Journal:
I know I
snore a little bit on occasion, but the guy directly
under me in the double bunk last night, broke all
records. It sounded like he was doing it
directly into my ear. Andy, the Pennine Way
hiker I have been paralleling for the last four or
five days, was sharing the same room and we both
considered drastic measures during the night to
terminate the disturbance. We didn't feel too
bad making a little noise when we got up at 6:45am
(early for a Youth Hostel) to pack before our 7:30am
breakfast.
Although it was a
relatively shorter day, it included a climb to the
highest point on my hike, and I was keen to get to
Alston in time to buy some maps and a few supplies.
I left about 8:15am, knowing that Andy would be soon
following me. He has been hiking 11 days and
is having a lot of feet problems. I know how
he feels. The guidebook said that this would
be a mentally tough day and also a challenge in poor
weather. It was raining with a low overcast.
The initial few kilometres were along farm lanes,
but soon the path emerged onto the fells and the
long ascent began. I was mentally prepared for
it to be long and arduous, so it actually didn't
seem that bad, but at the top the fog had closed in
and the trail was indiscernible. I began
looking for stone cairns to guide the way and found
a smallish one which I used. This was a
mistake, because it set me on a more westerly course
than I needed and, before long I had nothing to
guide me at all. Through the fog, I could
occasionally make out valleys below, but it was
impossible to work out where the high ground was.
I did a lot of wandering and backtracking and in the
end used my GPS to set a course for the knoll I
needed and eventually found a signpost. I had
wasted about 45 minutes and soon spotted Andy in the
distance in front of me with a fluoro orange
raincover on his pack. The wind was a lot
stronger and the rain continued, but it wasn't as
cold as it might be and I was still wearing shorts
and just a T-shirt under my rain jacket. It
was very wet and my feet and socks were soaked
through again.
I eventually caught Andy
soon after we passed the remote communications
facility at the top of Great Dun Fell (848m) and we
walked together, comparing navigation thoughts for
the next couple of hours over the top of Cross Fell
(893m, the highest point of my walk) in drizzle and
fog. We reached Greg's Hut, a mountain refuge,
soon after noon and went inside and ate our
sandwiches. Andy had mail to collect in Alston
and we both considered it touch and go whether we
could make it there by 5:30pm. I went on ahead
after lunch as we followed a remote track that was
very stony, wet and difficult underfoot. The
fog cleared at lower altitudes, and I had sweeping
views over treeless moors and deep valleys.
Eventually, I reached the
tiny village of Garrigill, on the River South Tyne
soon after 3pm, thinking I still had 10km to go.
I took a break for a few minutes and then set of for
Alston on the path which now followed the banks of
the pretty river downstream. It was the usual
stone-walled fields, wildflowers, babbling river and
overhanging trees, marred only by the continuing
drizzle.
The path into Alston
passed the Youth Hostel and I reached there about
4:40pm (they open at 5pm), much earlier than
expected back in Garrigill, and dumped my pack
before continuing into town to get the things I
wanted. I found the maps I needed and some
extra Thorlo inner socks that I had been looking for
in every outdoor shop for the past two weeks.
The town had a cobbled main street and old
buildings, making it very pretty.
I went back to the hostel
and checked in and showered and later met Andy, who
had made it to the Post Office in time. We are
sharing a dorm room again. We had dinner at
the hostel and shared a table with Shirley, who is
also walking from Lands End to John O'Groats.
She had a good sense of humour and we had an amusing
dinner. She was made redundant from her job as
a librarian in early April and, 10 days later, was
standing at Lands End, ready to start her journey.
I finally have a
moderately good wireless internet coverage tonight
and will take the chance to upload the last few
days' diaries.
