I'm looking to take full advantage of the good forecast for this weekend and do a loop around Cross Fell.
Plan to start at Cowgreen Reservoir, over High Cup Nick into Dufton before traversing Great Dun fell, Little Dun Fell and Cross Fell. Descend into Garrigill then back over the top to the car.
Any tips or pointers??
Its an exellent route,(41 miles)and should be ok after the recent dry weather,coincidentaly I have just been out with chipps covering this route for a singletrack article in the not too distant future.
A couple of pointers, from the end of high cup nick,(viewpoint) stay to the right of maize beck as the other bridleway running parellel is a bog fest and not used.
Theres another cracking decent from the Middleton in teasdale road towards Tyne head (byroad)marked by a finger post(left) just off the summitt.
the best decent,(after a boggy start)is the bridleway from the col between crossfell and little dunfell to blencarn village,no gates till the valley bottom,and your dropping from 2,500ft,exellent!
walking! 
from the garrigill (greggs hut) kirkland bridleway over crossfell is an exellent alternative to the grassy/boggy bridleway to the above col.
Pubs and cafes in Garrigill and Dufton villages,best suited to a 140mm, or short travel full susser..have a cracking ride its a classic
(ideally its best done early in the summer, before the bracken gets to high,or after a hard frost!!,and avoid the shooting season). 
Cheers for the input!
Your account has changed the route I’m going to take slightly, I do have one query though, after the descent down to Tynehead, did you take the track to the immediate left up Tyne Head valley and climb up to Great Dun Fell, or did you carry on up to Garrigill and use the old mine roads past Gregs Hut onto Cross Fell??
+1 for everything GaVgAs said. Its a brilliant big-day-out route.
I felt a bit battered and bruised doing it on a 100mm hardtail. Wish I'd taken the FS but hadn't been expecting that much interesting stuff on a moorland ride. Pleasant surprise 
Tip / pointer: The George and Dragon!
MtbRoutesTip / pointer: The George and Dragon!
Once just missed this pub on a Sunday whilst doing the Pennine Way (Back when pubs closed at three on a Sunday).
As we sat outside the landlord came out with a (free) bowl of roast tatties and offered to serve up some bottles of Brown Ale.
Went down a treat!!
I'd planned on doing a route there, blencarn, up high cap, down to garrigil via greggs hut, up to great dun fell via tyne head and trout beck over little dun fell (walking of course) across to tees head and down to blencarn. Any good?
did the short version years ago up high cap (immersed in cloud) down to black gut up the (non-existent) BW round rake end to tees head down to blencarn in glorious sunshine - indeed a fantastic downhill.
your routes ok donk, but i dont think it really gets the best out of the area,by starting from Blencarn village its roughly the lowest point in the ride,(and riding anti-clockwise)it means you end the day on an amazing decent.
I also like the warm up along the valley road through to Dufton,your then ready for a long but steady climb to High cup nick.
The trout beck Bridleway is very washed out by the river and a bit of a faf to ride now,ok if you dont mind getting on and off the bike its do able.
kevj,yes we stopped in Garrigil and climbed via Black Band,towards Greggs hut,If the clouds down,or weathers bad its probably wise to stay on this track over to Kirkland.as the cross fell walk is not actually marked on the ground until the summitt cairns.
The whole route lends itself to good weather though as its so high level,If you want to experience a full on adventure ride in bad weather, then this is a proper test of navigation!
I would take a map/compass gps as well as plenty of food,its one of the few places i can think of that is very commiting with few escape options.
It will be interesting to read chipps comments on the ride.
Stone marking the decent between Crossfell and little dun fell
One very long decent!
Stone by clarkpm4242, on Flickr - Stone
Final descent by clarkpm4242, on Flickr - Final descent :)))))))
Chipps on the Climb up to High Cup Nick
Obligatory meadow shot
Nice photos Gavgas. I did the route anti-clockwise from Dufton during the drought conditions last year.
A great wilderness day out :)))
Cheers
Paul
Well, thank-you, if those piccies don't give me inspiration then nothing will.
Will report back with pictures of my own next week, hopefully all with nice weather!!
Chers for the advice gavgas, I wouldn't mind doing the full ride but when I say "who fancies a 41 miler?" I don't get many volunteers
Try doing it on a borrowed Orange Alpine,like i did...built up to 37lbs! 
An amazing bike,just not well suited to peddaly rides like this.. 
Fantastic, proper wild riding.
Paul, or Gav, well anyone really... got that route on MMO of GPX please ?
Email in profile. Many thanks guys.
Lowey, that link that clarkpm4242 has posted; there is a .GPX 'button' top right hand corner. Download the file that way.
Well, cheers for the pointers, I did this yesterday morning. Started off from the carpark at Cowgreen just before sun-up. Caught an amazing sight of low mist rolling over the Dun Fells and Cross Fell;
The descent into Tynehead is nice and natural but techy enough to keep you on your toes. Long slog of a climb up to Gregs Hut then onto the top of Cross Fell. I've walked over this a number of times and have never had such a calm day, not a sniff of wind.
Rocky descent down to the stone marker;
Before a fantastic and fast drop into the vale, although I did manage a comedy OTB when the front wheel went hub-deep into a bog at the very top!
^ You can just make out the trail on the RHS of the middle finger. Them Lakes in the distance.
A spot of cake in Dufton helped with the climb up High Cup Nick before the surprisingly fast singletrack over the moors back to the carpark;
View from the top og High Cup Nick;
Very good 'Big' day out but I would recommend you start from Dufton and get that climb out of the way at the start of the day.
kevj - MAGICAL stuff!!
Well in before the next rains
Superb. Just need a nice day to get this booked in.
I think me and my good lady bumped into you lot yesterday well atleast I recognise KevJ's bike anyhow and there was a group of 4 guys coming along trout beck. It was a blast of a day weather wise as the photos clearly show.
Just a quick question on the right of way issues. The Pennine way from High Dun Fell to Dufton is marked as a footpath on my OS but some say its permissible for MTB use. Is that the case as it would save a tarmac return via knock ?
Also rider beware.... If its slighty cold, wet or windy before you start the ride it can be freezing, torrential and a gale on High Dunn Fell. Me and a mate set off in mid june and ended the tarmac climb in a snowstorm so be warned.
Nice.
personally, I prefer it clockwise. Approach to the Nick is great fun, and the descent to Dufton is a right laugh, completed by a pint ot 2 at the Stag. Then its tarmac climb to the radar station, cheekily over the top, then blast all the way back to Garrigill.
The Pennine way from High Dun Fell to Dufton is marked as a footpath on my OS
But with the whopping great stone slabs that've been put down, you're not going to do any damage.
The Pennine way from High Dun Fell to Dufton is marked as a footpath on my OS
The stone pitching was done as part of the long distance Pennine Bridleway,its not actually been reclasified yet though.
Thanks for that, we will take a look next time.
Here is the picture when we had snow in june....
Snow, on the climb to the radar station....
Taken one winter, a million years ago!
Radar Station road made the front cover of Cycling Plus this month. Prefered it when there wearnt so many metal snow poles. Last time I was up there was in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. Walking towards the storm and the large metal rods wasnt my idea of fun.
what ir-bandito failed to say was that we reached the top of cross fell at ~11pm in the dark, low cloud, freezing cold and a howling gale (despite it being mid summer). Happily, we found the trig point and from there the path. Fun!
Tips - daylight, food, GPS, and prepare for bad weather on the tops.
stevesmith7461I think me and my good lady bumped into you lot yesterday well atleast I recognise KevJ's bike anyhow and there was a group of 4 guys coming along trout beck. It was a blast of a day weather wise as the photos clearly show.
Where you the couple on the black specialized bikes? we passed just after (Before in your direction) the viewpoint at High Cup Nick, I was riding solo that day.
Also, is your mate called Poucher by any chance? I've read a post on another forum about that snow filled ride!
Yep that was us parked next to u at cow green. U must have been up very early my friend when we met u u were 75% done I reckon. Which way did u come down from cross fell ? Tarmac, pennine way or b/w down to Blencarn (spelling ?) ? I remember u said it was good and I presume u went over the bars on the flat boggy bit at the top.
Yep my mate Poucher from work has vowed never to ride with me again after the snow in June incidence !
A little update as we did it on Saturday. Haven't been on Crossfell for a couple of years and I've certainly never done it where the top was clear. We did the long descent as described in the mag and I prefer it to the normal descent of just going straight over from Gregs hut. We came back via Great Dunfell and with it being clear paid a visit to the radar station for the 1st time. Great ride, 1st proper ride in big hills for far too long.
MotionX GPS Tracking ~ should contain a gpx file if you want to download it.
Photos on Flickr
We did a similar route on Saturday too: Started at Blencarn, climbed up the bridleway that goes to the left of Crossfell summit and over to Garrigill then back over via the source of the Tyne then along the Tees up to the Radar dome and down the (difficult to find) bridleway down to Kirkland and then Blencarn on Tarmac. Good route, especially on a clear day like Saturday. Next time we'll go up the tarmac to the radar dome, Garrigill, Cow Green res and high Cup Nick, I think.
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