The Pennine Way, part 6

Thursday 16th April 2009

Cauldron Snout and High Cup Scar

This was a shorter walk than I had previously been doing during the week at only thirteen miles. Despite taking my time I still arrived in Dufton at four o'clock, two hours before I’d been arriving at my overnight stops on the previous days. Although this was a shorter walk, I quite enjoyed it, maybe because I was able to take my time and just enjoy the walk. The weather started as grey and misty, but throughout the course of the day the cloud lifted to reveal a nice sunny day, however the wind got stronger and stayed cold, making the weather less pleasant than it could have been. The walk began by crossing farmland over the Langdon Beck and across to the River Tees where I resumed my walk beside the Tees continuing into the wild moorland area of the upper Teesdale. This was an interesting walk with a variety of surfaces underfoot including large boulders that I skipped over; this was quite fun, especially as I was able to take my time over them. Eventually I rounded a corner and saw the awesome Cauldron Snout, the River Tees having one more ace up its sleeve, one more waterfall, a long series of cascades that were a spectacular sight. Scrambling up the rocks beside the snout just added to the fun and was a fitting goodbye to the River Tees. After seeing to my blisters below the dam of the Cow Green Reservoir I took a track through Birkdale Farm and out onto the open moorland. This is a wild, bleak moor, but I was on an excellent path that crossed the southern flanks of Meldon Hill, not far from the edge of the Warcop Army Training Range. Red flags marked the edge of the range and warned me to stay out, but they were unnecessary as the Pennine Way steers a course outside of the range and over to the valley of the Maize Beck. It was when I dropped into this valley that the weather brightened so I decided to stop for lunch and enjoy my surroundings, making sure I was sheltered from the strong wind that was now coming down off the hills. Proceeding beside the river I crossed a bridge over the beck and continued along the Pennine Way climbing away from the Maize Beck as it swung north. Crossing the wide plain before me I came to the edge of the bowel-loosening High Cup Scar. This is an absolutely, incredible place that has to be seen to be believed as it is a huge scar in the landscape that is so big it’s proportions can clearly be seen on a map. I visited the scar in 2006 on my way to Northumberland, and it was an awe-inspiring sight then, but it was even more terrifying this time because the strong wind was trying to blow me over the edge! It seemed to me that it must be unusual for the wind to be coming down off the hills as usually the winds in these parts are south-westerly’s that would be funnelled by the scar onto the hills. I considered dropping down into the scar, but in the end I stayed on the Way, rounding the top of the scar. While constantly battling against the wind, I followed the Pennine Way along the northern side of the valley slowly descending the grassy slopes away from the High Cup valley towards the village of Dufton. Coming off the open country and away from the strong wind I walked along a lane in the sunny, but blustery weather, all the way down into Dufton. Although I would have liked this walk to have been slightly longer, after recent walks I did appreciate not having to rush and being able to take my time to enjoy the walk and the surroundings, and made me wish that I had been able to do that on the previous walks.