B6277 at top of South Tyne Valley to Garrigill

What a glorious end to our holiday in the North Pennines. This short leg ended our alternative to the official Pennine Way route from Cauldron Snout to Garrigill (shown left). The Pennine Way goes 9.5 miles vaguely West South West from Cauldron Snout via High Cup Nick to Dufton, then 15 miles vaguely North North East via Great Dun Fell, Little Dun Fell and Cross Fell (the highest point on the Pennine Way) to Garrigill. I'm sure that it crosses magnificent scenery. It also includes a lot of climbing, a lot of bogs and it's a long way. Our route was much more direct (only about 11 miles in total from Cauldron Snout to Garrigill) and also passed through wonderful countryside, without the pain. I don't have any hesitation at all in recommending it. It was also on this walk that we discovered the South Tyne Trail, a route that we ended up following all the way to Haltwhistle.

We'd had a day off yesterday from our walk through the Tees and South Tyne valleys, partly because the weather wasn't great, partly because I needed to spend a bit longer on work-related things, and partly to give Richard some time to show me some of the lovely parts of Upper Weardale that he has discovered whilst I've been working in the mornings this week. The day before yesterday we reached the watershed of the Tees and the South Tyne and crossed from County Durham into Cumbria, and we had checked that the route we'd planned down from the B6277 looked viable. So today, after another morning in which I worked whilst Richard went for a short walk (attempting to walk around the Burnhope Reservoir, though half of the path was closed), we drove over from Weardale to Teesdale then along the B6277 and over the county border. We parked near Darngill Bridge then walked back to the vague footpath (shown on the map as a black dashed line with green dots indicating "another route with public access" - whatever that might mean!) which leaves the road at NY775365.

We had already checked the route to the dilapidated building 100 metres or so from the road. It was a bit boggy, but otherwise fine, and the route from the building was quite clear, down a rough (and sometimes boggy) track alongside Clargill Burn, past mine workings. Below Hengill Bridge there was even a footpath sign! We took the "Public Way" towards Tynehead.

At Tynehead we walked right past the cottage that we'd been heading towards for some time and emerged at another signpost, indicating that we were now on the South Tyne Trail. We followed the South Tyne Trail (and thus the delightful River South Tyne) for the rest of today's walk.It was slightly overgrown in places but quite well signposted, though the sign took us a little while to work out - we initially just saw two approximately vertical and one approximately horizontal black lines, but then we realised there was a faded blue "S" (for South) underneath, and that the black lines could be formed into "T T".

At Hole House the signed route took us around to the right of a big barn, but then straight over a fence; ah well, at least it didn't have barbed wire! We were soon back to the river, and we had sheep and a heron for company, and spotted a deer the other side of the river. I was very pleased at myself for striding over a stone stile embedded in a dry stone wall, but immediately afterwards there was a difficult scramble down to a little stream. After that the walking was quite straightforward, though at one stage I managed to leave one of my walking poles behind when I stopped to take a photograph, so had to go back for it.

We crossed Ash Gill and climbed up to the waterfalls. We realised afterwards that we hadn't climbed quite far enough - we'll have to go back to see the top waterfall - but the falls that we did see were pretty. We continued along the River South Tyne, carrying straight ahead rather than crossing the river at the first opportunity.

We eventually crossed to the other side of the river at Windshaw Bridge, with the river in a narrow gorge beneath us. We walked down the road to Garrigill, passing the route of the C2C (which Richard later took on his return route to the car) and then the track bringing the Pennine Way down from Cross Fell. We walked into the village just behind a Pennine Way walker, but the pub didn't open until 4pm, so he kept walking.

Richard left me sitting at a bench on the pretty green in the middle of Garrigill which he went to fetch the car. I sat outside for a while, then when I was cold I went into the George and Dragon, a welcoming pub where I chatted to the landlady and a couple of Belgian Pennine Way walkers [note written in 2019: The George and Dragon has closed and reopened several times and it is currently unclear whether it is open or closed]. Richard got back with the car about 5.15pm and we drove back to our cottage via Alston. The following day we drove home via the Peak District where we had a lovely meal with our children and their spouses.

Following leg of South Tyne Trail and Pennine Way