Dufton to Alston 5/6/25

 

The little sign says, “Mind your head.”  That never applies to me, but it reminded me of all the times I have taken the underground in London, and they announce over and over, “Mind the Gap,”  meaning the space between the subway and the stop. 

I walked by the beautiful historic house as I was leaving Dufton.

As I start on the hike, fat, dumb, and happy, with no clue as to how hard today was going to be. Twenty-two plus hard mountain miles to be exact.

Mountain after Mountain after Mountain.

And just to add to the stress on my thighs and knees, I had to climb up and down these steps way too many times.  

I thought I was at the high point when I got to the top of this mountain.

And then the pointy one.

And then this one

This stone sums it up perfectly - more up.

Surely, I was at the top when I got to the top of this pointy one.

Next came this one

Surely, the weather station was the summit.  But no!

If you look closely, there are three mountains in a row. Up and down, up and down, up and down and I still wasn’t at the summit. 

Finally, the summit.  I wanted to plant a flag.

I think it is 2979 feet.  It was the constant up and down that killed my legs.

And I wasn’t finished, next I had miles of Moor to go.  At least it was rolling minor hills.

As I was traversing the moor, I came across another baby sheep and her mom, and I stopped because the tiny lamb seemed so curious.  I stopped and held my hand out.  She was very nervous but also curious, and she came up to me and licked my hand. 

I have no idea, what they were trapping.

When I got about 5 miles from the trail, I came across this sign that said a bridge was closed and there was an alternate route.  I started down the alternate trail and saw a young man and a young woman. (surveyors?) And they looked at their man, and the young woman said, “She would just get her feet wet.” Then a local woman came up and said she would go the original way, and cross the river. The new route was completely different from my phone map.  I was nervous it would be longer and I wouldn’t have my phone map to consult. I went the original way,  I came to the foot bridge, and it looked fine, so I crossed it.  It wasn’t locked or anything.  

At the hotel, I ran into my friends Beau and Sally, who had made the same decision. It was so fun to catch up with them again. I ordered Pizza for dinner, and it was good.  I was so tired I could have gone to sleep at the table.  In fact, Part of the reason I didn’t send this last night was that I fell asleep with my clothes on.  I woke up a couple of hours later, wished Dennis a good sleep, changed into my PJs, and slept until my watch alarm went off the next morning.

And so I bid you a late good night and God bless.