Walking in Alston and the Cumbrian North Pennines
Cauldron Snout, North Pennines National Landsape
Inspired by The Winter Spine updates in January showing the remote moorland area of the North Pennines, we recently decided to go there for a mini break. It was somewhere completely new for us, meaning lots of opportunities to explore. The North Pennines is designated as a National Landscape (formerly called an AONB) for its moorland scenery, farming, and history of lead-mining. It’s also a UNESCO Global Geopark and covers nearly 770 square miles.
We stayed in Alston, which claims to be the highest market town in England - although I’ve heard it may share the title with Buxton in Derbyshire. It’s a pretty town, standing at around 200m (1,000ft) above sea level, and is located something like 20 miles from the next nearest town, so pretty remote! Our accommodation was a fab cottage, hosted on AirBnB, but the owner also has a separate website: Grove Cottages, Alston
There are so many walks we want to do in the area but, with only two full days available, we had to be picky. High Cup Nick and Cross Fell are both on our tick list. They go up high - Cross Fell is 893m (2,929ft) and the highest hill in England outside of the Lake District - but with the bitterly cold weather, we left them for another visit. If you want to walk to either, click the links above and you can download details from the National Trails website.
Cow Green Reservoir and Cauldron Snout walk
Cauldron Snout was somewhere I was keen to visit. It’s on the Pennine Way and runners on this year’s Winter Spine had to be diverted around it for safety reasons.
We started our walk from the car park at Cow Green Reservoir, 480m high. That’s a summit in many places! The reservoir is two miles long and built in the late 1960’s to supply the Teesside industries. Interestingly, the border between Cumbria and County Durham runs down the middle of the reservoir.
The dam wall is where the Pennine Way climbs up to High Cup Nick. But, following it in the opposite direction, you soon come to the impressive Cauldron Snout.
At 180m, Cauldron Snout is the longest waterfall in England. The path alongside the waterfall includes a little scrambling over rocks. Whilst I’d probably not want to do it in icy weather, we were soon over and down on the banks of the River Tees.
Our walk continued alongside the river to Falcon Clints. The path here is right at river level, so probably not great to do in icy weather or when river levels are high. It included some stepping over rocks and was a stunningly beautiful section of countryside.
Leaving the riverside, we headed across fields towards Langdon Beck, and then returned along the single track road to the car park.
Our circular walk was just under 9.5 miles and can be cut shorter by taking a path which avoids Langdon Beck. The National Trails website also has this 11 mile circular walk taking in Cauldron Snout and Falcon Clints.
Alston to Lintley Halt circular walk via the South Tyne Trail and Pennine Way
For our second day, we decided to walk from the cottage in Alston. Looking for circular walks, we found one which went along the South Tyne Trail and returned via the Pennine Way. More Pennine Way miles, bonus!
As a double bonus, it passed by Whitley Castle, an old Roman ruin. As a triple bonus, it followed some of Isaac’s Tea Trail which we’d walked on last year from Allendale. The trail is named after tea seller, Isaac Holden, who must have been a gritty guy wandering across the wild and remote moors to sell his tea.
The South Tyne Trail follows the River South Tyne from the source to Haltwhistle. It covers almost 23 miles (36.5km) and can be walked or cycled. We followed a permitted path right alongside the South Tynedale Railway from Alston to Lintley Halt (sadly it was too early in the year for trains).
It was tempting to walk the full five miles to Slaggyford, but our path onto the Pennine Way turned off at Lintley Halt. Plus, we were ready for some variety in terrain.
All I can say is be careful what you wish for! By the time we landed back in Alston, I would have gladly traded the path we were on for a flat railway track!
You may wonder if it had steep, lung-busting climbs. But no, mud was the problem. Mud, mud, not so glorious mud! I’ve since read accounts of this section of the Pennine Way and it seems to be a well-known feature. If I’d known in advance, I think we’d have looked for another walk.
The route took us through one waterlogged and muddy field after another. Tractors had churned the mud up even more. At one time, we joked that it looked like someone had been doing doughnuts, laughing at the poor walkers trying to navigate the path. Maybe they had 🤔 but I prefer to think it was just some poor soul doing their best to make the land work for them in vile conditions.
It was lunchtime by the time we reached the roman ruins of Whitley Castle. We’d planned on wandering down to the site for shelter and to soak up some history with our butties. But the mud got the better of us. It made no sense to continue wading through, just to sit in a windswept ruin. We found a handy piece of wood to sit on, layered up against the biting wind, and quickly ate before trudging on.
Back in Alston, we lit the fire and hunkered down from the elements, cancelling our plans for a pub meal.
Our walk covered just over 9 miles. If you really want to do it, take a look at the Alston to Slaggyford section of the South Tyne Trail map. It shows the permitted path to Lintley, and then where the Pennine Way spurs off and above Whitley Castle.
In summary
This was our first visit to the North Pennines. It’s a harsh and remote area, a far cry from the chocolate box locations of the Cumbrian Lake District. But I loved it!
A few years ago, I detested moorland walking. Then, in 2018, I was asked to co-author an update to the AA’s 50 Walks in the Peak District. My patch covered the high moorland areas of the Northern Peak District and I found a new appreciation for these wild open spaces.
I called the North Pennines ‘big country’ when we drove over to Cow Green Reservoir for our first walk. It feels vast, even more so with the long distances between towns and villages.
These areas are not for the faint-hearted and I think it’s important to have a good grounding in navigation and outdoor skills. But, there are other smaller valley walks and outdoor activities too.
Plus, we’ve not even ventured onto the high ground. It’s definitely somewhere I’ll be returning to for more.
Testing out the Suunto Race GPS watch…
I’m currently in the process of pulling together a comparison review of GPS watches, especially for those of us with small wrists. So, it was great to spend time in an unfamiliar location and really test the map and route functions on the Suunto I’ve been wearing recently.
It’s the largest watch I’ve looked at, but had all the features at the right price point so I wanted to test in person to give some well-rounded thoughts.
If you’ve been looking at watches for outdoor adventures, I’ll be publishing the comparisons around the end of March/early April. Scroll down and sign up for emails to make sure you find out when it goes live.
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Outdoor-Girl is run by Jacquie Budd, an outdoor adventure and marketing content writer for brands that care about their impact on people and the planet.
