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The Pennine Way | |
| Introduction Edale Crowden Globe Farm Slack Top Ponden Thornton Malham Horton Hawes Tan Hill |
 Looking back at the cliffs of High Cup |
Bowes Middleton Langdon Beck Dufton Garrigill Alston Greenhead Twice Brewed Bellingham Bryness Uswayford |
The section of the PW from Langdon Beck to Dufton is perhaps its most beautiful and dramatic day of walking. It has a bit of everything - a delightful riverside walk, wonderful waterfall, bleak moorland and splendid views. The day actually ends up further from Kirk Yetholm than at Langdon Beck. This has to be since Dufton is a good place to stop and the only alternative is cutting across the untracked and boggy wastes of Dufton Fell.
This day started with a clear morning under blue skies - not a cloud or fog bank in sight. I rejoined the PW by walking down the road to Langdon Beck, crossing a small bridge and then walking downstream along Hunter's Close Bank back to the Saur Hill Bridge. By the gate at the middle of the bridge is a sign: Kirk Yetholm 121 miles (195 kilometres), Edale 149 miles (240 kilometres). So I had walked well over the halfway point (the distances are those of Wainwright).
Over the bridge, the PW passed in front of a small farm and out into pastures over a small rise. This is a good viewpoint for the path ahead - to the left is Cronkley Fell Scar, to the right is Widdybank Fell and the white buildings nestled in the valley are Widdy Bank Farm. The path quickly gained the banks of the Tees for a while and then detoured along a wall to the farm access track. The PW now goes through the farm buildings giving you a good look at the farmhouse that dates back to 1698 with its hundreds of coatings of whitewash. The whitewash is part of the lease agreement and so all the Teesdale farms are white. Once past the farm, the path crossed a river flat (Holmwatch) for a kilometre before squeezing into the gap between the river and clints (cliffs) falling from the moor. There is plenty of variety - scrambling over boulder-fields, slipping over scree and easy going on boardwalks.
In another kilometre the PW traversed under the impressive rocks of Falcon Clint and I could hear the roar of Cauldron Snout waterfall. Around a corner and it was in front of me. A torrent of peaty brown water comes roaring down a narrow cleft in the dolerite of Whin Sill (a cliff of basalt-like rock that extends across northern England - last seen as High Force leapt over it). The broad fan where the cataract escapes the cleft is very impressive. This makes a natural point for a lunch break. You are unlikely to be alone here since there is a carpark 2 kilometres away along Cow Green Reservoir and a nature trail luring tourists all the way to the top of the waterfall.
After lunch (and half a dozen photos), I climbed up the rocks on the right of the cleft and up to the top of the falls. The sight of the wall of the Cow Green Reservoir dam taming the Tees was a bit of a let-down. However the PW quickly crossed a bridge and headed down to the lonely Birkdale Farm (leaving the eyesore behind). At the farm I passed between the buildings (after waiting for the farmer to herd a mob of sheep through) and then left the farm track for a grassy, less distinct path.
For the next 3 kilometres, the PW lead through some very bleak moorland with few landmarks. The path was fairly clear but I would not like to go through here on a misty day. From Moss Shop (the tumbledown ruins of the workshop and living quarters of a nearby mine) onwards there are few landmarks. 'Shop' was the name given to the rough bunkhouse accommodation provided for miners during the week - they returned home during the weekends. An extra reason for care is the Ministry of Defence area to the south. Maize Beck was a welcome respite from the loneliness of the moor. There is a flood route which follows the beck northwards to a footbridge across a small limestone gorge. I chose the more dramatic approach to High Cup by crossing the beck and heading west-south-west along an obvious path. High Cup soon opened up before me (I was standing above the notch on the left of the photo above).
High Cup is a deep sword-shaped basin cut into the side of the moors. From where I was standing the floor of the valley was at least 220 metres below me. Around the sides of the basin are whinstone cliffs from whose feet broad fans of scree fall to the silver thread of High Cup Gill. Beyond the opening of the basin are the broad fields of the Eden Valley with the Lakeland (Lake District) fells just visible in the mist on the horizon. There is a slender pillar of basalt about 500 metres down the north side of the Cup. This is called Nicol Chair (or Nichol's Last) after a Dufton cobbler who not content with just climbing the column also soled and heeled a pair of boots while sitting on the top.
On that day there was quite a strong wind so I didn't overstay my welcome and was soon on the downhill route to Dufton. The PW took the Narrow Gate path (and it is narrow!) down the right-hand side of the Cup. I stopped many times to look back up the valley - the best way to admire the cliffs since you don't really see them when you are standing on their tops. There is a small spring (Hannah's Well) if you are running out of water.
All too soon the track met a wall and joined onto a drove road (civilisation again). I left the PW at Bow Hall where I spent the night (great B&B place). I also went down the hill a bit to have a look at Dufton. This is an very pretty village (especially for an old lead-mining area) with old and new houses arranged around a small green. There are all the faculties for a walker - a youth hostel, shop and - most importantly - a pub.
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