The longest day so far, and one of the best walks in the country, up the amazing Teesdale and over the watershed into the Vale of Eden... DAY TEN Middleton in Teesdale to Dufton Monday 31st July 1995 There was mayhem last night in our grotty little campsite when three of the most foul-mouthed young men arrived back pissed from the pub. One of them ended up half way out of the tent in a pool of vomit. We had to put up with their nonsense for most of the night but by half five we couldnt bear it any longer: with a twenty five mile walk to do we packed up the tent and were on the road by six. The walk up Teesdale was utter perfection - rabbits were everywhere, bobbing back to their holes; also stoats, no less beautiful but intent on more deadly missions. High Force was as unapproachable as ever but still very impressive. We had our hopes pinned on Widdybeck Farm and were not disappointed. I had a huge plate of beans on toast with two fried eggs on top. Wendy was too worried about her nascent blisters to eat much. All through this the farmers wife kept prattling on about nothing of any consequence. Replete, we headed for the Tees to bathe our toes: it was highly efficacious. Next stop was Cauldron Snout which Wendy found very impressive; its one of the best kept secrets in Britain. Then it was over Moss Shop Moor to High Cup Nick which Wendy agreed was the highlight of the whole Pennine Way. We met a professional photographer capturing images of the geological features. Wendy chatted to him and we ended up posing in some of his pictures to give them scale. He promised to send some on to us. Dufton is just the prettiest village imaginable - the sort of place I would love to live in. But we were ripped off in the Stags Head with a miniscule meal that consisted of one Vegetable Kiev (straight from the freezer) with a bit of shredded lettuce - not really enough calories to fuel a twenty five mile walk! We drank with Craig (yes, weve caught him up again) and Steve and Ron (two new lone walkers we met recently) plus the photographer from earlier.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 06:27:51 +0000
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