Pennine Way Weekend 1

Last weekend I joined Bill Badger on his Pennine Pub Crawl (new blogspot address BTW - http://www.penninepubcrawl.blogspot.com due to access problems). After a series of bus and train rides (Haltwhistle to Brampton bus ride particularly scenic) I arrived at Alston for the start of my walk, Bill and Graham being already a third of the way through theirs, the whole of the Pennine Way north to south.
Alston to Garrigill was an easy 5 mile walk, uneventful apart from some glaring bullocks. We checked in at the Post Office b&b but I wasn't overly impressed - our room was rather smelly and there were lots of little 'do not' signs everywhere. Saying that though, the landlady was friendly and the breakfast was very good.
Next day I chickened out of the 17-mile walk from Garrigill to Dufton via Cross Fell, as I was feeling unwell and shattered, not having slept much on the rock-hard bed. I had to walk the 5 miles back to Alston, facing the bullocks and horned cows on my own! Got the bus from Alston to Penrith (slept through most of the ride) had lunch and a quick look round Penrith and then got the bus from Penrith to Dufton. Found the b&b, luckily the landlady was in, and settled down with a huge pot of tea and waited for the lads to arrive. Also met a south-to-norther called Tony, from Steyning!
Later we went to the Stag for dinner but had to wait 1 1/2 hours till we were served! None of us were impressed. Beer was nice though.
Next day (Sunday) a harder walk from Dufton to Langdon Beck, taking in High Cup Nick and Cauldron Snout. Views from Nichol Chair amazing. Graham created his own Pennine Way, not crossing the Maize Beck but having to cross later at Langdon Beck village. We attempted to ford Maize Beck, ignoring the perfectly good bridge, in the name of correctness but gave in after 10 minutes! Bit of a scramble down Cauldron Snout which did indeed look like a witch's brew, then some tricky ankle-twisting rocks most of the way to Langdon.
B&b, Outdales, was up the hill a bit but very friendly - they even offered us a lift to the pub and back! The pub being the Langdon Beck Inn, which had superb food and beer (Jarrow Bitter) as well as newspapers to catch up on the Test scores.
Last walk (Monday) was Langdon Beck to Middleton, past High Force and Low Force waterfalls. The path was very good, lots of opportunities to admire the falls and the river. The weather was very sunny - a superb walk. Lunch and icecream in Middleton before heading back. Got the bus to Darlington, where I picked up some cheap, quality groceries from the market and had a swift half of Sam Smiths in the Glittering Star. Then train journey back to Farnborough and my own lovely bed!