Last Pennine Snow on Cross Fell

I was supposed to do this walk a few days ago, but the weather was duff and me lickle legs wuz tired….
So I did it today instead.

Me and superdawg started by the sad spectacle of a boarded up George and Dragon in Garrigill . There’s a save the George and Dragon meeting in Alston on 14 May when the villagers will decide if they can form a co-operative to buy and run the place. I hope they can – there’s been shenanigans, apparently.

Anyway, for speed, we romped off up the tarmac towards the South Tyne, eventually pitching up by Troutbeck (which had a trout in it) for lunch.
We followed the bridleway up to meet the Pennine Way and followed this northwards over various Dun fells till we got to Cross Fell.


There, we met a lad with a lump of iron. This particular lump of iron (ore, actually…) had some speckles in it which I thought were pyrites and a strange dark blue mineral in regular squares. I had no idea what it was, but , as there’s a good phone signal on the top of Cross Fell, I phoned Brian.

Gilda said that the last she’d heard of Brian, he had stripped his son, covered him in marmite and had dangled him over a fifty foot drop over a bridge near Bangor. Didn’t we have a lovely time the day we went to Bangor? Eh?
Apparently, its his son’s stag do today. Otherwise it would have to be the social workers again.

So, we have no idea what it was. We parted our separate ways and Bruno found a large patch of snow to have a play on. Then another…. then another….
We visited Greg’s Hut. It was warm inside (it was perishing cold outside by the way) – the fire in the stove was still smouldering and the stove was hot.

The Pennine Way back to Garrigill is a long and fairly dull plod which we did at speed as it was downhill.
Today, we did 20 miles with 2500 feet of uphillness. This is a long way. But  some of my TGO Challenge walks are only a bit shorter, so there’s a reason for the madness.
I won;t do any more walking before the TGO Challenge, which starts on Friday.
The boots done well, by the way – very comfy, good grip and the water beads off them nicely. Despite all this, we are both, frankly, quite knackered.

There’s a short vodeo dough below in the snow. (beneath the map)

Have a look anyway. I’m for a nap….