Day 16 Byrness to Auchope Mountain Refuge Hut
29.6km, 1106 metres ascent, 9 hours 40 minutes
The Cheviots: great walking country |
For those not too au fait (notice my linguistic skills there?) with the Pennine Way, the final stretch from Byrness to Kirk Yetholm can be somewhat problematic. It’s about 40km with a fair amount of climbing both up and along the Cheviots. Only very strong walkers can do it in a single day, but there is no settlement or accommodation along this high level section. If backpacking with a tent you are at an advantage here, although finding water can be an issue if it is warm and conditions are dry. Those without a tent have to drop down off the route and normally then need a lift to accommodation some distance away. John is more than capable of doing this section of the route in a long, single day. For me, though, this would have been completely out of the question, so we had planned two moderately short days of about 20km each, camping near the summit of Windy Gyle, the mid-point. As it happens this is not how things panned out.
Looking back after the climb through the forest |
There was another package for Danielle pinned to a fence. We could see it contained a tube of Voltarol painkilling gel (this may actually have been spotted the day before – I’ve lost track). Soon after, at Chew Green Roman Camp, we dropped down from the route to the stream at the road head to take on water. It would be the last source until we were almost in Kirk Yetholm, over 25 hours away. And so an awful lot was needed with another 33km of walking and an overnight stop with dinner and breakfast to cook. Thus, I was to be burdened with another 4 litres and an extra 4kg to carry, with my camel like companion taking on slightly less. In fact, I would have liked rather more than this, as the day was getting warmer and I knew I would need to conserve what I had and would risk dehydration.
It had become apparent early on that our original plan of camping at Windy Gyle was not on. We would get there far too early, not least because we had left Byrness at 7.10 that morning. Furthermore, stopping at Windy Gyle would mean a much later arrival into Kirk Yetholm on the morrow (I really should have been born in Georgian times) which would make getting thither (see what I mean) in time to catch public transport home problematic. As it was we were at the top of Windy Gyle by 2.00 in the afternoon and so we pressed on. We thought that we might find somewhere nearer The Cheviot to camp, and I was hoping that I would feel fit enough to get beyond Auchope Cairn to the ‘second’ mountain refuge hut. This would mean a short final day and so an early finish.
Shelter cairn by the summit of Windy Gyle: A nice camp spot in calm conditions |
The summit of Windy Gyle |
The walking really was splendid, but by mid-afternoon I knew I was not drinking enough as I was trying to eke out my supply. I was also tired and getting slower and slower. John had every intention, and rightly so, of taking the spur to the top of The Cheviot; I knew that was beyond my physical abilities if we were to get to the mountain refuge to camp. Thus, after King’s Seat John went off ahead to climb The Cheviot, whilst I plodded on, increasingly slowly, up the steepish climb to Auchope Cairn and the even steeper drop down to the mountain refuge. John arrived there fifteen minutes or so after me, having walked at least a couple of miles further. It had been a fabulous walk but a pretty tough old day and I was feeling it.
Auchope Cairn |
Looking to the Mountain Refuge Hut just to the left of centre in the mid-distance, (from the steep drop off Auchope Cairn) |
The Auchope Mountain Refuge |
Our last camp of the trip. Super spot |
Self-timed selfie: our final evening |
The three of us sat in the refuge and had a brief chat,
learning that the packages we had seen with her name on had been left for her
by another through hiker she knew and whom (I'm back to the Georgian stuff, as nobody seems to use this fine word any longer) we had met several days before on both
Great Shunner Fell and at Tan Hill. During this conversation I started to make
my desperately needed first brew, my stove set up on the bench in the hut. On my last legs with fatigue and thirst, I
went to take my pot of boiling water off the stove and knocked the whole lot
over onto the floor. A mugful of precious water wasted. My language was choice;
really very choice. I apologised to John and Danielle whilst also
just about avoiding bursting into tears of frustration and anger, but it was a
close run thing.
Danielle offered us Jaffa Cakes. That was a different linky thing. Happy now? She explained that this was
the only food she had with her. She had ditched everything else several day’s earlier to
reduce the weight she was carrying. I think she had also abandoned her stove and pot. I may have misunderstood, but she seemed to
be living off food handouts from people she was meeting en-route (I must stop lapsing into French in these posts). John and I were
both carrying too much food so I offered her some cereal bars and John dug out a spare
main meal. She then said she was very dehydrated as she had also decided not to
carry water and didn't even have a water bottle, also to save weight, and she hadn’t drunk
anything for several hours.
I guessed what was coming a minute or so before it happened.
“I don’t suppose you could spare me some water?” she asked.
Now. I am well into my sixties. I had been carrying a heavy
pack for almost 10 hours and had made this task all the more difficult by
adding 4 kg of water to my load and lugged this gradually diminishing precious cargo for
21km over the hills. I, too, was dehydrated and had less than I needed for the rest
of our journey. But here was a damsel in distress. A tall, blonde, blue-eyed, shorts
wearing, long tanned-legged damsel, not that I had noticed any of these things.
Certainly not. Not at all. She looked straight at me and I almost said “yes I can spare some”. Then I
thought. “Hold on, would you be saying 'yes' if this was a 6 foot bloke with a beard, who was
less than half my age, fit enough to backpack from Land’s End to John O’Groats
who had decided not to carry any water to save weight?” No I ****** would not.
Not even if he'd been wearing shorts and had the looks of a Viking God.
Thus, there was only answer I could give. Selfishness trumped chivalry. As a result I had terrible feelings of guilt. Mind you, the subsequent mug of tea I made at my tent helped wash that nonsense away.
Day 17 (September 17th,
2021) Auchope Mountain Refuge Hut to Kirk Yetholm
11.5km, 390 metres
ascent, 3 hours 20 minutes
Dawn over The Cheviot |
It was a beautiful dawn. Click on the linky thing. Please do. Then chill out, relax and enjoy.
Did you like that? I did think of giving you a James Blunt track of a similar name but you’ve bothered to read my ramblings this far so why
punish you even further? Oh go on then. I know you are closet fans of his. Admit it. especially you, Mad'n'Bad.
The Schil from the Mountain Refuge Hut |
We were away by 7.15 am, and soon at the top of the last major hill
of the route, the Schil. The wind was cold and we didn't linger. Then a long gradual descent, with the
occasional sharp bursts of uppiness, largely along wonderful, easy grassy
paths. It’s amazing how tiredness melts away after a long trek when the end is
within reach.
Lovely 'striding out' country along the Scottish Border fence |
Almost there |
Then we were down in the valley again, and a kilometre of tarmac took us into Kirk Yetholm, the best part of an hour before the Border Inn was due to open. Photographs time. We’d done it. It was never in any doubt that John would finish. But for me? After my failure in 2019 I had been determined to complete the challenge this time but there is always doubt there. Fortunately that hadn’t surfaced during the 17 days on the trail, not least because I was with John. Ultra-competent, great navigation skills, fit and experienced. All those things, but above all patient, fun, supportive and great company. I doubt I would have completed the walk without him there. But I did. And I think again of how I ended my blog posts in 2019 when I had packed in my attempt to walk the Pennine Way after just 4 days. Yep. I’d done it. So like me, don’t forget. When you get so down that you can't get up, and you want so much, but you're all out of luck just Hold on Tight to your dreams. And that's the best linky thing of all.
The End: The Border Hotel, Kirk Yetholm |