Cross Fell (G/NP-001) has been on my list of hills since I first discovered SOTA. Usually I have had limited time and from memory I knew it was not a short walk. When part of the SRT in the ‘90s I remember walking up it in the dark to look for a missing walker. We searched Cross Fell until about 1AM and then spent a few hours in Greg’s Hut before starting again at 5AM. We found him, and he was airlifted off. Anyway it is just as far as it used to be from Garrigill and I knew it was quite a walk.
Following the activation of Mickle Fell, or rather following the extended recovery from the walk I decided that some work had to be done on the weight of the bag. I removed the spare LiPo battery (400g), Internal battery from the FT 817 (250g ish), the plastic box containing various odds and sods was put into dry bags (another 200g), the speaker mike for the FT 270 (200g) and finally the “Slim Jim” ladder line 2m antenna (another 200g). This still gave me a full HF setup, and a 2m handheld with an RH-770 as a plan “B”.
By daughter and the dog were press ganged into action and we set off for the 40 min journey from home at about 8-30 AM in good weather. I am always slightly nervous about parking the car as not to upset any locals, and having parked, legally on the roadside I was asked to move the car and directed to another spot off the road. It appears the folk of Garrigill don’t make very good neighbours as when I got back to the car a rather angry man appeared asking why I parked in “His Spot” (Public Road) and didn’t seem particularly happy with the explanation… oh and the Pub was shut so not a good day in Garrigill
There is quite a sheepish climb out of the valley, but the estate have been very busy and the shooting track is now of excellent quality and it appears quite considerable length. 
I was still convinced from memory that Gregs hut (Bothy) http://gregshut.org.uk/ was just around the corner, and although it is just around a corner it is one several km away.
The final part of the walk to the summit is rather steep and boggy as…
as a spring emerges under the path, but by lunchtime we were up on the summit. Set up nearish the trig point to leave the shelter for everyone else.
At the top the sun was out and there were brilliant views. Given the time of day I decided that despite the alert I set 40m might work better and I has some good inter G as well as European contacts. Thanks again to all the chasers.
( I also used the phone to do the logging (outdlog) - still can’t cope with glasses on a mountain so by increasing the text size and selecting bold all becomes clearish without needing a selfie stick to bring the phone into focus… )
I had a brief try on 2m before we started the descent, which has uneventful, and appeared to be even longer that it had been on the way up!
24hrs later I must admit that I still have a few aches, and the Woody (the dog that pulls ….) is jammed on the sofa not even trying to steal cat food.
Just like G/NP-002 I think that this is one hill that I won’t choose to walk up on the same route a second time, or at least until the legs are a bit less painful.
According to the watch – 24 km and 650m of climbing. So NP-001, NP-002 and NP-003 all done – Whernside next….
I am struggling to complete the last part of the report as I have been rather more careful with the packing but…
Mystery additional item … I could claim it is the sachet of cat food which is a summit treat for Woody but although unusual that was deliberate…
Essential Item cunningly left behind … probably a long cold drink and snack which should have been left in the car given the shut state of the hostelry.
