A couple of months after my return to the hills, albeit with a modest moorland walk, I once again drove up to the north Pennines for my next outing. I’d decided on attempting an out-and-back from Killhope Cross to Dead Stones which according to my own variation of Naismith’s Rule should take two and a half hours.
I started walking south from the empty car park at Killhope Cross and it soon became obvious that my fitness, following a long illness and a recent bout of Covid-19 was still very poor, the shallow incline to Knoutberry Hill often leaving me breathless. I reached the vague summit where a small cairn probably didn’t accurately mark the true summit but with a bit of a wander I was happy that I had reached the true summit.
Knoutberry Hill summit cairn
As
I took aim for Nag’s Head the fog became thicker and the temperature
dropped. Although relatively flat, the
terrain was challenging due to the heather, bog and large areas of peat hags
which prevented what would normally be a simple task of following the
straight-line boundary fences. I was on
ground that the OS map wasn’t clearly representing and I came to understand
that this was a weakness in displaying the true topography. Despite the reputation of the Ordnance
Survey, my navigation through the worst of the hags was best aided by the
footsteps of another walker, despite me not seeing anybody else all day.
I reached Nag’s Head summit which was also marked by a small cairn which may or may not be at the actual highpoint. Due to a combination of my lack of fitness and the tricky terrain (but mostly fitness) the time taken so far was equal to the time remaining before sunset. Dead Stones was only a kilometre away but I was very tired and I didn’t know what the terrain would be like for the kilometre up to (and back from) Dead Stones. And then I would have to walk the three and a half kilometres back to the car in fog and fading light. I decided to cut short the planned walk and headed back to the road.
I had reconciled my decision and felt no disappointment as it was the right thing to do. Dead Stones could be climbed in the future by a probable route from the west.
The whole walk took more than double the time indicated by my Naismith’s variation. My planned walks for 2025 are likely to be shorter and have less ascent until hopefully my fitness returns to a point when I could reasonably consider tackling longer routes.
It’s time to get the maps out!
