Woah - this was a tough day, and I’m writing this from a tent high up in the Cheviot Hills, a few feet from the fence border with Scotland. It was the longest, greatest ascent, most technical as far as hiking challenges, and some of the coldest & wettest weather day of my entire trip; but it may also be the most beautiful and remote of the entire journey as well. I walked 19.2 miles and climbed 3788 feet. We started at 7:30am and finished about 5:30pm, with a stop in the sun at a mountain shelter for lunch.
The morning started in the rain, and it was already wet since it had rained all night. But quickly the sun broke through and it was a glorious morning. After passing the local church of St. Francis that has a stunning stained glass window, there was a big climb out of Cottonshopburnfoot. First through a sweet forest with tall ferns, then up it went to the area where the farmed trees had been clear cut, and even higher to a scramble up a rock face where hands as well as legs were needed to pull myself up. Once at the top I was literally stopped in my tracks at the beauty of the hillsides lighting up in the sunlight. The whole morning was lovely with puffyclouds, sunshine, green hills, not too wet and squishy paths. At one point I even spotted a very flat blue line on the horizon and realized it was the North Sea poking through all the mountains between us. And I was happy to see my shadow reappear after days of hiding.
I knew I would walk across the border at some point, so looked closely for that. From then on the path goes back and forth across the border, ending tomorrow in Scotland. There were many signs of interest up high along the ridges, some alarmingly about our proximity to the Ministry of Defense practice ranges. We saw in the distance that the red flags were raised, and later heard the rat-a-tat of gunfire. Unnerving. There were also many ancient sites: a Roman Fort and road, a medieval village site, Bronze Age cairns, a memorial to a 15th century English lord murdered by his Scottish counterpart during a truce meeting at the top of one of the hills. All is absent of any drama or people in this remote area now. Except the soldiers practicing somewhere out there.
There were flagstone paths when things got too boggy, but still a good amount of hopping around was required. The path went up and down the hills, with much terrain changing so that required careful stepping. We shared the mountain shelter at lunch with a walker from Norway, and had an interesting chat about the different customs and trails in Norway from the UK.
After lunch things changed. Dramatically. Pitter patter of raindrops became a full on downpour, and the temperature dropped. Bill had ran out of water, so we deviated from the path a little trying to locate running streams. No luck, but we did get lost a couple of times. Fortunately, thanks to our strong phone signals and gps we were able to find our way back on track. That required some heather hopping around the wet peat patches. Hail started. It grew colder. Where we had planned to camp for the night wasn’t possible due to the high wind and lack of fresh water. We kept going to the second mountain refuge hut, and first spotted it way down on a hill in the distance. About that time the sun returned, and our day ended as warmly as it had begun. But before we could reach the hut, there was a very steep descent on some slippery soil and rocks.
Once at the hut, we found three more people taking shelter for the night, and drying out their clothes in the late afternoon sunshine. I had a nice chat with them, comparing trail stories, and Bill walked down to a spring nearby and finally found water. We ate a cold dinner of tuna and apples, and hunkered down for the night. The rain is just starting again, and I cannot believe I have cell service strong enough to send this post out now. Sheep are baa-ing loudly to each other on the hills around us. Tomorrow we will have a shortish walk into Kirk Yetholm, the final day of the Pennine Way which is quite an accomplishment. I cannot wait for a warm shower, and then celebration at the pub!
