The night was still, clear and cold. It dropped to just under 1degC and the grass was heavy with dew as I looked out of the tent at first light. I took my time getting ready as I didn't want to do any walking through wet grass as I'd managed to keep my boots and socks dry and wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. The tent was also awash with morning dew and the clear sky of earlier began to cloud over meaning there were hardly any warming rays of sunshine to dry the tent. I delayed until 9am but with a walk across rough ground to my next camp I couldn't delay any longer. I headed straight up the hillside towards the summit ridge. It was so flat at the tip it couldn't be called a ridge. I followed the wall line as best I could but there was no path and the going was rough. To my right and a little way down the hill I saw some pieces of metal with the familiar colour of aircraft aluminium. I walked down to take a closer look.

pieces of wreckage

view to the east

A few odd pieces of wreckage surrounded the unmistakable piece of wing and attached aileron. A faded RAF circular marking was on the wing which had the shape and appearance of a jet wing. By the wreckage was a small wooden cross of the kind that is put on war memorials. It had no accompanying memorial notes. Scratched on the wing I could just make out Aug 1970 and a partial name but I couldn't make it out. I returned to the wall and continued to pick my way along.

I reached open ground and the wall became a wire fence. Yesterday I'd omitted to mention seeing a ram with its head and horns caught in a dilapidated wire fence. It was struggling to free itself and I thought I'd leave it to get out of its predicament on its own. The last time I’d intervened in a similar incident I caused more harm than good so this time I didn't interfere. With that memory I now came on a sight I couldn't help with. Another dilapidated wire fence and this time a ram with its hind leg securely caught between two twisted strands of wire. It had happened some time ago and the animal was now dead and must have had an agonising death. A properly maintained fence would not have caused either incident. Ahead there was some very rough and wet ground that I had to do a major detour to get round. Back with the fence I came to Tom Smith's Stone, which is shown on the map. I was expecting a shapeless boulder in the middle of nowhere.

Tom Smith's Stone

boggy ground

It is no such thing and appears to be a boundary stone of gatepost design with an OS bench mark carved on the base and letters on each of the four faces. I followed the wire fence south across continuing bad ground. With no path it is not a route for pleasure or sightseeing. I saw the Black Fell trig point ahead and thankfully the ground became better and dryer underfoot.

site of the ruined building by the mines

The welcoming sight of green grass and a stone wall ahead was welcome. The views both sides were impressive with the Lake District to my right and the fells towards Alston to my left. It would have been nice to camp on Little Daffenside but there was no water. I pressed on towards Hartside Height and made a detour towards Stormy Sike to try and find water, but there wasn't any. I had to make a wide detour to the deep Coal Cleugh to find any and then make a long carry to my planned camp near Hartside Height. I was going to camp by the ruin of the building that must have been the accommodation to service the many mine shaft hereabouts but I decided to climb higher to get a full view of the west and east hills.