North Pennines

The North Pennines form Cumbria's eastern wall, a high plateau of moor and blanket bog that the county shares with Northumberland and County Durham. It is a National Landscape and a UNESCO Global Geopark. On this site the Cumbrian side covers Alston, the high pass at Hartside on the A686, the old lead mining villages around Nenthead, and the great scarp above the Eden Valley topped by Cross Fell, the highest point in the Pennines.

Alston is the hub: a small stone town on a steep cobbled street, sharing the title of highest market town in England. The South Tynedale Railway runs from here along the old branch line, and the Pennine Way passes through. The scarp is home to the Helm Wind, the only named wind in Britain, which roars down off Cross Fell.

Come for solitude, big skies, birds such as black grouse and curlew in spring, and drives and cycle climbs that rival anywhere in England. Late spring and early summer are kindest. Nenthead, a few miles from Alston, is one of the highest villages in England and still has extensive mine remains, and the drovers' roads and old miners' tracks make fine walking routes over the tops.

The weather is serious. Hartside and the roads over to Nenthead and Weardale can close with snow in winter, the tops are very exposed, and services are few and far between. Fill up with fuel before you come over the top.