Great Dun Fell

From Garrigill, on the Pennine Way? Yeah, the climb's a very good track, certainly rideable on a gravel bike. There might be bits of pushing at the top over Cross Fell. The path to GDF is flagged in places, but still boggy in other bits.

(Edited as I realised above is talking about a different section of the Pennine Way than initially thought - the other bit of the Pennine way going East to West being a jink further South crossing the head of High Cup Nick from Cow Green Reservior)

There is a path on the North side of Great Dunn Fell leading from Cross Fell but it is the spaced stone slab sort of which is doable on a good mtb but will have you cursing and walking on a laden gravel machine, at least its firm ground though...

... and then there are the tracks from East or North East that lead to the Great Dunn Fell summit - although these are marked on the map they are in no way established paths, go through boggy indistinct undulating ground. Easily navigable as one can always see the golf ball on Dunn Fell, but the sort of terrain where you're pushing a lot and look back to see the results of your last half hours efforts and see you've got nowhere, its a slog and a half of type 2 fun.... it's the sort of route one does once.

The tarmac road up to Great Dunn Fell is by far the easiest way up... and a proper paved road, but obviously only on the West side, terminating at the summit.

Will be about 2.5 hours from Garrigill to Cross Fell, then another half hour to GDF. By contrast, there is a tarmac road up from the other side, about 45 minutes, maybe a bit more if you're loaded/knackered. Rookhope to Middleton via Langdon Beck isn't too bad, Middleton to Brough a bit of a schlep but reasonable roads.

Worth feeding all that into your calculator to see if it actually makes more sense to take the road to the other side and do it as an out and back from the Eden Valley. Possibly not, but you might want the option if the weather is a bit dodgy.

 it seems to be that the track it’s taking us up from North East (i.e heading in a south west direction) of the summit is a track rather than a road.

If you mean from Garrigill up to Tyne Head then the infant river Tees near Moor House, this is single-track road then good track to just past the Moor House turning. Fast travelling, no more than 1hr unless direct southerlies as fairly sheltered. Then 3-4km of hikeabike/flowing singletrack/bog to join the road just S of the summit. Massively conditions dependent whether this last bit is a huge piss take or just about ok. Joining this track from near Yad Moss via marked byway also doable but not all easy ground.

Garrigill to Cross Fell top is easy riding on big we'll maintained tracks mostly as far as Greg's Hut (bothy). Then hike a bike up the boggy shoulder to huge summit cairn (useful marker as the routes off can be tricky in dark/low vis). Unless mega headwinds 1.5hr for this should be adequate. Then follow slabbed Pennine way to the radar station & tarmac.

From Rookhope my 2 options would be (a) Burnhope reservoir - Coldberry End - Yad Moss - Tyne Head - Trout Beck, and (b) Allenheads - Coalcleugh - Nenthead - Priorsdale track - Garrigill - Cross Fell - Pennine Way. That's just off the top of my head. Couldn't tell you distances/climbing involved either way. I suspect the latter is longer but generally easier surfaces. I'd base my decision on the conditions on the day.

[Edit] and the climb up the road from the west is quite nice so don't dismiss that entirely as a third option - but you still have to get to it somehow & hartside is a miserable road at the wrong times.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9202603665

Can you see this? The way I rode up from Garrigill was tough, I was on a FS and it's a long hill. But the terrain was easy enough until the hut. Definitely doable on a gravel bike.

When you get to Cross I think you'd be pushing over to Dun Fell. The slabs are not that great, they are basically steps up and down. Where there aren't slabs it can be very wet.

As others have said you'll have to weigh up the pushing side vs. taking the road route. I guess that would be Alston to Melmerby and then up the road from Knock?

Bikehike.co.uk can be a good reference. As can Strava heatmaps.

I'd probably have 2 options. If it is really dry go up from Garragill, but if it has been wet in April/May and on the day then go up the road.

On a laden bike you might be walking up the road. I can't remember what the average gradient is but there's a dowhnhill at one point. Doesn't it get to 25%? I can't actually remember, bits of it are quite steep. A good hill roadie climber will take about 30 minutes to get up it, going hard.

On a laden bike you might be walking up the road. I can’t remember what the average gradient is but there’s a dowhnhill at one point. Doesn’t it get to 25%? I can’t actually remember, bits of it are quite steep. A good hill roadie climber will take about 30 minutes to get up it, going hard.

I reckon it's the hardest road climb in the UK. It's longer and more sustained than Hardknott although maybe not quite as steep. There's certainly at segment up at 20%+ though.

My fastest time is about 41 minutes on an unladen road bike (on a hot day with a slight tailwind).

The  road is apparently the highest tarmac road in England at 848m!

Thanks for the input all.

The route we have to do is going to be 1000km over 72 hours. I think pushing a laden bike over slabs whilst undertaking that is something we definitely want to avoid so I'll be looking in to how much longer it is to ride round to the road. Great Dun Fell will come in around 400k - I reckon we'll be getting there around 24 hours after starting at 8pm the night before so we would have to be doing this at dusk/night as well. Definitely not the one.

Just to add that the road is very restricted access. From.the bottom it's farmers and residents only then from the first cattle grid it's access for the radar station only so it's super quiet.

Just watch the descent though, it's easy for your speed to run away with you and there are sometimes sheep on the road too!

There's a couple of routes up. They both have decent gravel tracks most of the way up and then hike a bike over the top. The weather would be a deciding factor - it's a wild place. On a good day the hike a bike is tolerable. Only one is a Bridleway, the route over Cross Fell above is footpath. I've found the rivers problematic on the Bridleway after heavy rain.

I will say the initial climb is very steep and you'll struggle on a fully laden bike with 40mm tyres. The combination of gradient and gravel doesn't make it easy.

To ride around it is quite a long way, there are very few road options. It's a proper road down from the summit.

I don't know what the rules are but I suspect footpaths are out.  That leaves you with coming up from Moor House on the bridleway or on tarmac.  Personally I'd go for the tarmac,.  On the bridleway you will be pushing for parts and if the conditions are less than perfect you could loose hours.

To add to that... if its windy in the valleys then it can be so windy at the top that you'll struggle to stay on the bike, especially if the wind is from the East... and those bogs on the East side are of the type that if it's wet you may go in and never see your shoes again.

If time is of the essence the road will be far quicker, it doesn't take long to get to Knock after descending down from Hartside. Maybe on a clear windless day after a dry spell one may go the off road route for the adventuring, but conditions like that are not the normal up this end.

If you can find it there was a video of Lachlan Morton going over Dunn Fell heading eastwards into that boggy terrain on what was perhaps the GbDuro lejog event, I seem to remember there was cursing involved...

Lachlan Morton 'GBDuro 2019 - Ef Gone Racing' on Yourtube Dunn Fell at 16:20  "mumble, mumble, this isn't bike riding, spent all my biscuits on that hill" etc.....normal.

The route we have to do is going to be 1000km over 72 hours.

That's a hell of a shift. Even if you feel like you'll be able to take the off-road route from Garrigill, I have a feeling you'll want the best alternative road route programmed into your Garmin and ready to go. I don't know if that's through Alston and Hartside or via Middleton-in-Teesdale and Brough as I mentioned.

At night or in anything less than perfect conditions I think you'll curse yourself if you find yourself committed to the off-road route.