Curiosity may have been the key that persuaded all sixteen of us to foregather at Dufton for February’s walk. Few had any idea what DAB was and even fewer what was Digital about it! Nine members were joined by augmented bands of our usual friends from Scarborough and Northumbria. Dufton is a charming village under Cross Fell and an important staging post on the Pennine Way although we were to visit neither this time. The day was mild though a brisk breeze suggested that Spring had not quite sprung despite the profusion of snowdrops.

D...ufton was left following close-lipped leader Rogerwho was heard muttering about fields, woods and mud – not necessarily in that order. Low level was the route as we wended South through Flakebridge Wood towards coffee at sunny Langton beside a sparkling Hilton Beck. Carefully dodging golf balls as we crossed Appleby’s busy Golf Course the Warcop range was next skirted without mishap before we scuttled safely between the thundering traffic on the A66. So far it had been a tour-de-force for risk assessment and Elf’’n Safety!

A…ppleby was the next major destination but first the quiet villages of Sandford and Ormside were visited in turn on the way to lunch in a secluded hollow above the River Eden. Easy and pleasant riverbank walking lead us unerringly into Appleby where the Primrose Stone sculpture was visited and the group posed appropriately for photos. This is one of the Eden Benchmarks - a series of stone seat sculptures marking the millennium and sited at intervals along the river from its source at Mallerstang to the sea at Rockcliffe (history lesson over).

B…rampton is a small nondescript village (apologies to its residents) a couple of miles North of Appleby seemingly surrounded by muddy footpaths all of which we apparently sampled on the final return to Dufton via its deep and attractive ghyll.

So much for DAB – perhaps the Digital was the 16 walkers traversing 18 miles in 6.5 hours, with the ascent and descent of some 1500 feet - thereby crossing both the A66 and the railway twice and visiting the second (or eighth) Benchmark before drinking X cups of tea and Y pints in the Stag Inn! Only Roger knows and he was the one with the Y pints.