Another Boggy Pennine Adventure
Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:27 pm
With a free day at our disposal, it was off to Nenthead for a bit more North Pennine action. We planned to walk The Dodd, Killhope Law and Middlehope Moor, but AS EVER the mist was thick, the weather was unpredictable, and the ground was rough, so we didn't hold out much hope for making the third of those Hewitts. We parked at Killhope Cross which, at a height of 623m, meant there wasn't much climbing to be done today.
Because of the poor visibility, we decided to follow the lines of fences wherever possible, and so of we plodded up over Black Hill and then on to The Dodd. No views, nothing to write home about, but beautiful in an otherworldly way. On the way up, we crossed the rather-better waymarked Isaac's Tea Trail, and reminisced about our last walk up in these parts just a few weeks ago, when the visibility was altogether better.
Boggy Proposition by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Ascending The Dodd by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Isaac's Tea Trail by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
After exploring the summit of The Dodd we had to establish our bearings, and could see very little. Another victory for map and compass over JR's sturdy but sluggish phone/app combo saw us heading down into a beautiful valley and the approach to Sunnyside, here we joined the road for a while before tackling our second Hewitt.
Peat Hag by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Descending towards Sunnyside by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
We went for the direct approach up to Killhope Law, hiking through deep heather and even deeper bogs, until we reached the misty and eery summit with its trigpoint, currick, fallen tree and unexpected lake. I'm finding the North Pennines make for tough walking, but there's something incredibly beautiful and serene about the summits, and we always have them to ourselves.
Killhope Law by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Surprise body of water on Killhope Law by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
We decided not to push onto Middlehope Moor, and made a fairly direct descent from Killhope Law to Killhope. Some pretty treacherous bits of ground swallowed JR up on a few occasions, and we decided this was not somewhere we'd like to be after dark, head torches or not. Stopping to admire the views, I realised my axe was overkill (but hey, the book said there's snow up here almost six months of the year!) but the winter layers were greatly appreciated.
Descending towards Killhope by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
Axe was overkill, winter layers were not by Christopher Watson, on Flickr
From Killhope, we simply walked the road back up to Killhope Cross, just in time for the light fading and the weather taking another turn. We drove to Stanhope and settled in one of the pubs for a well-earned pint.