Dufton Delights

As I was unable to get to the Lake District on 26th April, I decided to go on a ‘photo-shoot’ expedition and, at the same time, do a little pre-walk checking in the Dufton {NY 688 251} area of Cumbria. I set off from Middlesbrough at about 10.45 am and drove the 63 miles to arrive at Dufton at about 12.15 pm. When I got there, would you believe, the car park was full to capacity! Fortunately, I managed to find a parking spot at the far (west) end of the village (see picture below).


I set off from the village in a south-westerly direction along the minor road leading to Keisley - with good views of Murton Pike in the distance. I continued along the road to High Cup House {NY 718 232} - where I left the road. Here, I turned left onto a north-easterly bearing and followed a good (initially) farm track from Harbour Flatt towards Middletongue Crag. I climbed up to the base of the crag and then followed the contour lines around into High Cup Gill in the direction of High Cup Nick - trying not to loose any height.

I kept (more or less) to the route of the public footpath until I reached the point {NY 741 255} where I decided to implement an amendment to my originally planned route. I was originally going to do the climb out of the valley at High Cup Nick itself - but thought I might get some good photos as a result of my route amendment.

So, my new climb-plan was to take me up onto High Cup Scar near {NY 743 254}. I had to choose my route very carefully so as to avoid any confrontations with vertical rock faces - which I would not be able to climb. I therefore decided to make my ascent from {NY 741 255} in the direction of Murton Fell to reach the point {NY 743 254}. The yellow line in the picture below shows my ascent path.


This was indeed quite a climb - in some places, almost vertical! However, it was well worth it in terms of the lovely photo-shots that I was able to get. As I neared the top of my ascent I had to carefully choose my route through the scar to avoid the (famous) vertical rock formations both to the left and to the right of where I was heading.

Once I was up on top of the scar I walked in a northerly direction along its edge (taking photographs as I went) in order to reach High Cupgill Head. From here I followed the route of the Pennine Way (PW) in an easterly direction to reach {NY 555 267} and then turned onto a north-westerly bearing in order to get to the footbridge at Maizebeck Scar {NY 749 270}. From here I went back to High Cup Nick to take more photographs. By now the wind was blowing hard and it was difficult to keep the camera still!

From High Cup Nick I moved off in a north-westerly bearing to rejoin the PW which I followed (downhill) back to Dufton.

What a tremendous day I had; good weather, beautiful scenery and a terrific climb! Use the buttons below to see where I went, how I did and a small selection of the photos that I took.

  

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