A beautiful day in Richmond had me thinking it was time to tackle some of the Hewitts in the North Pennines so full of enthusiasm I headed West, parking up on the service road to the Radar station on Great Dun Fell. From the start point (around 2000+ft up) it was merely a case of walking up the tarmac road and onto the summit, where the base is sited, for what must be the easiest Hewitt of them all at 848m. As it was now foggy with strong winds blowing there was no use in lingering to celebrate so it was onto the next summit. I was now following the Pennine Way which has, apart from a few short sections, been paved all the way to Cross Fell making walking easy across what would have been very wet land. The views when I got them were impressive with a panorama of the lakeland fells to the left and the North Pennines and Upper Teesdale to the right. The second summit was Little Dun Fell just over half a mile away which at 842m is only slightly lower than Great Dun. There is a good shelter for which I was grateful as the wind hadn't shown any signs of dying down. After another mile and a half I was on the broad plateau of Cross Fell. At 893m it is the highest point in England outside the lakes and the views to be seen are excellent all round . Unfortunately today all was grey as the cloud had not shifted which was typical and frustrating as many of the lakeland peaks seemed to have been cloud free all day.
Having eaten at the large wall shelter and taken the obligatory photo of the trig point it was time to continue on the Pennine way off the summit to join a track which eventually leads to Garrigill in the South Tyne Valley. A short distance Down this track is a bothy called Greg's hut which must be a welcome sight for those seeking shelter when the weather turns for the worse. I turned off the track once I'd crossed Backstone Edge and headed for the disused Slatesike Mine. My original plan was to follow the Tees to Moor House and then return to the car via Trout Beck but as I didn't think the daylight would last I decided to head back to the summit of Great Dun Fell. I'd had it easy so far with tarmac roads, well paved paths and solid miners tracks so a bit of bogtrotting was called for just to add to the challenge and half an hour later I was back at the radar station.
Instead of returning to the car I decided to tag the short walk to Knock Fell on to the end which once again is paved for most of the way and provides excellent views from the cairn of Knock Old Man.
Despite the weather this was an enjoyable day out and one which I shall do again in better weather as I reckon the views will be excellent throughout.
- Great Dun Fell radar station.
- Little Dun Fell
- Even this pic shows the potential for great views. The Lakeland fells are out there somewhere.
- Greg's Hut. Extremely basic but a welcome sight in bad weather.
- Upper Teesdale and Cow Green Reservoir
- Great Dun Fell and Little Dun Fell from Slatesyke Mine
- THe "I wasn't expecting that" moment. Dunfell hush has scoured this massive ravine in the fellside.
