill, where we are now.

So here's the plan:

1. Tomorrow's weather forecast is completely different from today's, predicting sunshine and lighter winds for the whole day. Assuming that proves to be correct in the morning then we will walk today's section of the Pennine Way, except in reverse (east->west) so we aren't delayed in the morning (it takes about an hour to get back to Dufton by road). Then we'll again get a taxi from Dufton back here, since we're staying at this B&B in Garigill for two nights anyway.
2. Then on Tuesday, when we're meant to be walking to Slaggyford, just 10 miles up the river from here, we'll instead walk onto the next B&B at Greenhead. That will make for a 21 mile day, but it's all fairly gentle valley walking so I think that's possible. After all, we've already walked 17 or 18 miles a few times, and those included some ascents.

Update on Eric: Rather unexpectedly, Eric, who started the Pennine Way on the same day as us, is staying at the same B&B as us in Garigill. Brigantes had booked him in here for 3 nights, with transfers back to Dufton, and back from Slaggyford, on the days either side of the walk here. However, it seems that he twisted his ankle on the horrendous walk from Keld, and hasn't been able to walk much since, which explains why he got a lift from Baldersdale. He's walked a few miles each day since, but decided that it's too painful for him to be able to walk the remainder of the Pennine Way, so he's going back home tomorrow. That's a pity, but he has walked over 170 miles so far, so all credit to him.

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