Sun 1 Jul 2018
For an index to my other walks please click here
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| Head of the valley, High Cup Nick c.1900ft above sea level |
Andrew called for me on
a day of glorious sunshine, and drove to Bow Hall Farm, near Dufton. I didn't recognise the lane where
our walk started, although I had been there when walking the Pennine Way, (24
September 2004) and, indeed, once in the nineteen seventies with Peter and Roy
my two Pownall Hall colleagues who were spending a weekend near Appleby.
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| Looking back to Dufton Pike |
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| So many old lime kilns in this area |
Most of the track I did recognise, but we missed Narrow Gate, where the path becomes merely a wide ledge above the chasm on the right, because a way-mark directed us to a higher path up on the left.
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| Left (upper path) right, Narrowgate |
We stopped for lunch on the upper path, and
then continued to the edge of top of the valley. I must say the sight
of the canyon wasn't as thrilling as it had been on the first two times I'd
seen it - 'been there, done that', sort of feeling. But the view of Nichol
(or Nichol's) Chair (or Last) aroused the same amazement. The 'slender pillar of
basalt...is named after a Dufton cobbler
who not only climbed it but, the story goes, soled and heeled a pair of
boots whilst sitting on the top'.*
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| Nick's Chair |
The path of the
'official' route which took a wide sweep north to the bridge over Maize Beck is
now difficult to find, with only one or two cairns and one way-mark post left to show
the way.
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| Old way-mark post |
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| The icon of the Long Distance Footpaths |
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| The old bridge over Maize Beck, now largely unused |
Many Pennine Wayfarers use neither the path nor the bridge now. In my report of my journey for that part of the Pennine Way I wrote: Why a bridge was not built where the fords
are I cannot say. If one was made long enough, with a middle support, it would
surely withstand any flood? Well, apparently two have been built since then, perhaps where AW indicates cairns, and where I made a note in his guide. Andrew
suggested walking to one of them but that would have added two miles to the
walk and we like to set off back home sooner on a Sunday in case of delays on the motorway.
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| For a round trip, the valley route can be used |
We went to the edge to look down a stony track which some walkers use as
an alternative return to Dufton; but we chose not to go that way as it would
also have meant a long road walk back to the car.
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| Looking back at Narrowgate, at Hannah's Well. Note the steep slope on the right |
The last half mile over execrable loose stones was unpleasant and tiring, although the whole trip had been only six miles or so.
Later, as was to be expected on a
Sunday, we ran into a slow queue of traffic on the M6 so left it just north of
Lancaster and used the A6 thereafter. All in all a good day.
*Pennine Companion by A Wainwright p64
