Price comparison - multiply by 2.70 for 2023 equivalent
The concept of such a long distance walk was first put forward by Tom Stephenson, in an article in the Daily Herald in 1935. Nothing happened immediately and it was laid to rest until after the war. Eventually, in 1951 it received ministerial approval, which was just the start of a lengthy series of negotiations with landowners to open up many new footpaths. Although much of the route was along existing rights of way, there were still some 70 miles, which required new access. In 1965, this was finally completed and there was a grand opening attended by many keen walkers.
The idea of the walk was to follow the Pennines along most of their length, taking in many of the beauty spots along the way. There was also an attempt to keep to the high ground and avoid public roads and built up areas as much as possible. The route runs from the Nag's Head in Edale, Derbyshire to the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm in Scotland involving over 250 miles of walking, although it is considerably less as the crow flies. A number of minor changes to the route have been carried out in recent years to cope with the problems of erosion along the more popular sections, but the overall walk is much the same as it was at the outset. Also because of the soil erosion, particularly over the peat moorland, many paths have been reinforced by various means. Several different methods have been tried including duck boards and wooden palings laid flat on the ground. There is even one short stretch where the palings have been 'floated' over the boggy ground on polystyrene slabs. However, the most popular method, at present, is the use of large stone flags, which are more durable and should eventually blend better with the landscape.
Preparation and Planning
Having walked the Pennine Way in 1991, the Coast to Coast walk in 1992 and the Westmorland Heritage walk in 1993, it came to deciding what walk to do next. Although the last two walks both gave a great deal of enjoyment, there was not the same magical spell about them as the first walk of the Pennine Way. I was still not quite sure whether this love of the Pennine Way came because it was my first such walk, or whether the walk itself produced this feeling. Whatever the reason, when it came to deciding what walk to do in 1994, I could see no other walk that appealed to me more than the prospect of walking the Pennine Way again.
To add a little bit of variety I decided to walk from north to south, which is the opposite way from that which most people take. This can sometimes cause problems when following guide books, as most of them, including the ones I had already got from the previous walk, are written with directions for walking south to north. However, having done the walk before, I didn't think that this would be much of a problem as I would be helped considerably by remembering a lot of the landmarks and, with the aid of the maps in the guide books, I thought that I would be able to find my way as well, if not better than before. I knew that there would be a lot less people walking the same way as myself, but I would meet a lot of walkers coming the other way and also at overnight stops.
Having now done three long walks without major mishap I had every confidence that I would be able to complete this one so long as no accident or injury occurred. All the excitement and anticipation of planning the first walk had gone, but there was still some work to do in deciding what schedule to undertake. First time round I took what seemed the easiest option of booking everything through the Pennine Way Bureau which centres around Youth Hostel accommodation, filling in with bed and breakfast where hostels do not exist or are full or closed. This meant that I booked into a few hostels which were off the route by as much as four miles and meant walking a considerable amount of extra mileage. This time I decided that I would cut out the two hostels which were furthest off route, namely Haworth and Stainforth and stick to alternative accommodation closer by. In the case of Stainforth, which is about three and a half miles from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, I decided to use a Dales Bunk House Barn at Dub Cotes Farm which is about a mile off route. These barns offer similar accommodation to a simple youth hostel, in that they have no meals service, but have all the facilities for self-catering. Instead of staying at Haworth, I decided that if I found a bed and breakfast about halfway between Malham and Mankinholes, I would be able to fit into two days what took three last time. The nearest place to the halfway point is Ickornshaw, so I settled on staying there.
Having decided on the schedule I wanted, I decided to book the youth hostels and bunk houses using the Pennine Way Bureau and to book the bed and breakfast accommodation myself using the Pennine Way Accommodation Guide. The only exception to this being bed and breakfast at Uswayford Farm in the Cheviots which is included on the standard Pennine Way Bureau booking form. On checking opening days at youth hostels it became apparent that in June at least one hostel would have a closing day no matter what day of the week I started out. By starting on Sunday, after travelling up to Kirk Yetholm on Saturday, it meant that Baldersdale hostel would be the one I couldn't use. The accommodation guide showed a bed and breakfast at Grassholme Farm, about three miles from Baldersdale, with the Pennine Way running right through the farmyard, so that filled the bill nicely.
The total walking distance, including detours for accommodation, worked out at about 270 miles measured as a line on the map. There are varying distances quoted for the Pennine Way, from 250 miles to 270, depending on whether any allowance is made for ups and downs and zigzagging of paths. However, as it is easier to work by measurements on the map, that is the method I have used, even though it tends to underestimate the actual walking distance somewhat. For the 17 days this works out at an average of just under 16 miles with the longest day's walk being a bit more than 22 miles and the shortest one just over 11 miles. Days with 20 miles or over need some consideration: it is best if there is no deadline for an evening meal, as this can mean having to press on and on to get there in time. In the case of my longest day I had only booked bed and breakfast and was planning on a meal in the pub, so there would be no particular rush. Oddly enough, short days' walks can sometimes cause problems as well. It is no problem in good weather as it is possible to take long breaks to admire the scenery and amble along in a very leisurely fashion. If the weather is cold or wet, however, there is a tendency just to keep on walking and it is then a problem as to how to kill time whilst waiting for a hostel to open.
Booking, as I was, three months in advance, I expected to have no problems in getting in to most places, but that was where I was wrong. It turned out that three hostels were fully booked on the dates I wanted, by school parties. I thought that this was a bit much as one would expect hostels not to allocate their total capacity to such block bookings, but to reserve a small proportion of the beds for individual members. This meant I had to book three additional bed and breakfasts at Greenhead, Langdon Beck and Hawes as well as the ones I had already planned. The other problem I encountered was that many of them charged extra because of single occupancy of a room, so that all helped to put up the cost. However, I had little option but to accept as there were not many alternatives in some of the remote places. Eventually I got everything booked and deposits paid, so that one aspect of the planning was safely out of the way.
The next thing to be considered was how to get to the start and from the finish. Last time I had had a lift to Edale and returned from Kirk Yetholm by bus and train. This time I thought I would see if I could find a cheaper method than using the train as I had all day Saturday to get there. Enquiring of National Express, I found that I could get a coach from Leeds to Berwick-on-Tweed for £17 single if I booked three weeks in advance, although I was advised to check nearer the time as the timetable changed in May. The rest could be accomplished by using service buses. As for Edale, that is on the Manchester to Sheffield line, so I should be able to get to Sheffield, Doncaster and home; it all seemed like plain sailing.
As far as training for the walk was concerned, having tried in the past, both intensive training and no training at all, I decided that the latter did me just as well, if not better than the former. This is not to say that it is wise to attempt such a walk unprepared, but I have ensured over the past few years that I never go for more than three or four weeks without doing a walk of between 15 and 20 miles, generally in the Peak District, so my level of fitness is kept up and I can manage without any more intensive training. The only thing which takes a little getting used to is the extra weight on my back, but this only takes a few days and, provided the first few days of the walk are not too strenuous, it does not present a problem.
Again, as for equipment and clothing, having done such walks before, I have a list of items that have served me adequately in the past. I didn't, therefore, have to spend hours agonising over what I should take and what I should leave behind, as was the case on the first walk.
Everything seemed to be settled so I then waited until a little over three weeks from the start and went to book the coach to Berwick. At that point I drew a complete blank as I was told that there was no coach to Berwick. After a few telephone calls, it turned out that in May the east coast service to Edinburgh had been discontinued in favour of a route via Carlisle and Glasgow, so it threw my plans into disarray. I knew that I still had the fallback option of the train, but I was determined to try to find an alternative. My wife, Jean, then hit on an idea; she had sometimes seen day trips to the Metro Centre in Gateshead advertised from Pontefract. On enquiry it turned out that they just happened to be running one on the Saturday in question for a mere £6.25, so it was booked by telephone giving a credit card number with the promise of the ticket being sent in the post. When it had not arrived after a week or so, a further telephone call revealed that the woman dealing with it had had to rush off to Spain in a hurry, but that it would be dealt with straight away, but still no ticket arrived. Yet another call revealed that they had not had a very good response to this particular trip and were wondering whether it would have to be cancelled, which was the real reason why the ticket had not been sent; the credit card transaction had not been made either. Sure enough, the trip was cancelled two days before I was due to go. I ended up booking a National Express coach from Leeds to Newcastle for £15 single, without the benefit of the early booking discount, and would then have to take either a bus or the train to Berwick.
Start of the Walk
Day 0 - Saturday June 11th 1994 - Travelling to Kirk Yetholm
Accommodation: Kirk Yetholm Y.H.A. £5.05 bed only ( no meals service )
Finally, Saturday June 11th came round and off I went at 8.a.m., after saying my farewells, to catch the 8.25 a.m. bus to Leeds from the other end of the village. The weather was quite warm and humid, so I started to sweat a little even on this little walk of about a mile. For £1.50 the bus got me to Leeds in plenty of
time and, after the walk across the city to the coach station, I still had over half an hour to spare for the 10.30 a.m. coach to Newcastle. It was a little galling to see a large sign on the bus saying Leeds to Newcastle return from £12.50 when I had paid £15 single, but the return is only a little dearer than the single and the £12.50 includes the discount for booking three weeks in advance. From Newcastle there was a service bus to Berwick at 2.30
p.m. for £3.40 arriving in plenty of time to catch the 5.15 p.m. bus to Kelso. The next stage had me worried a little as I had been told that the bus arrived at Kelso at 6.19 p.m. with the Kirk Yetholm bus departing at 6.20 p.m., which was cutting it fine to say the least. However, it turned out not to be a problem, as it was possible to get off in the market square before the terminus, at the same bus stop as the Kirk Yetholm bus used about five minutes later. A couple of young chaps with rucksacks changed buses with me at Kelso. They were just intending to do the stretch of the Pennine Way as far as Bellingham, staying overnight in mountain refuge huts. I finally arrived at Kirk Yetholm at about 7 p.m. and booked into the Youth Hostel.
The journey up was quite tedious but it was improved by the fact that it was quite bright and sunny most of the time. There was also a little entertainment thrown in on the journey from Leeds to Newcastle, as a group of nurses in their mid twenties were conversing behind me in rather loud voices. The most vocal of them was proclaiming, in a rather strong Scottish accent, her intentions for the night. The first was to get stoned, so she was not going to eat much for tea, as that would slow down the intoxication process. The second was to find a fellow, preferably with lots of money, and after that she didn't intend to be sleeping in her own bed for the night.
At Kirk Yetholm youth hostel I was greeted by the warden's wife who was from Malta, but had lived over here for 42 years. She was almost as broad as she was tall and was very officious, although I don't think she intended to be unpleasant; it just came across that way. The warden was the exact opposite, being very mild-mannered and easy going. During the conversation later on it came out that he was paid £80 a week for this job, but was expecting to get an increase to £85 soon. This seems a very small wage, but he is not a resident warden, so only has to see to booking people in and out in the evenings and the mornings.
The Scottish hostels do not include the hire of sheet sleeping bags in the price of the bed, as the English ones now do, but I had my own with me for use in bunk houses, so I didn't need to hire one.
I had picked up a pasty, a couple of sausage rolls and a chocolate eclair on my way through Newcastle, so I ate these at the hostel with a cup of the instant tea which I had brought with me. The instant tea has whitener already added and surprised me by being a lot better than I expected. Afterwards, as it was a very pleasant evening, I took a walk up the hill overlooking Kirk Yetholm on one side and the foothills of the Cheviots, where the Pennine Way starts its climb, on the other. On the way back I went via the bright lights of Town Yetholm which boasts a pub, a mini-supermarket and a petrol station, before making my way back to the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm, the official end of the Pennine Way, or the start in my case. I had a couple of pints in there and saw two couples who looked like they had just finished the Pennine Way, although I didn't enter into conversation with any of them. One couple turned out to be Swedish, so I am not sure whether they had actually walked the Pennine Way, or whether they had brought their sun tans with them. The landlord was just breaking in his new wig and was having to endure a lot of ribbing from the locals, although he was taking it all in good part.
Back at the hostel I met up with a fairly elderly chap who had finished the Pennine Way a few days previously. He had done it in 21 days in a group of eight including the leader, organised by the Holiday Fellowship. They had paid £700 each for this, with the exception of the leader who went for nothing. They had stayed mainly in hostels and had been bussed to one or two of them where they were not at convenient points on the route, or where other hostels were either closed or full. Even with the leader, who was supposed to be experienced, they got lost a couple of times in the first two days in poor visibility, and ended up doing quite a bit of extra walking to get back onto the right path.
Another chap in the hostel had the rather unusual hobby of visiting church services all over Scotland. He had been to nearly every church in Scotland, including many on the Scottish islands. His routine was to pick on a church that he hadn't been to before, find out the times of the services and then hitch hike there in
time for a service, staying in somewhere like a youth hostel, then hitch back again. He was single and unemployed and in his time has travelled the world over.
Day 1 - Sunday 12th June 1994 - Kirk Yetholm to Uswayford - 11.5 miles on PW + 2.3 miles to Cheviot Summit and back + 1.5 miles to B&B - 3570 ft ascent on PW + 280 ft to summit
After a reasonable night's sleep, I had breakfast at about 8.30 a.m. using some of the provisions that had been left over by the Holiday Fellowship, so I didn't need to use some of the things I
had brought with me and was able to "save my bacon" for another day. The first three hostels from the northern end have no meals service, so there is a need to carry a few things in reserve, especially for Byrness where there is nowhere, other than a cafe at the petrol station to buy provisions.
I set off walking at 9.30 a.m. on a very pleasant morning. A sign on the back of a seat by the roadside up the hill out of Kirk Yetholm proclaimed "Blessed are those that love the hills", which I thought was very appropriate for the start of the walk. It was warm work climbing, especially carrying a full pack, so it was not long before my shirt had to come off. The day's walk would only be about 15 miles including the two and a half miles walk to Cheviot summit and back which could be done without carrying a pack, so there was plenty of time to take it easy and have plenty of rests. This is much appreciated at the start of a walk whilst one is still building up to the daily walking routine carrying considerably more weight than on one-day walks. After climbing onto the first ridge at about 1500 ft there was a pleasant breeze to take away a little of the heat
generated by climbing.
College Valley from The Schil
College Valley from Mountain Refuge Hut
As I was approaching The Schil I met a couple of Pennine Way walkers coming towards me. They had spent the night at Uswayford Farm where I was heading, and were completing the walk in 18 days. The Schil was a convenient stopping place for lunch, although in this warm, dry weather anywhere would have been fine, whereas in wet or windy weather the Cheviots offer very few places where there is any shelter. This is why the mountain refuge huts are so invaluable.
After lunch and a pleasant laze in the sunshine, I set off again and made my way to the mountain refuge hut, which is just before the ascent to Auchope Cairn and Cheviot Summit, and commands a beautiful view down College Valley. I called in to write in the visitors' book and found that there were not a great deal of other entries over the past few days, so I could only assume that the number of walkers was quite small. There were a few day walkers about, as it was a fine Sunday afternoon, but there was no sign of any other Pennine Way walkers for the rest of the day. The climb up to Auchope Cairn was hot work as it is quite steep and the sun was at its strongest. I chatted with a couple for a while on the way up, which was a good excuse for a rest, and then soon reached the plateau. The two and a half mile round trip to the summit of Cheviot is optional, and there is not much of a view to be seen from this very flat-topped mountain but, as I had plenty of time and the weather was fine, I decided to take it in. Normally it was very difficult going over boggy ground, but now it has been almost completely paved with the large stone slabs which have appeared in great profusion over the past couple of years on the Pennine Way and some other popular walks. With no pack to carry and a firm path underfoot the walk was no effort at all; even without the paving it would not have presented much of a problem as the ground was so dry.
The triangulation column on Cheviot summit looked even stranger than on previous occasions. It used to sit on a big chunk of concrete which stuck about two or more feet above the peat, this presumably having been bared by erosion since the column was erected. Now it has been built up to about double that height on concrete blocks. The only reason that I could think of for doing this would be to bring the height back to what it was before most of the erosion of the summit started, although it is just as well that the Ordnance Survey no longer tend to use the columns as they would have needed a step ladder to put a theodolite on top. As well as having a stone path right up to and beyond the summit, there are obviously other conservation measures afoot, as there were several large rolls labelled as hanging basket material at the summit. These are used to give grass seeds something stable in which to establish themselves, as it is otherwise almost impossible to get anything to grow on what often turns into a sea of liquid peat.
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The Cheviot
Uswayford Farm
The weather remained beautiful for the rest of the day and the few clouds which drifted over at about 4 p.m. soon cleared away again. I arrived at Uswayford at 5.35 p.m. and was welcomed with a cup of tea. In the shelter of the valley, with little breeze, it was very warm indeed, even though it was still about 1200 ft above sea level. Apart from being a convenient halfway point along the Cheviots, the valley of Usway Burn is beautiful and is well worth visiting in its own right, especially on such a beautiful evening. The view from the living room and bedroom windows of the farm are marvellous, and the walk along the side of the burn very pleasant.
The accommodation had been upgraded quite a bit since I stayed three years previously. There used to be ten beds squeezed into a large and a small bedroom with little space for anything else, but now there are only four beds in the large room and two in the small one. The rooms have been fully refurnished and decorated and there are such luxuries as a television set in the bedroom and a pay-phone on the landing.
I was the only one staying there that night, which surprised me a little, but apparently June is a very quiet month for walkers, despite the fact that June and September are recommended as being the best months for the weather. There is a busy period in May and then it is quiet until colleges and schools finish in July.
I reminded Mr and Mrs Buglass that I had been there three years earlier with a man of 69 called Bernard whom I had met along the way. They instantly remembered him as the one who was travelling light by leaving his false teeth at home! He is the sort of character that you don't forget in a hurry. We all wondered how he was getting on now, but that is one thing you never know with people you meet in passing. I am very bad at keeping in touch, so I tend not to bother exchanging addresses with people I meet, as I know I will never follow it up by writing to them.
I had dinner of soup, beef with vegetables, and rhubarb pie which went down very nicely despite the fact that I was not feeling very hungry because of the heat. Afterwards, as it was such a lovely evening, I went for a stroll up the valley. Two streams converge a little way up from the farm. One is near the path I had followed on the way down, so I followed the other one a little way up to a waterfall, above which the valley looked less interesting. I therefore returned to the other stream and followed that upstream instead. There were lots of fish, mainly about four or five inches long, and occasionally one or two could be seen leaping out of the water. Further upstream was a duck with her brood of little ducklings which were ushered under the river bank because of my presence, with mother duck keeping guard nearby. The nearby forested hills are the home of a number of deer and I saw several including one male who was making a loud barking noise. The area also hosts a good bird population and I was fascinated by some which I think were grey wagtails as, when they landed on stones in the stream, they gave several very distinct wags of their tails, almost as if they were trying to gain their balance. One advantage of this time of year is the long daylight hours which make evening strolls like this possible. It was still quite light when I returned and went to bed after watching television for a while.
Day 2 - Monday 13th June 1994 - Uswayford to Byrness - 13.8 miles on PW + 1.5 miles from B&B - 1600 ft ascent on PW + 280 ft from B&B
Accommodation: Byrness Y.H.A. - £5.90 bed only (no meals service)
I woke briefly around dawn and then again to the smell of fried bacon to find that it was nearly eight o'clock, the time I had asked for breakfast, so I rushed round and made my way downstairs. Mrs Buglass told me that it had been reported in their county magazine, The Northumbrian I think, that they were the most isolated habitation in Northumbria, which probably means they are one of the most remote in England. They farm sheep on a thousand acres stretching up towards Cheviot. Their nearest neighbour, a lone farmer who doesn't get on much with people, lives three miles away and the nearest ones they call neighbours are four miles away, whilst the nearest shop is over twenty miles away. These days the roadway to the farm is of a reasonable standard but when it was just a cart track they were once cut off by snow for four months. Nowadays they make a lot of use of a vehicle which is like a four-wheeled motorbike for rounding up sheep and generally getting about the farm.
The morning was very warm and sunny again and I set off at about 9.30 a.m. to retrace my steps for the mile and a half back up onto the Pennine Way. As I walked up the valley I met up with Mr Buglass bringing the sheep in with his dogs, so I crossed over the stream to avoid getting in their way. There was hardly any movement of air on the way through the forest, so it was warm work climbing back uphill until I reached the ridge again, where there was a bit of a breeze to cool me down a little. I rubbed on some sun tan cream as I was quite red with the exposure from the previous day. At least I wasn't as bad as a couple of chaps that Mrs Buglass told me about who set off from Kirk Yetholm and were so sunburnt when they reached Uswayford after walking without shirts that they had to abandon the walk and go home. My shoulders were a little sore and my nose and cheeks very red, so I decided it would be best to keep them covered up as much as possible to avoid making things any worse.
A short way further on I stopped by a cairn on the side of Windy Gyle for a rest and a drink and I spent a little while looking around with the pair of compact, lightweight binoculars I had brought with me. I stopped again at the summit of Windy Gyle for another good look at the fine panoramic views. It was a very clear day and I could see a distinctive ridge of hills to the south standing out above a sea of mist which covered the low lying land before them. Consulting the map showed them to be Cross Fell, Great Dun Fell and Knock Fell, with Knock Fell being about 53 miles away. I strained through the binoculars to see if I could make out the 'golf ball' radar station on Great Dun Fell and I could just about make out a small dot, although it wasn't very distinct.
Windy Gyle, at just over 2000 ft, was the highest point on the day's walk. The remainder of the walk was over a series of hills, progressively lower in height, leading down to the forestry village of Byrness. Much of the walk over this part of the Cheviots previously involved a lot of 'bog-hopping', but now the ubiquitous stone paving slabs are appearing over all the worst parts and also over a lot of places where they are not really needed. Considerable stretches of path had already been laid and there were other stretches where the slabs had been lifted in by helicopter and left on pallets ready for laying. Even without the slabs, there would have been little difficulty walking after the long spell of dry weather, but when it does rain on the Cheviots it tends to do so in considerable quantity turning the path into a quagmire, so a firm stone path will make progress in those conditions much easier. The only trouble is that some of the feeling of the wild remoteness of the area is lost once a stone path is laid - the Pennine Way becomes a bit more like the Pennine Motorway! I feel it would have been a lot better to put down a few slabs as stepping stones through the worst of the bogs and to have left most of the less boggy areas untouched, especially as there is no real erosion problem over much of this area.
On the first day of the walk I met very few people, and that was on a beautiful, sunny Sunday. This day I really felt that I had the whole of the Cheviots to myself, which gave me a marvellous feeling of peace and solitude. The only unwanted intrusion was from the flies, which were in abundance because of the weather, and then the peace was briefly shattered by an RAF fighter which came almost within hand-shaking distance.
I stopped for lunch at Mozie Law with the weather getting hotter and hotter. Taking off my T-shirt, which I had kept on all morning, I found that my chest was bright pink. Obviously, the nylon shirt I was wearing was letting too much sun through, especially where it had an aerated patch across part of the front, so I put on a liberal layer of sun cream and changed to a different shirt. It would have been much nicer to have been able to walk without a shirt, but I didn't dare risk getting more sunburned than I already was.
Catcleugh Reservoir
My next stop was at the mountain refuge hut near Lamb Hill at 1.30 p.m. where I met the first walkers of the day. They were a couple of women who were just setting off from there heading for Uswayford Farm. Mrs Buglass had said she was expecting two women that night, but she didn't think they were on the Pennine Way; in her letter one of them had signed her name as Lady somebody, so I had commented that she would have to be on her best behaviour, to which she had replied that they would have to take her as they found her. Soon afterwards a couple of day walkers came by as well, but didn't stop. Once again, the visitor's book in the refuge hut hadn't got many entries over the past few weeks. As I set off again, I could hear gunfire from the M.O.D. training area nearby and hoped that I wouldn't get caught up in the cross fire, although it is supposed to be safe outside the marked areas. It was still very hot and made worse from time to time as the breeze kept dropping. The scenery is less impressive at the southern end of the Cheviots but there are still some lovely valleys going off on either side of the ridge. As the ridge is rather flat-topped it is often necessary to make a little detour to one side or the other to get a proper view, although it is not possible to go too far to the east because of the M.O.D. area. I made a detour to the west which was well worthwhile, and I also went to the east as far as the warning notices by a cairn. Littered around the cairn were several .303 cartridge cases. They were all blanks, but about five of them had not been fired.
My feet were starting to develop one or two blisters, mainly because they were sweating and had gone soft and wrinkled, but none of them were too bad. I had also had to put a folded hanky in my left boot to stop my ankle bone from rubbing, as it had got rather sore from walking too fast a week or two previously. This was working quite well and the problem at least was not getting any worse after two days' walking, provided I walked carefully and steadily.
I eventually reached the Youth Hostel in Byrness at 5.50 p.m. only to find that the door was locked. This is a hostel without a resident warden and there was a sign in the window giving directions to the warden's house around the corner. I set off round there and met the warden coming the other way with two other hostellers. She opened up and booked us in and then left us to it until the morning. The other two had come by car and were doing a few days' walking in the area. I had a shower, which is always very refreshing after a day's walk, but even more so in such hot weather when the sweat has left a layer of salt all over. Then, after making a cup of tea, I washed some of my things to put in the drying room. Although this is only a low-grade hostel it possesses a wonderful invention to help with the drying of clothes - a mangle. Although it was a bit the worse for wear, it did an excellent job of extracting most of the water so that they could dry much quicker. This is something that many of the higher-grade hostels never seem to think about, although one or two do have spin dryers. When clothes have to be wrung out by hand they are very seldom dry in the morning, even in a good drying room. In this case it was an old-fashioned solution which was every bit as effective as a modern invention, with no running or maintenance costs.
I rang home from the nearby telephone box and then set off in search of food. The cafe belonging to the petrol station was closed by this time, so I went across to the pub where I had jumbo sausage and chips for £2.50 plus a couple of pints of Newcastle Exhibition on draught, sitting outside in the pleasant evening sunshine. The chap serving behind the bar was rather disorganised to say the least and looked like an absent minded professor with his thinning hair ruffled about and his boy scout shorts. He couldn't get the beer to pull properly and spent ages fiddling with the pump and going into the cellar. I ended up getting about three quarters of a pint in my first glass with a promise of a top-up later. I had finished the glass, and my food had arrived before he had finished messing about and dealing with a few other customers, so I asked the girl who came with the food for another pint. She went straight to the pump, adjusted the sparkler on the nozzle and pulled me a pint with no difficulty at all in about ten seconds flat. I told her that I still hadn't paid for the first one and hinted that it had not been full, but it seemed too complicated at this stage with another full pint and my meal to eat to worry about topping up the previous pint, so I didn't press the point. I looked around the pub to see if there were any other Pennine Way walkers but couldn't see any about - it definitely seems a slack time this year.
I returned to the hostel and passed some of the time away on the rather rickety snooker table in the common room. The surface of the wooden table was so uneven that the balls rolled around wherever they pleased, so there was no science involved at all, just luck, not that I am much good at snooker anyway. After that I went off to bed for an early night.
Day 3 - Tuesday 14th June 1994 - Byrness to Bellingham - 15.1 miles - 1420 ft ascent
Accommodation: Bellingham Y.H.A. - £5.90 bed only (no meals service)
I got up at 8 a.m. and had breakfast of bacon and fruit malt loaf that I had brought with me. The malt loaves are quite useful to take when walking as they are quite nice to eat on their own without butter, they keep well without drying out, and come in a compact size which makes them easy to carry. My washing had dried quite well overnight and I set off at 9.20, calling at the filling station cafe to buy a couple of ham and tomato rolls for lunch for £1.90, and a postcard which I wrote and sent off home.
River Rede from Byrness
It was again a day of intense sunshine, but at least there was now a fresh wind to cool things down a bit. The first couple of miles by the river and the edge of the forest were quite pleasant as it was not too closed in by the trees, but there was some welcome shade from the sun. The next few miles along Forestry Commission roads were not so good as the view disappears to be replaced by rows and rows of identical trees. However, after a couple of miles there is a considerable improvement where there has been a lot of felling and replanting towards the top of the hill. This means that there are now fine views of the Cheviots and will be for some years to come, until the newly planted trees start to obstruct the view.
I stopped for lunch at 12.15 a.m., about half a mile from Brownrigg Head, out of the main area of forestry but near the edge of a young plantation to the south. I removed my boots and socks to give my feet an airing and examined my insoles, as I had been having a few problems with the tops of the toes on my left foot, caused by them rubbing on my boot. The problem was caused by the lower one of the two insoles having moved forward and crumpled up, so I straightened it out and hoped that it would bring about an improvement. Apart from these minor problems, my feet were doing quite well and even the problem with my left ankle was almost gone, although I was still using a hanky as padding.
The weather was now much cooler although there was still plenty of sunshine between light clouds making it perfect weather for walking. A couple of walkers, Scottish by the sound of it, came past carrying camping gear but didn't stop to chat. I set off again after a good rest and met a couple of chaps who were walking the Pennine Way, near Padon Hill. They were taking 17 days and had fared quite well for weather so far.
The rather impressive cairn, which looks more like a beacon, on Padon Hill is a little way off to the east so I walked over to it as it provides a fine panoramic viewpoint, particularly to the north and east. The scenery in these parts is somewhat less spectacular, but there are views for many miles in all directions across unspoilt country. This makes it good walking country even though it is not so photogenic. When I walked the Pennine Way for the first time, I had a tendency to dismiss much of the intermediate scenery and was only interested in pressing on to the more dramatic parts. Second time around, knowing much more what to expect, I was finding that I could appreciate many more aspects of the landscape, especially so with such good weather to see it at its best.
Looking towards The Cheviots from Padon Hill
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Looking West from Hareshaw House
Overlooking Bellingham from the hill
In the guide book there was mention of a possible detour near Bellingham to a waterfall called Hareshaw Linn, although it suggested that most people would not want to add to the day's walk by taking this in. As I was interested in making as many variations to the route as possible, I decided to walk as far as the hill overlooking Bellingham and then to head over to the west, then follow the valley down past Hareshaw Linn and into Bellingham. It wasn't quite clear from the map where the path was supposed to be so I made my way to a point above the waterfall thinking I would be able to follow the stream down. This soon proved to be impossible as the waterfall cascaded down into a steep-sided gorge, so I made my way around and eventually found a rather steep path leading down below the waterfall. It certainly was well worth the detour as it is in a very spectacular setting. I tried taking a photograph but the light level was very poor because of the gorge and the trees so I ended up by taking a 'brief' exposure with the camera on my home-made monopod. Unfortunately, I must have rather underestimated the light level as it turned out badly overexposed, but it was worth a try. The walk into Bellingham then followed the wooded valley into the middle of the town, the detour having added about a mile extra to the walk.
Bellingham Youth Hostel was very busy, mainly with groups of cyclists, but also with several Pennine Way walkers, some of them sounding Dutch. One older chap was walking with his wife acting as backup, driving from hostel to hostel with his luggage. There was quite a queue for the shower and there was quite a shortage of floor space in the dormitory for all the rucksacks. As this was another hostel with no resident warden, there was no telephone, so I made my way back into town to 'phone home and to find something to eat. On the way to the telephone box I passed a fish and chip shop, so that solved the evening meal problem. The other thing to consider was breakfast and lunch for the following day, so I did some shopping in the Co-op before they closed at 8 p.m.
Back at the hostel two of the older, retired couples were recounting all of their travel stories. They are able to take advantage of all the cheap offers and discounts for travel and seemed to have been almost everywhere round Europe. They were particularly taken by the value to be had in Eastern Europe these days, especially if you don't go through any organised agency but find accommodation when you get there. With the exchange rate being so favourable to westerners, it is possible to live like a king for next to nothing.
After eventually tiring of their non-stop travelogue I made my way back down to the Rose and Crown for a drink and met up with a group of cyclists who were staying at the hostel. They were from Newcastle and were on a four day tour, having broken off as a splinter group from a cycling club who were doing something similar but had made the route more and more difficult each year. After a couple of pints of very reasonably priced Ruddles bitter (£1.19 a pint), I made my way back for an early night as I had a 22 mile walk the next day, the longest in my schedule.
Day 4 - Wednesday 15th June 1994 - Bellingham to Greenhead - 22.2 miles - 3130 ft ascent
Accommodation: B&B The Vicarage, Greenhead - £18 B&B (hostel full)
I got up at 7.30 a.m. in an attempt to get off to an early start and started to make my breakfast of sausages and beans. The sausages took ages under the rather poor grill but eventually they looked well enough cooked to be edible. The warden came up at 8.30 a.m. and I made the mistake of asking if there were any jobs to do, so I ended up vacuuming the dormitory with a rather useless vacuum cleaner and it was about 9 a.m. before I got started into a strong wind and an overcast sky. After sending a postcard from the Post Office in town, I started off down the road. This is one of the longest stretches of road walking on the Pennine Way, amounting to about one and a half miles from entering the town on one side to leaving it on the other. This is a fair achievement when compared to the amount of road walking involved in some other walks.
For the first time since I started I had to put on my pullover to protect me from the wind, which was very strong in exposed places. My feet were not in bad condition although they had started to ache a little at times, but far less so than at a similar time on the last walk in these boots. This I put down to the combination of insoles I had assembled together which fitted the contours of my feet and helped to spread the load more evenly. My ankle was also sufficiently well recovered to allow me to walk without the hanky in my boot. After a couple of miles the weather deteriorated to a fine misty drizzle but was not quite bad enough to need waterproofs as yet.
About six miles into the walk is the isolated farm at Horneystead where an old lady of about 80 was selling tea and scones when I last walked the Pennine Way. I was looking forward to a break from the rather dreary weather by calling in there to see if she was still going strong. She obviously was, because all the signs were still up, but when I got to the house there was a note in the window saying she had gone out and would be back at 2 p.m., so I found some shelter from the elements down by the nearby stream to have a rest at 11.30 a.m. with 16 miles still to go. I set off again after about a quarter of an hour and soon entered one of the forest sections where I met a couple who were just doing some of this section in the day. The weather started to get wetter but one advantage of the forest sections is that they give shelter from the wind and, in this case, also from the drizzle which was being driven across horizontally. After a mile or two through the first section of forest there is a clearing for about half a mile before the next mile of forest. As it was 1 p.m. I decided that it would be best to stop for lunch in the shelter of the trees and hoped that the weather might improve before having to go back into the open again.
The drizzle did start to ease off by the time I was ready to set off again at 1.25 p.m. with 13 miles to go, but I still decided to wear waterproofs just in case. Within the space of about a mile I saw three pairs of Pennine Way walkers, all coming from Greenhead - one lot were doing the walk in 14 days. As I came out of the forest and started to approach Hadrian's Wall I decided to head off over to the east to meet the wall at Housesteads, which is a quite extensive Roman fort about a quarter of a mile off the Pennine Way. I looked around it from the outside and tentatively walked through the open entrance, but turned away when a man came marching towards me obviously wanting to collect the £2.20 admission. I didn't have enough time to spare for it to be worth paying the entrance fee, so I headed off along the wall to rejoin the Pennine Way.
Although the rain had stopped before I reached the wall, there was still a very strong wind now coming at me head on, which I would have to do battle with for the remaining 10 miles along the wall. It was hard enough as it is with all the ups and downs over the crags at the end of a long day's walk, but the strong wind made it twice as hard. Even in the rather poor weather conditions the scenery around this section of the wall is beautiful and there is the added interest of the wall and the milecastles along the way. The last few miles were hard going as I was getting tired, so I was glad when I eventually reached Greenhead at 7 p.m. I had no deadline as far as time was concerned as I had no evening meal booked, just bed and breakfast at 'The Vicarage' as the Youth Hostel was full with a school party.
The house was huge and set in extensive wooded grounds, and the hallways alone were big enough to house a few homeless families! I had a bath and was told that a pot of tea would be waiting for me in the lounge. When I went back down I forgot which door had been pointed out to me as that of the lounge so I ended up going into the wrong room where an old chap was sitting in front of the television. I made my apologies and went out again, but I don't think he even noticed I had gone in there.
After my pot of tea I set off to 'phone home and to go to the pub, where I had a large plate of Cumberland sausage, chips and peas for £3.95 and a couple of pints of Boddingtons. I seem to have had nothing but sausages since starting the walk, but it is generally one of the more reasonably priced but substantial meals on the menu in many places. There were a few others in the pub who looked like Pennine Way walkers but they were sitting in other areas so I didn't get to talk to any of them and headed back for another early night after a rather tiring day.
Day 5 - Thursday 16th June 1994 - Greenhead to Alston - 17.3 miles - 2270 ft ascent
Accommodation: Alston Y.H.A. - £13.65 dinner B&B
I went down to breakfast at 8 a.m. and met a youngish couple whom I had seen in the pub and another pair of chaps who were all doing the Pennine Way, so it made a change having a few others to chat with. After a good breakfast, I set off at 9 a.m. into a rather damp and dismal morning. I had my waterproofs on from the outset and the weather gradually turned from drizzle to rain for the rest of the morning. The first four miles were over a fairly bleak moor which is not very interesting even in good weather, but then it follows the valley of the River South Tyne up on the hillside, which gives quite pleasant, but not spectacular views. Even in these rather poor weather conditions this part of the walk was quite enjoyable and I would even go as far as to say that I enjoyed it more this time than in the rather better conditions which prevailed when I did the walk before. This comes down again to having too high expectations the first time, whereas second time around it is possible to appreciate the scenery for what it is.
By 12.30 a.m. the cloud started to lift and I stopped for lunch at the halfway point of the day's walk with a spot of sunshine thrown in. Two other pairs of Pennine Way walkers came the other way and one lot stopped for lunch with me by a stream. They were two brothers of about 60 and were carrying camping gear. When I asked how much it weighed, one of them said that he had started off with 54 lbs including a lot of provisions and water, but reckoned that he often carried a day pack of about 30 lbs. It is amazing what some people carry - I am sure I would be crippled after the first day if I were to carry that sort of weight.
My socks were soaking wet as my boots were letting in water where the leather had cracked near the bottom of the tongues so, as it looked like being drier, I changed into some dry socks and wrung the water out of the wet ones. I finally finished off all the food I had brought from home; the fruit cake was finished yesterday and the flapjack today. At 1.30 p.m. I set off again with only eight and a half easy miles to go. So much for the improvement in the weather; the rain started again, but at least it had stayed dry for my lunch stop and there was still quite a reasonable view across the South Tyne valley to make the walk quite pleasant.
A few miles from Alston I met an oldish couple who were headed for Slaggyford from Garigill and were doing the whole walk in 20 days. After chatting for a while I continued up to the site of Whitley Castle, the site of a Roman fort which is about two and a half miles from Alston. The site was quite extensive and I was surprised as I could not remembered seeing it last time. I can only think that I must have walked by the side of the site without really noticing it was there. This time I had a better look, which meant detouring slightly from the route. I eventually headed into Alston and arrived at the hostel at 5.10 p.m.
There were good drying facilities including a spin dryer, so I did all my washing and then went into town to do some shopping as I had used up all my supplies of food completely and I didn't want to waste time in the morning.
There were a number of Pennine Way walkers in the hostel and, at last, I was at a hostel with a meals service. Most of the others in the hostel had come over Cross Fell with mist, rain and strong winds so they had not had a good day. One chap from Norfolk was completely dispirited and sounded as if he were on the verge of packing the whole thing in. His friend was much more laconic and philosophical about the whole thing, in fact he looked as if he might be getting rather fed up of his companion who was saying that this day was supposed to be the climax of the whole walk and that he had been building up to this for the whole walk so far only to have all his hopes dashed. From the tone in his voice it sounded as if he were almost on the point of crying so I thought of him from then onwards as 'the Wimp'. He had spent lots of money on expensive gear which had still let in water and the whole thing had been a complete waste of money. Why anyone should bank everything on one day of the walk I do not know. There are bound to be days when the weather is bad, so there is no point in building up too many expectations for any particular day. I can only think that, because Cross Fell is the highest point on the Pennine Way, he expected it to be the best. In fact, even on a good day, the views are not especially good, as the main points of interest are the mountains of the Lake District which are in the far distance.
I had fared quite well in the rain as, apart from my feet getting wet, the rest of my things had been kept reasonably dry. Even though my rucksack had let in quite a lot of water, all my things were also inside roasting bags with plastic ties. I have found these to be particularly good because they are extremely tough and are also transparent, making it easy to see what is packed in each bag. I did not have the strong winds to contend with that the ones coming over Cross Fell had suffered, as I had been walking in more sheltered, lower level places. However, one has to expect that water will find its way into even the most expensive rucksack in bad conditions and the answer is to provide a second level of protection by putting things inside plastic bags.
It is much more pleasant, especially when walking alone, to be able to sit down for an evening meal with a number of others who are all doing the same thing, as there is a lot of friendly chat about the trials and tribulations of the walk. For the first time so far I met someone else who was walking from north to south. She was a Scottish woman living in Sheffield aged about 60 who was walking alone. She had set off on the same day as me but had stayed overnight in the second mountain refuge hut in the Cheviots without even having a sleeping bag. Fortunately it had been a warm night as she could have nearly frozen to death in bad conditions. From there she walked straight to Bellingham, then to Once Brewed, Greenhead and then to here. At Greenhead she managed to get into the Youth Hostel even though it was supposedly full. They allowed her to take shelter and then, eventually said that there was a woman in there who was used to having a room to herself, but they would ask her if she would mind sharing it for the night. That seems a bit rich for a Youth Hostel where everyone is supposed to share in any case. It makes me think that some of the hostels put up the 'full' signs at the slightest pretext to save themselves extra work.
Dinner was soup, Cumberland sausage (again) and apple pie with ice cream, and was very nicely cooked. After dinner, 'the Wimp' was writing postcards and saying that he was going to ask the warden to post them for him. I thought he was a bit optimistic, but didn't say anything at the time. Shortly afterwards, he came storming back complaining "Whatever had happened to customer service?": the warden had just quietly shaken his head at the request. I then reminded him that this was the Y.H.A. he was referring to, where the customer is the last person to be considered (although, in fairness, there are a few wardens who go out of their way to be helpful).
Another couple who were doing the walk were a rather heavyweight and talkative young lady with her rather quiet boyfriend. Normally one finds that most long distance walkers are fit and lean but, although she seemed to be quite fit, it must have come about by turning all her fat to muscle, as her well developed calf muscles were as thick as my thighs. She didn't seem to be having any difficulty despite her weight and didn't make a big issue of the bad weather over Cross Fell.
Later in the evening I went along to the Blue Bell where there was a notice in the entrance saying "Why not try Toby Light - only 90p a pint", so I did, and it was quite a good pint, and much more my idea of a reasonable price for beer. I met a couple of chaps who were on the Pennine Way and staying there, and had a good chat before returning to the hostel at 10.30 p.m.
Day 6 - Friday 17th June 1991 - Alston to Dufton - 19.4 miles - 2750 ft ascent
Accommodation: Dufton Y.H.A. - £15.75 full meals
I set out at about 9.10 a.m., after breakfast at 8 a.m. Most of my washing had dried quite well but my boots were still a bit damp. The weather was rather overcast with low cloud but still rather better than yesterday. As I was leaving the hostel the warden gave me a packed lunch which I hadn't ordered. I checked on my sheet from Laurie Rhodes of the Pennine Way Booking Service and found that I hadn't been charged for one, but he had obviously ordered one from the hostel. The warden said that I may as well take it as it was no use to him and, not being one to ever turn away food on a walk, I did so.
After about a mile or so I met up with the lady from Sheffield who walked quite slowly. She said not to wait for her, so I went on only to find that I had difficulty working out which route the path took through the fields near to the river. She caught up with me again and together we tried to find the correct path. The signposting was non-existent, and we followed what seemed to be the right one only to find that it wasn't as we came to a wall with no stile. We made our way up the hillside to meet another path, but a bit further on we could see the bridge where we had to cross the river, so we had to climb a fence and scramble down a steep bank to get there. On the other side of the river the path still was not very clear and a farmer working in the field asked why I didn't keep to the footpath, to which I replied that if only I could see one I would gladly follow it. He pointed it out at the other side of a wall and complained that lots of people walked through the field instead of along the path on the river bank. With such poor signposting it was hardly surprising as it is difficult to see from a map whether a path is at one side of a wall or the other. Much of the route earlier on had been very well signposted, but this stretch has been badly neglected. The places where route finding poses most of a problem are through farmland such as this, where there is a need to find the exact route in order to find stiles through walls and fences, and it is here where it is important to have good signposts. In fact, it is in a farmer's interest to show the way clearly, if he wants to avoid walkers wandering all over his fields and climbing walls and fences in order to get where they want to be.
River South Tyne towards Garigill
By this time I had left the lady from Sheffield, as again she said she didn't want to walk quickly. I met a Pennine Way camper on his way from Garigill, who asked me where there were shops and pubs on the way. He didn't quite seem to take in the fact that they were very few and far between up here, so I urged him to stock up in Alston or else he would find virtually nothing until Bellingham without going quite a way off route. The odd bit of sun came out near Garigill and the cloud level had lifted near to the top of Cross Fell, so with a bit of luck it might be clear by the time I got there.
I stopped for a rest at 11.15 a.m. about a mile up the hill above Garigill. At this point the Pennine Way departs from the main track for a way to cut off a corner by going across the the moor. I took this route, although I suspect that most people stick to the optional route along the main track, as the path virtually disappeared after a while, and I had to just head in the right general direction to meet up with the main track again about a mile further on. The stony track to Greg's Hut, the mountain refuge hut below the summit of Cross Fell, seemed to go on for ever, and the wind was getting stronger and colder all the way. I could see for quite a few miles back down the track but couldn't see any sign of the lady from Sheffield. It was quite a relief when I finally reached the shelter of the hut at 1.30 p.m. and when I got inside there were quite a few people in there, although only one was a Pennine Way walker, the others were only out for the day.
At first it felt much warmer inside because of the shelter from the wind, but after a while it started to feel very cold as all the stone walls were very cold. There were plenty of things there for lighting a fire for anyone caught in very bad weather; in fact the previous day's walkers that I met in Alston had lit themselves a fire, but there was no reason to do so today, so I went off on my way up to the summit where I met up again with the group I had met in the hut. The cloud level had lifted off the top of the fells, but it was still very overcast with a very strong, bitterly cold wind. There was moderate visibility from the top and it was just possible to see the mountains of the Lake District but not to make out much detail. Over to the east was a vast expanse of wilderness of open moorland as far as the eye could see. A huge black cloud hung over the Cross Fell range, much darker than everywhere else. This is quite common here as the clouds form when the air quickly rises from the Eden Valley to come over the fells.
As it was rather inhospitable high up, I made my way quickly onward. Between Cross Fell and Great Dun Fell I met up with a group of three contractors who were laying another line of stone slabs. They told me that some of the slabs weighed as much as a quarter of a ton each and they moved them into place by levering with crow bars and rolling them on logs. By the time I reached Knock Fell I was feeling distinctly chilly and was very glad to start dropping down the side of Knock Fell where the wind was a little less strong and not quite so cold. Down at the bottom it was much more sheltered and I was able to thaw out by the time I reached Dufton Youth Hostel at 5.55 p.m. On the way into Dufton I saw a couple of red squirrels which are getting quite scarce in other areas. There were also quite a number of curlews with their long curved beaks over the moorland.
The walk over Cross Fell is often talked about by Pennine Way walkers as being the hardest part of the walk. Although it is the highest point on the way at just under 3000 ft, I do not find it a particularly strenuous walk, and some of the days at lower levels actually involve more climbing because of the undulating land. However, I think that the real reason such stories abound is because of the notoriously bad weather that this region attracts rather than the difficulty of the terrain.
The hostel was almost empty, having only two other chaps who were walking three quarters of the Pennine Way and a district nurse staying for a few days and touring the area. Dinner was at 7 p.m. and I had soup, spaghetti bolognese and bread and butter pudding. The lady from Sheffield was intending to stay at the hostel, but had not booked and didn't expect to arrive in time for a meal, but I told the warden that she would be coming and she said she would keep some food for her, which was very good of her. She finally arrived at about 8 p.m. and was served with the full three course meal.
On the way she had started to have problems with the heel of one of her boots which was now flapping loose. They were only cheap boots but it was still no excuse for them to do that. She had a tube of Evostik and tried to stick the heel back on without either drying or cleaning the surfaces but just putting it under a bed leg overnight after squeezing in a liberal amount of glue. I didn't have much faith in this and thought that she would have to buy some more boots at the next town. However, she had different ideas and said that if it didn't work she would try some super glue.
My own feet were doing quite well considering that I had had three quite long days in a row. I had very little in the way of blisters and not much aching either. The next day was less than 13 miles, so would be very leisurely.
Day 7 - Saturday 18th June 1994 - Dufton to Forest-in-Teesdale - 12.3 miles - 1600 ft ascent
I set off at 9.30 a.m. with the weather very overcast and a few spots of rain. On the way up to High Cup Nick I met up with the lady from Sheffield and, as I was in no hurry, I walked along with her. She had retired from being a nurse a couple of years ago and her husband had died around that time, so she decided to walk the Pennine Way whilst she was still capable of doing it. She had taken up some walking with a friend for training, although she already did quite a bit of walking herself with the dogs. She even went as far as testing out her survival bag by spending a night in the garden in it. Although she is a steady walker, she manages to do quite high daily mileage by keeping going, sometimes until quite late. Tonight she was heading for a bunk house just before Middleton-in-Teesdale, and tomorrow possibly to God's Bridge, and she intends to do the whole walk in about 15 days as her son was over here from the Far East and she had not yet had chance to see him.
The weather up by High Cup was foul with mist and a very strong icy cold wind. There was no view at all, but at least having been here twice before it was not such a disappointment as if I had never seen it before. Past High Cup it was very boggy and the footpath was very difficult to see, but we just carried on guided purely by the lie of the land, as I knew that we just needed to meet the head of the valley and follow it down. I think my companion was quite glad not to be on her own trying to find the way in the mist. Eventually we found Maize Beck, and having crossed it with some difficulty, followed it downstream. Some way further down there appeared to be a newly laid path going off on the opposite side, probably leading to High Cup following the higher ground on that side of the Beck. It is a pity we didn't manage to pick it up from the other end as it could have saved a lot of very boggy walking.
There was a little bit more shelter from the wind now so we found somewhere to stop for a rest and have lunch. My hands were so cold that I had difficulty opening my rucksack and it was certainly not a place to stay for long, so we were soon on our way again. Needless to say the heel of my companion's boot, which she had glued, was flapping off again, although surprisingly it wasn't letting in any more water than the other boot. She still did not seem to be too concerned about it though.
Cauldron Snout
Towards Cauldron Snout we at last came out of the mist and rain, and the wind was not so strong. I was rather ahead of time as it was only about 2 p.m. and I only had about three miles to go, so I said farewell to my companion and wished her well for the rest of the walk. I then spent some time looking around Cow Green Reservoir and Cauldron Snout, whose gushing cascades of water looked just as impressive in the rather dismal conditions of the day. At one time the spectacle of Cauldron Snout and the other waterfalls on the Tees was dependent on the weather, but since the building of the Cow Green Dam there is a more constant flow of water. This is enough to make them impressive most of the time, but does not give rise to the really dramatic spectacle following a period of heavy rain, that could occur before the dam was built.
I had booked into a farmhouse bed and breakfast quite close to the Pennine Way as Langdon Beck Youth Hostel was full with a school party. I was greeted by the son when I arrived at about 5 p.m. and he made me a cup of tea and showed me to my room. It looked like they only had one guest room and I was the only one staying there. I looked everywhere along the landing for the bathroom but couldn't see one. I found out later that it was downstairs through the lounge on the way to the kitchen, which wasn't very convenient for going to in the middle of the night. However, the whole family were very friendly and the farmer's wife brought me a very nice dinner of soup, gammon with chips, peas and salad, and then ice cream. She told me that they were giving up taking in guests after this year as they had taken on more land to farm and she didn't have the time.
After dinner I watched television for a while before making my way to the Langdon Beck Hotel, which is about a mile away, calling at the telephone box near the hostel to 'phone home. In the bar there were a group of six from the hostel and a couple of locals but no sign of any walkers. There are not many pubs around like this these days, thank goodness. The bar was a room about 12 ft square with the bar in one corner and bench seats around the walls. There was a lot of imitation wood paper stuck around the bench seats and the bar, and some subtle lighting consisting of a single florescent light in the middle of the ceiling. They still had only pressurised beer, and nothing much had changed since I was in there three years ago. The only thing different then was that the bar was filled with 14 Pennine Way walkers, so there was a lot more friendly chatter. (April 2002 - I have just had an email from the new owners of the Langdon Beck Hotel, who have done a lot of work improving it and making it a much more hospitable pub, so don't be put off by my experiences in 1994). At about 10 p.m. I made my way back to the farm and went to bed.
Day 8 - Sunday 19th June 1991 - Forest-in-Teesdale to Grassholme - 11.2 miles - 980 ft ascent
I had a very good breakfast at 8.30 a.m. and started out at about 9.15 a.m. There was still a lot of low cloud about but it was broken up by a few bright patches here and there. I ambled along as I had a very easy day's walk ahead of me and reached High Force at 10.30 a.m., where I found a good spot to sit looking at the waters thundering down beneath. After a while a few patches of blue sky appeared and the sun started to shine. It was so pleasant to feel the warmth of the sun again after all the cold, wet and windy weather of the past three days. Most of all it meant that I could amble along with long stops at the various beauty spots along the way without being frozen stiff. Just down from High Force I saw a flash of brilliant blue going from the trees on one side of the river to those on the other side and then back again. It was too quick for me to get a good view but it must have been a kingfisher. I made my way down to Low Force past all the meadows which are under Nature Conservancy control. They are a botanist's delight with masses of wild flowers including thousands of orchids of various kinds. There were some fine specimens of spotted orchids in full flower, a number of pyramid orchids and fields full of early purple orchids which were on their way out and fading in colour.
River Tees at High Force
River Tees at Low Force
Canoes on River Tees at Low Force
When I reached Low Force the sun was shining brightly and most of the clouds had cleared from the sky. A group of canoeists were shooting the rapids over the falls, so I found a pleasant spot by the river bank and stopped for lunch watching them. There were quite a few people about as it was a Sunday and there is easy access here by car. Whilst eating my lunch a bird, a chaffinch I think, was very friendly and came within about three feet of me, hopping about picking up crumbs without being bothered by my presence. I stayed for an hour or so, by which time it was getting quite hot, and then made my way steadily on to Middleton-in-Middleton-in-Teesdale, which is only about a quarter of a mile off route. I looked to see if the Barclays Bank had a cash machine, which it hadn't, but I still had a reasonable amount of cash left so it didn't matter too much. I then bought a few postcards and sat outside the Talbot Hotel with a pint of bitter in the beautiful sunshine writing them.
Teesdale and Newbiggin
Greengates Quarry near Grassholme
Grassholme Reservoir from near Greengates Quarry
Still with plenty of time in hand, I made my way over the hill, stopping on the way up to admire the view up Teesdale, and then again over the other side with a lovely view of Grassholme Reservoir. A little way off the way is Greengates Quarry which is disused and has had chance for grass to grow back over much of the area so that it looks very much like a rather impressive natural gorge. Eventually I made my way to Grassholme Farm where I had booked for the night as Baldersdale Youth Hostel was closed on Sunday. The Pennine Way goes right through the farmyard, so you cannot find a more convenient place to stay than that. I arrived at 5.50 p.m. and once again I was the only person staying there. There were a few Pennine Way walkers about earlier, but most of them seemed to be heading for Middleton-in-Teesdale for the night.
I had dinner of melon, shepherd's pie with carrots and cabbage followed by trifle. There was a lovely view of the reservoir out of the bedroom window and, as it was a quite a nice evening, I went for a walk down by the reservoir and then back up the road to see the upper reservoir. However, it started to drizzle a bit so I returned to the farm and had a read through 'Wainwright on the Pennine Way' to see if there were any other things to look out for on the way that I wasn't aware of. I made a mental note of a few things, such as some of the potholes on the way to Horton-in-Ribblesdale and the slab of rock hanging off the side of Penyghent. I use this spelling rather than 'Pen-y-ghent' as Wainwright claims this to be correct, and who am I to argue with the great man of the hills? I then went off to bed where I got a good night's sleep.
Day 9 - Monday 20th June 1994 - Grassholme to Keld - 17.1 miles - 1650 ft ascent
Accommodation: Keld Y.H.A. - £15.10 full meals
After a good fried breakfast at 8.30 a.m., I started out at 9.15 a.m. The weather had brightened up considerably from what it was like when I first got up - there was a fairly strong, cool wind but otherwise it was fine making it quite pleasant for walking. Over the first hill I came to Hannah's Meadows and High Birk Hat farm where Hannah Hauxwell used to live. The meadows have now been taken over by the Nature Conservancy and there were various signs explaining about the area and the types of plants that made this a Site of Special Scientific Interest. These seemed to be mainly uncommon types of grass and to the untrained eye there was nothing that looked any different from many other meadows. Certainly, the variety of wild flowers in Teesdale was far greater than here.
Top of Grassholme Reservoir (in a strong wind)
God's Bridge over the River Greta
Sleightholme Beck
After walking past the various reservoirs the scenery became more bleak as I climbed up over Cotherstone Moor but not so bleak as it had been on my previous walk when it was shrouded in mist with a bitter northerly wind blowing. On a fine day like today it was just rather uninteresting because of the featureless landscape which stretched for miles around, although there was more interesting scenery over in the far distance. Over these northerly moors one never feels entirely alone as there curlews and lapwings constantly swooping overhead. I stopped in Sled Dale for a short break at 11.15 a.m., sheltering from the wind by a wall, and then headed towards God's Bridge which I thought would make a good place to stop for lunch. After a further walk over the desolate moors, the busy A66 suddenly came into sight. This has now been made into a dual carriageway and the Pennine Way diverted to an underpass which is like a large corrugated iron pipe under the road, but at least this avoids having to risk life and limb crossing the road.
I reached God's Bridge at 12.15 p.m. and found a nicely sheltered spot down by the River Greta to have lunch sheltered from the wind. This is roughly the halfway point on the walk, or at least it is the place where I had to change guide books from 'North' to 'South'. Once again there was no water coming down the river as it had all disappeared underground higher up. However, under the natural limestone bridge some of the water re-appears and trickles downstream where it builds up as more of the underground water joins it again. Obviously in wet weather there is much more water reaching it on the surface.
I set off again at 12.50 p.m. with 6 miles to go to Tan Hill Inn and a further four and a half miles to Keld. After a mile or two I met three Pennine Way campers heading from Keld to Baldersdale. After crossing Sleightholme Beck the scenery became more drab and the weather more overcast. The worst thing about the weather was the very strong headwind that I had to fight my way into, although at least with it coming from the south west it was not too cold. One rather dilapidated steel gate dealt a rather nasty blow to my big toe as it dropped right down when I pulled it off the latch. Fortunately no real damage was done and the pain went away after five or ten minutes. As I gradually got higher up towards Tan Hill Inn the wind got stronger and it made walking up a gradual incline like walking up a steep hill. I took a short break about two and a half miles from Tan Hill which can be seen for miles but seems not to get any closer. Eventually I reached the Inn at 3.40 p.m. and called in for some shelter and a pint of Old Peculiar at £1.90. I didn't make the same mistake as last time by having two pints early on in a long walk, which had weakened my spirits later in the day. This time I only had a short walk left to do and that was mainly downhill. There were a number of Americans in there who were discussing the various places they had visited and intended to visit. One thing that surprised me was that, being the highest pub in England, they had no postcards of the place.
Tan Hill Inn, an old drover's inn is the highest pub in England It is right on the Pennine Way
Keld from Pry Hill
Waterfall on East Stonesdale Beck near Keld
I left the comfortable shelter of the pub to do battle again with the wind. At least now I was walking over almost level ground, but the wind seemed even stronger than before needing quite a lot of effort to make progress. After a couple of miles I started to drop down a little and at last the wind started to ease off a bit. The sun started to come through as I was approaching Keld giving some marvellous views towards the village itself and along Upper Swaledale - this real Dales scenery looked even more beautiful in contrast to the dreary, featureless moorland scenery that made up most of the day's walk. I arrived at Keld Youth Hostel at 6 p.m. to find that it was very quiet with only four others in there for the night. This was quite surprising as it is the crossing point of the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Walk, but then that seems to have been the case most of the way. The others were a group of women from Birmingham aged from about 45 to 60 who were doing the Coast to Coast walk by stages. Last year they walked from St. Bees to Shap in a week, this year they were walking from Shap to Osmotherley and next year they will walk the rest of the way to Robin Hood's Bay.
I investigated the drying room to see about washing and it didn't seem too good. However, I was told that heating came on overnight using off-peak electricity, so I did my washing and took a chance. The warden was quite young and very helpful. He served up the dinner and then cleared away everything himself, refusing offers to help with the washing up and saying "That is what I am paid for". If a lot of the other wardens heard him they would probably lynch him for setting a bad example!
After dinner I went for a little walk to Kisdon Force. Despite having been here twice before, I had never quite found out where Kisdon Force was, mistaking it for one of the waterfalls down East Gill Beck, whereas Kisdon Force is where the river Swale flows through a narrow part of the valley with very steep sides and is therefore rather hidden from view. By taking a little path going off the Pennine Way and scrambling down a rather steep slope I reached the falls which were considerably bigger than the ones on East Gill Beck. I made my way back to the hostel and caught up with two men and a boy carrying shotguns and about a dozen or more rabbits between them. The rabbit population around here has got out of hand, so something like this needs to be done to keep it under control. It was starting to get rather cold as I made my way back, but when I got inside I found that the warden had lit a big fire in the common room for the others. It was a bit too hot in there but it made it look more cheerful.
Day 10 - Tuesday 21st June 1994 - Keld to Hawes - 12.9 miles - 1870 ft ascent
I woke up next morning with rain outside and low cloud at about 1500 ft. Some of my washing was almost dry but some was still quite damp. Still, my socks were going to get wet anyway, so what did it matter if they were damp to start off with. After breakfast I hung around for a while to see if the rain would ease off which it did by about 10 a.m. and I even set off without having to put on my waterproofs. I made my way back to Kisdon Force to see if I could get a photograph and met the four Birmingham women who were just coming back up, having made a detour to see the falls after I had told them how to get there. Unfortunately the small patch of sunshine which had appeared when they were there had gone and there seemed little prospect of any more so I had to take a photograph in dull conditions. I made my way back up to the Pennine Way path further up the side of the valley which still gave some very fine views of Upper Swaledale even in the poor conditions. Further along I met a chap from Orkney. He had walked from Kirk Yetholm to Malham, and was now on his way back again and had spent the night on the hillside in a bivy bag.
The walk along Upper Swaledale was sheltered from the wind but, as I rounded the corner, it was a different story as I was met with a very strong, cold wind head on and it was also starting to rain again. I took some shelter and put on a pullover and my waterproofs in an attempt to keep warm whilst doing battle with the elements. It did not take too long to reach Thwaite, where I decided to call in the cafe for a pot of tea whilst hoping for the weather to improve, as I could see that the top of Great Shunner Fell was covered in cloud. For 70p I had a pot which gave me four cups full, which I considered was pretty good value. Eventually I decided that the wet weather seemed to be set in for the day so there was nothing more to be gained from waiting any longer.
After the initial farm track which was easy for walking, the way got more and more boggy. Stone slabs had been dropped there but had not yet been removed from their pallets and laid, so they were of little assistance. At one point I stepped onto a grey patch which I normally associate with firm ground, as it generally comes from sand or rock beneath the peat. In this case it was a pool of clay slurry and my foot sank down about a foot deep coating my boot and leggings with a slimy grey mess. I had to stop at a little stream and wash the leggings inside and out and wash the boot as best I could.
I met a few Pennine Way walkers on the way to the summit and they said that it was even worse further on. However, in general it was not too bad as the ground had been dry for some time before the rain so the peat had not had enough time to get really soft - that isn't to say that there was not quite a bit of side stepping to do to get around some of the worst areas. Towards the summit I entered the mist which restricted the visibility even further, although there was no problem in following the path which continues in a fairly straight line all the way over the fell. Past the summit it becomes almost level, with only a very slight downhill slope for about two miles, which seemed like twice the distance in the rain and mist, before the somewhat steeper drop down towards Hawes. At one point I was walking along some old wooden palings which had been laid flat on the peaty path, when I stood on the end of a loose one causing it to tilt up and to make me do a neat backward roll down a peaty dip with my legs in the air. After a quick manoeuvre I managed to right myself by putting one foot in a stream. Surprisingly, my foot didn't seem noticeably wetter from this, which could be either that my boot did a good job of keeping out the water or, more likely, that my foot was already so wet that it didn't make any difference. I stopped a bit further on by another stream (these were not in short supply - in fact there were streams everywhere - even the paths were doubling up as streams). I had to wash down my rucksack with cupfuls of water to remove all the slimy peat that had stuck to it when it took the brunt of my fall. I was quite surprised how warm the water was. This could, of course, have been that my hands were so cold that it just felt that way, but the weather had, in fact, turned a lot milder and the strong wind had substantially reduced.
As the path eventually started to drop down more steeply I came out of the mist and the rain also started to ease off making the walk more pleasant. I was undecided as to whether I should make the short detour through the Green Dragon Inn to see Hardraw Force but my rather soggy state made me decide against it, although in retrospect it would have been worth it, as all the rivers and streams were quite full, so the waterfall with its 98 ft drop would have been an impressive sight. I squelched my way into Hawes just before 4.30 p.m. just in time to cash a cheque in the bank, which had late closing that day. I wandered around the town for a while and wrote a postcard, as I thought that it was a bit early to roll up at the bed and breakfast.
It was nice to have a bath and change into some dry things when I reached the bed and breakfast, which was just a little way out of town. Actually most of my things were reasonably dry; it was only my feet that were really wet. Mrs Guy, the landlady used to teach in Rawdon, which is where I was brought up and where my mother still lives, although she taught at the comprehensive school, whereas I went to the grammar school. After a cup of tea and a chat I went into Hawes to 'phone home and to buy fish, chips and peas. Rather than join all the tourists in the pubs in Hawes, I decided to walk the half mile up to Gayle to see if there was a pub there. There was no pub but the waterfalls were worth the visit after all the rain. I returned to Hawes and had a couple of pints in with the rest of the tourists.
Day 11 - Wednesday 22nd June 1994 - Hawes to Horton-in-Ribblesdale - 13.5 miles + 1.2 miles to Bunk House - 1300 ft ascent + 100 ft to Bunk House
Accommodation: Dub Cotes Bunk House Barn - £5.75 bed only (no meals service)
I had a very good breakfast at 8.30 a.m. The only others staying were a Norwegian couple who came down at 9 a.m. Most of my things were dry from being on the bathroom radiator and my boots had been near the stove so were also not too wet. Mrs Guy decided not to charge me the single room supplement as she had not had anyone else wanting to book the room, so it cost £15 instead of the £17 that I expected.
The weather was very blustery with a few showers to start with but with quite a bit of sunshine. After calling at the Post Office to send my Pennine Way North guide book back home, I set off on my way to Gayle. The waterfalls in Hawes and Gayle were much less spectacular than last night: it is surprising how quickly the rain drains away from the hills. I took the wrong path just after Gayle and had to backtrack about half a mile to get onto Gaudy Lane. I was not feeling at my best as I had felt a bit of a cold coming on for the last couple of days, or perhaps it was hay fever. Whilst I stopped for a rest after battling into the wind up Gaudy Lane, a chap came past in trainers with a dog. He had come 12 miles from Horton-in-Ribblesdale that morning whereas I had done just 2 miles. He was going to call for a quick bite to eat in Hawes and was then pressing on to clock up quite a few more miles. He realised, however, that he had dropped his map so I looked after his dog whilst he went back to find it, which didn't take long.
Looking towards Hawes from Gaudy Lane
Penyghent from Birkwith Moor
I thought the wind was strong up Gaudy Lane but that was nothing to what it was like when I reached West Cam Road at the top of the hill. There was nothing to give any shelter as the wind came rushing up the hillside hitting me from the side, and it was very difficult trying to walk in a straight line without being pushed off to one side. I stopped to take a photo and had great difficulty trying to hold the camera still even with my back pressed up against a wall. There was quite a lot of sunshine and the views were very good, the only problem being trying to keep one's eyes open enough to see properly. After a couple of miles of battling with the side wind I at last reached the section where there is a wall on the windward side. It was just as if the wind had suddenly stopped, as the wall took the full force of the wind and deflected it up over the top of my head.
I met three separate Pennine Way walkers. The first was an elderly Irishman who had bought a compass but had no idea how to use it until someone along the way had taught him. With his new found skill he was now taking compass readings everywhere, even along the unmistakable track of Cam High Road.
The Roman road past Cam Houses was slightly sheltered by the hillside and there were also a number of sheltered hollows by the side of the way, so I took the opportunity to have lunch in one of them at 1.15 p.m. Further along towards Cam End there were fine views of Penyghent and Ingleborough except that they were not in much sunshine and I was again exposed to the full force of the wind, making it difficult even walking downhill. However, as I dropped down further there were more areas of shelter, which was a welcome relief.
Along the route to Horton-in-Ribblesdale there are a number of potholes nearby so I thought I would take a look at some of them. The first one, which had no name on the map, was not very deep but looked very nice with a little waterfall running into it. Penyghent Long Churn is not so picturesque but drops down to an awe-inspiring depth of what looked like about 100 ft or so.
Overlooking Horton-in-Ribblesdale
Penyghent from near Horton-in-Ribblesdale
St Oswald's Church, Horton-in-Ribblesdale with Penyghent behind
Walking down towards Horton, it was plain to see that much of the thicker cloud was forming as it came over Ingleborough and Whernside, as it was much lighter south of there. I reached the Penyghent cafe in Horton at 5.15 p.m. where I had beefburger chips and peas and one of their famous huge mugs of tea. I waited until 6 p.m. to 'phone home before making my way to Dub Cotes bunk house barn which is a bit over a mile out of the village, up the hillside. There were only two others staying there for the night and they were doing the Three Peaks and had not yet returned. It was a lovely evening and the wind had dropped quite a bit, which was quite a relief. The top of Penyghent is visible from the lane just up from Dub Cotes, in fact it is also visible through the lounge window. I hadn't brought anything with me for breakfast as I was not sure whether there would be crockery and cooking utensils there, but it was fully equipped and there is a small shop in the village selling provisions. My intention had been to have breakfast in the cafe and it was too late to buy anything now, so I stuck to my original plan.
Later I went down to Horton for a drink. The nearest pub is the Golden Lion near the church but it looked a bit dead inside so I went on to the Crown at the other end of the village thinking that there would be more life in there. I went inside and the bar was completely deserted. The landlady said that it had been quite busy earlier on with people having bar meals, and there were still a lot of people in the restaurant. After a while two cyclists from Leeds came in and then a few people from the restaurant came trickling through the bar heading for their rooms. Most of them seemed to be Dutch or American and the landlady said that it was the Dutch Pennine Way walkers who kept her mid-week trade going last year. Thinking about it, having further to travel they probably don't start at the weekend like most of the English do, so they come through between the peak waves of south to north walkers.
At about 10 p.m. I left and returned to Dub Cotes under a cloudless sky and a beautiful full moon, prompting me to get out my binoculars when I got back. There was still no sign of the other two residents although they had obviously been back and then gone out again, so I went to bed. It was quite cool overnight and I was only just warm enough with the three blankets I had put on my bunk. Normally there is only one blanket per bed with the option to hire a duvet for a small charge, but when it is not full blankets can be borrowed from the other bunks.
Day 12 - Thursday 23rd June 1993 - Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Malham - 14.2 miles + 1.2 miles from Bunk House - 2300 ft ascent
Accommodation: Malham Y.H.A. - £14.25 dinner B&B
I got up at 8.30 a.m. and was off by just after 9 a.m., still having not seen the others who were still in bed. I called at the cafe again for a bacon buttie and a mug of tea and was rather disappointed when the butty arrived and was only a couple of rather thin slices of bread with two rashers of bacon for £1.80 - I had expected it to be a bit more substantial, if only with thicker bread. Still trade is rather seasonal and they have to make a living. I set off from the cafe at 10 a.m. and the weather was already looking good with the sun shining through quite a bit, so it was not long before my pullover came off and then my T-shirt.
Hull Pot near Penyghent
On the way up to Penyghent I detoured to Hull Pot which is about a quarter of a mile off route. I wondered if there would be any water running over the waterfall into the pot following the recent rain, as most of the time the water has all drained away underground through fissures in the limestone before it reaches the pot. I was in luck and there was a reasonable flow of water falling into the pot. I headed back onto the way and then took a look at Hunt Pot which is very close to the path, but which I had never visited before because I had often been cutting a corner off when going to Hull Pot. Hunt Pot is much smaller but the water can be seen plunging down to an incredible depth - not the place to lose a foothold. Further up the hill another short detour brought me to the pinnacle of rock that is hanging off the side of Penyghent. This is another thing I had read about and seen in photographs but not seen before, even though it is only a short way off route.
The view from the top of Penyghent never really impresses me; to the west is a good view of Ingleborough but its profile is far less distinctive than when viewed from the north. To the east is Fountains Fell which is not very impressive to look at, and to the north and south there are few distinctive features. On the other hand, Fountains Fell has a fine view of Penyghent with Ingleborough behind. The moral of this is that the mountains which look the best do not always have the best views and those that do not look much themselves can provide fine viewpoints for others. Certainly in the case of Penyghent, its distinctive shape makes it much more of a mountain to be looked at and it looks impressive from almost any viewpoint.
Between Penyghent and Fountains Fell is a stretch of about a mile of road walking as shown on the latest guide books, but the earlier route went along the hillside. Ever wishing to make as many variations as possible and always looking for ways to keep off roads, I took the old route which, although boggy in places, gives a better view across to Penyghent. The weather had clouded over quite a bit and had turned somewhat cooler so I put my T-shirt back on and also attended to my nose and cheeks with sun cream as they had caught a bit too much sun and were rather sore. It was still pleasant for walking, however, and I headed on up Fountains Fell where I stopped for lunch at 1.35 p.m. just before the summit, where there was still a good view as well as some shelter from the cool wind.
The actual summit of Fountains Fell itself does not give much of a view as it is rather flat topped; the best views being on the ascent and descent. There is a lot of evidence of old mine workings up there with a number of fenced-off pit shafts here and there. The path down the other side, which I remembered as being rather rough and boggy, has now been made up to the standard where a vehicle could easily drive to the top. The interesting thing about this pathway improvement is that it has been done with hard core mixed with sandy soil and seeded with grass, some of which has already started to grow. I would think that in a few years' time it will form a very good 'green' road which is pleasant to walk on whilst blending in well with the landscape. It is a pity that there are not more pathway improvements like this but it may be that it is not suitable for some types of terrain.
One of the Dry Valleys above Malham Cove
Looking down Malham Cove
Looking down Malham Cove towards Malham
On the way down towards Malham the sun started to break through again and I sat for a while on the limestone pavement waiting for the view to clear in the valley towards Arncliffe. The limestone scenery is always at its best in the sunshine and the walk to Malham past the Tarn and over Malham Cove was marvellous. After a leisurely walk with many stops to admire the views and to take photographs, I arrived at Malham Youth Hostel at 5.50 p.m. and booked in. Malham is a large hostel with an annexe in which I was staying. All was peaceful when I went in there with only a few other bunks occupied in a large dormitory, then suddenly there was bedlam - a school party arrived with much shouting, running and crashing around of the children who were about 9 years old. To my horror they were mentioning room 12 as one of the dormitories that they were to occupy and that was the one I was in. Fortunately they checked again and found out they were in other dormitories, but still in the annexe.
The drying room seemed particularly good so I washed out everything that was in need of washing and put them in there to dry before going to the dining room for dinner at 7 p.m. When I got there dinner was halfway through and it ensued that they were having two sittings to cater for the large numbers of people, as there were other school parties in the main building as well. The next sitting was at 7.30 p.m. and wasn't quite so full. I had soup, beef ragout and chocolate and orange sponge on a table with some of the teachers from one of the other school parties. The food was very good considering the hectic conditions for the catering staff - the girl there said she couldn't remember when they had last had a quiet day, but she was very pleasant and helpful despite all the pressure of work.
As it was a very pleasant evening, I decided to go for a walk to Gordale Scar, which is one of my favourite spectacles in this area. I called first at Janet's Foss which is almost on the way and then went on to Gordale Scar itself where I climbed up the waterfall and then up the steep scramble to the limestone plateau above. The climb up the waterfall was very easy as there was hardly any water flowing, so there was no problem about getting wet as is often the case. The huge overhanging cliffs looked just as impressive as ever and I made my way round the edge to get a view from a different angle.
Bridge and Cafe at Malham
The daylight from the long summer's day was starting to fade, so I made my way back across the plateau towards the little road which leads down into Malham. As I came round the corner of a wall, I came face to face with a strange looking animal. I don't know which of us was more surprised, but it quickly turned tail and retreated round the corner into the next field. As I reached the roadway I took a look cautiously over the wall and there, poking its head out of a hole in the ground, was the animal again. It was about two foot long including its tail which was so bushy that it looked almost the same thickness as the rest of its body. Its coat was a chocolate brown colour, slightly darker underneath than on its back and it had lighter coloured patches around its eyes and face. It stood for several minutes looking around from the hole in the ground and I had a good look at it through my binoculars. I thought it was still aware of my presence, so I ducked down and looked through a crack in the wall and after a few more minutes it then walked off on the route it had been following before it was interrupted. I could not think what animal it could have been, but later I consulted a naturalist friend and, from books of British mammals, the nearest animal in appearance was a pine marten. However, I later saw an article in The Times which mentioned the fact that pine martens were extinct in England so it prompted me to search further for identification. One book on the subject claimed that most reported sightings of pine martens turn out actually to be of polecats. Apparently polecats can have a wide range of colours due to cross-breading and it was mainly the colour which had lead me to believe that it was a pine marten. In fact the facial markings of the animal did more closely match those of one variety of polecat. The only characteristic that didn't seem to match up was the fact that it is not a burrowing animal and I had assumed that the hole in the ground was its burrow. However, there are many natural holes in the limestone moors, so it was probably just using one of these to hide in for protection.
I eventually got back to Malham at 10.15 p.m. where I called for a pint, drinking it outside as it was still quite warm, before returning to the hostel and my bed. On the way in I could see the teachers from the school party having a drinking party in the kitchen even though the Y.H.A. rules normally ban alcohol on the premises, although these may have been relaxed more recently as some hostels do actually serve alcoholic drinks with meals. The kids in the next dormitory made a racket until about midnight preventing any possibility of getting to sleep and then, at about 2 a.m. the kids in the dormitory above started crashing around like a herd of elephants, obviously jumping out of their bunks and running about. This went on for a couple of hours despite the fact that one chap from our dormitory went up twice to tell them to stop. I could understand them being excited on their first night away, but there seemed to be no attempt at any supervision from the teachers in the party who must have heard the noise. Fortunately I did manage to get some more sleep later on so I didn't feel too bad in the morning.
Day 13 - Friday 24th June 1993 - Malham to Ickornshaw - 17.5 miles - 2000 ft ascent
Accommodation: The Hawthorns B&B - £17.50 B&B
It was a beautifully sunny morning and I had breakfast at the first sitting and picked up my clothes from the drying room. Most of them were dry, but there were still a few damp patches on some despite the good drying room. This is where it would have been so much better with a spin dryer or a mangle to get out most of the water first. This hostel had also got me down as having booked a packed lunch, so once again I ended up getting one for free.
I set off from the hostel in very good walking conditions with hazy sunshine and a pleasant breeze. The walk along this stretch is very easy, following the river Aire for the first few miles, but the scenery gets flatter and less interesting. I stopped for a rest after five miles and was soon met by a group of girls carrying camping gear, followed at a discreet distance by a woman who was making sure they didn't get lost. They were doing this as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. This went against what I had been told by someone earlier on who said that the Pennine Way was now considered to be too well signposted to qualify for the scheme. Perhaps some sections are, but others are definitely not and require quite good orienteering skills to find the way.
River Aire at Newfield Bridge
Lock on Leeds - Liverpool Canal at Gargrave
Lothersdale from Stansfield Beck
I pressed on with the intention of having lunch by the Leeds - Liverpool canal. The intervening walk was rather uninteresting so I thought I may as well get a few miles done so that I could have a more leisurely walk over the undulating ground later in the afternoon. I spent about an hour sunbathing by the towpath, airing off my feet. Several cyclists passed by as well as a couple of boats and a man walking his dog, but not much sign of any other walkers. After Thornton-in-Craven came the first real climb of the day up to Pinhaw Beacon where I met several Pennine Way walkers in fairly rapid succession. The scenery is much more interesting around here, but it can be quite hard work climbing up and down the series of hills and valleys. I bought a few things for the following day's lunch at Lothersdale to save me time the next morning. There was quite a good view of Ickornshaw coming over Cowling Hill but the sun had just gone in, so I waited for about half an hour to see if it would come out for me to take a photograph. Unfortunately the cloud seemed to be thickening after a day of almost non-stop sunshine, so I took a photograph anyway and headed down to find the bed and breakfast for the night.
I found the place quite easily from the map I had been sent. It was a modern bungalow with a swimming pool and very nicely furnished with every modern convenience. There were two couples staying there and another chap expected later. The normal guest bathroom was out of action because of some work being done, so I had to use the shower in the en-suite bathroom off the main bedroom, which was fitted out with a whirlpool bath and all sorts of keep fit equipment.
The landlady advised me that a pub called the Harlequin did very reasonable meals, so I set off to look for it, calling at a telephone box on the way to call home. I kept on walking most of the way into Cowling but there was still no sign of the pub, so when I reached a fish and chip shop I decided to call in there and forget the search. Out of curiosity, I looked around Ickornshaw on the way back to see if I had been looking in the wrong place, but I still couldn't see any sign of the Harlequin. I called in the Black Bull on the main road for a couple of pints of Boddingtons, but it is not the most inspiring pub and the few people who were in the bar were all pigeon fanciers, with pigeon timing clocks, apparently waiting for some birds to return.
I took a look along the wooded valley above the bed and breakfast, which was quite pleasant, but swarming with midges, so I hastily departed and returned to the bungalow. I had been rather curious as to what I would have to do if I needed the bathroom in the night, but the normal one was now back in service again, so there was no problem. I had offered to share my room, which had a single bed plus bunk beds, if anyone wished to share it. The landlady had not been sure whether the chap who was arriving later wanted to do so, but he had arrived and declined on the grounds that he was a very loud snorer, so the single bed had been moved into the lounge for him. I watched television in my room for the rest of the evening, whilst a violent thunderstorm passed overhead causing several dips in the mains supply.
I had a good night's sleep in a comfortable bed and got up for breakfast at 8 a.m. The couple running the place were very friendly - they had built the bungalow themselves four years ago, modelled on another one just down the road that they had built some years prior to that. The chap who nearly shared my room was there for breakfast. He was about 60 and was out walking, taking the train for a way and then walking back.
Day 14 - Saturday 25th June 1993 - Ickornshaw to Mankinholes - 18.8 miles + 0.8 miles to YHA - 3420 ft ascent
Accommodation: Mankinholes Y.H.A. - £15.10 full meals
I set off at 9 a.m. into a rather overcast morning with low cloud hanging over Ickornshaw Moor, which is probably more widely known as Keighley Moor, although strictly speaking this is the area further east. As I reached the open moorland the way was not very distinct and I followed a fence, thinking that it was the line marked on my map, as I headed into the mist. As I followed it on and on through the mist I started having some reservations as to whether I was on the right track as the line of the fence didn't follow that on the map and the path seemed too small to be the Pennine Way. However, whilst I was heading uphill I thought that I must be going roughly in the right direction for the top of the moor. As the slope levelled off somewhat, the fence turned 90 degrees to the right and I was faced with either following this, which at least had a faint path following by its side, or heading across the open moor in the direction I thought I should be going, but tramping through bogs and heather. I tried walking across the moor for a little way but soon gave up as it was so much more difficult to make progress and there was so much surface water underfoot. I returned to follow the fence and, after a while was rewarded by reaching a stile where the Pennine Way crossed over and I was able to regain the right route. I had gone quite a way off to the east and then come back round when the fence turned the corner.
The miles always seem so much longer when you feel you are lost as there is always the worry of going further and further off the route. It also seems longer when tramping over bleak featureless moors in the mist, so it was a very welcome relief when I did get back on the right path. Ickornshaw Moor is one of the bleakest stretches of moorland along the Pennine Way; later in the year when the heather is in full bloom and the sun is shining it may be quite pleasant, but on a day like this it is the sort of place to get away from as quickly as possible. Before long the path started to descend from the bleak misty moors and dropped below the cloud level revealing a good view of Ponden Reservoir, which was very low on water. On the way down I met one Pennine Way walker who was heading from Haworth to Earby and two others going from Ponden Hall to Thornton-in-Craven. I also met a chap who I didn't recognise at first, but who greeted me - it was the chap from the bed and breakfast who had missed the train so had decided to walk a bit of the Pennine Way coming back from where he had left his car.
I stopped by Ponden Reservoir at about 11 a.m. for a rest. The weather had brightened up quite a bit and the cloud had lifted off the moors. The route up to Top Withens, the ruins of the farmhouse which is supposed to have inspired Wuthering Heights, was quite easy after an initial rather steep climb. The number of tourists around here seem to have warranted a two lane path of stone slabs instead of the normal single lane - a pedestrian dual carriageway, or maybe it is to allow vehicles to get up more easily. However, there were not many tourists around today to spoil the isolation, which is the main characteristic of the place.
Dropping down the other side of the moor to the Walshaw Dene reservoirs it became quite sunny for a while. Two of the reservoirs were almost empty due mainly to maintenance work which was in progress, so the area did not look as attractive as it could be. There are a lot of rhododendrons around the middle reservoir which were just at the end of flowering; a few weeks earlier they must have added a much brighter splash of colour. I stopped for lunch by the middle reservoir. It was a bit cool for sunbathing, but still very pleasant. At 1.40 p.m. I set off again with a little over 10 miles to go. There were a few diversions to the path near the lower reservoir to keep the roadway clear for construction traffic, although no work was being done today as it was Saturday. By the road near the Pack Horse Inn I saw a bird, which I think was a kestrel, hovering nearby showing off a beautiful fan of tail feathers. I resisted the temptation to make a detour in the direction of the pub, as I still had quite a lot more walking to do.
The walk along Graining Water and Heptonstall Moor was a great contrast to the walk over Ickornshaw Moor, as the path runs along the side of the moor rather than going over the top and gives some good views across the valley and down into Hebden Dale. Rounding the end of Heptonstall Moor, the end of the day's walk, Stoodley Pike monument came prominently into sight on the distant hilltop.
The way then goes across a series of hills and steep sided valleys, one of which is Colden Clough, a local beauty spot where an old pack horse bridge crosses the stream. There were several families there taking advantage of the sunshine and some of the children were paddling in the stream. This is also the place where the Calderdale Way crosses the Pennine way. A little futher on, I had a rest on Pry Hill at 3.40 p.m. with 5 miles left to go, and was off again at 4 p.m.
Pack Horse Bridge at Colden Clough
Colden Clough
Calder Valley and Stoodley Pike
Down in the shelter of the Calder Valley the weather turned very warm, making it hot work climbing up the other side through Collis Wood towards Stoodley Pike. Higher up, however, it started to turn quite cold and windy and the sky clouded over. After spending a little time by the monument I headed down the steep hillside to Mankinholes Youth Hostel and was quite cold by the time I got there as I hadn't bothered to get out my pullover.
There were very few people staying at the hostel, with dinner places laid for only four but with a few others self-catering. Dinner was soup, Cumberland sausage and apple pie. The others having dinner were the overspill from a Y.H.A. regional A.G.M. in Haworth, so all the conversation centred around youth hostelling. There were a number of others from the same meeting who arrived later, having had their meal at Haworth. Some came by motorbike, and the rest cycled, but all in all they were a mildly eccentric bunch of people.
Over the last few days my feet had started to ache a bit more than earlier in the walk, although far less than on previous walks, which I put down to the combination of insoles in my boots. The day's walk was not far short of 20 miles, so it is not surprising that my feet should suffer a bit. The next couple of days involved much shorter distances, so it would give my feet an easier time.
Towards the end of the evening I walked down to the Top Brink for a couple of pints of Boddingtons. It was very lively in there, but then it was a Saturday night. Most of the people in there seemed to be local people who had arrived by car, although there may have been a few walkers amongst them as this is also on the Calderdale Way.
Day 15 - Sunday 26th June 1991 - Mankinholes to Standedge - 11.5 miles on PW + 1.5 miles from/to accommodation - 950 ft ascent + 430 ft from YHA
Accommodation: Globe Farm Bunk House - £17 full meals
I got a good night's sleep with breakfast at 8.15 a.m. I was in no rush to get away as I had only a short day's walk and the weather was not very inviting, having turned overcast and windy. The warden actually remembered me from three years ago, which was quite surprising considering all the people who stay at the hostel, although he did say that he had been away from wardenning for much of that time. I eventually set off at 9.45 a.m. and headed back up the steep hillside to rejoin the Pennine Way.
There were a few spots of rain, but the cloud level was quite high so there were still fair views. The moors around here were covered in cotton grass which was in full flower making it look almost as if there had been a scattering of snow with some quite dense patches of white in places. The big difference between here and the Northern Pennine moors is that there are far fewer birds about. There were hardly any birds to be seen in the sky, although some could be heard in the grass, whereas further north the sky is alive with curlews and lapwings. The predominant feature on the landscape starts to become the pylons, rows of which can be seen over many of the hillsides. Down in the valley can be seen the urban sprawl of Rochdale, although the view along the valley to the north is quite attractive. The walk by the Warland and Light Hazzels reservoirs was not very inspiring, as they are built on the rather flat moor top and looked very black and uninviting in the overcast conditions, making the 'no swimming' notices rather superfluous.
Blackstones Edge
Looking North West from Blackstones Edge
I stopped for a break at 11.15 a.m. by the end of Light Hazzels Reservoir where I found some shelter from the cold wind by a large boulder. Even so I was still feeling quite cold, so I put on the next level of protection, which was my waterproof jacket on top of my pullover. Passing the White House pub at noon, the smell of Sunday lunches being cooked was far more tempting than my Y.H.A. packed lunch, but I resisted the temptation and walked by towards Blackstone Edge, where the weather started to take a turn for the better with a bit of sunshine and less of a bite to the wind. I had lunch at the summit from which Stoodley Pike was still quite clearly visible. Looking through the binoculars I could see a wind farm to the north with about 24 wind driven generators. Down in the valley, yet another big mill was in the process of being demolished.
There were quite a few walkers about, mostly just out for the day, but just as I was setting off again I met two chaps who had walked over sixteen miles from Crowden by 1.30 p.m. They were bemoaning the evils of Kinder Scout and Black Hill, which perturbed me somewhat as I do a lot of my weekend walks around there and find it very enjoyable. However, they had taken the original route over the desolate area of peat in the middle of the plateau, rather than the currently recommended route round the edge which gives much better views and offers a firm, easy to follow path. The original route, although a mile shorter, is difficult enough even in good weather, and in bad weather can be a nightmare.
Further on, after crossing the M62 motorway, I stopped on White Hill for a last look at Stoodley Pike, which takes a bit of finding amidst all the pylons, but is still quite clear through binoculars. The upturn in the weather was short-lived with the cloud thickening, the wind gathering in strength and spotting with rain. Another chap came by on his way from Crowden to the White House.
At Standedge there was a pleasant change of scenery from bare moorland to green valleys, albeit that they were spoiled in places by pylons and other developments. After lingering for as long as I cared to do in the strong wind I made my way down to Globe Farm at 4.30 p.m. The bunk house is open from 4 p.m. so I was able to take shelter inside, and found that I had the place to myself for the night. That surprised me, as anyone setting off from Edale on Saturday would be likely to get here today, although the ones I saw earlier on were pressing on beyond here, not wanting to stop after only 12 miles. Dinner was at 6 p.m. and I had soup, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, and blackcurrant pie with ice cream. The roast dinner was not quite up to the standards of home but was still pretty good and plentiful - they have to be forgiven as they are at the wrong side of the Pennines for making Yorkshire puddings. Two young chaps came in a bit later for a meal. They were camping here, and were finding it a bit hard going getting used to carrying 45 lb packs.
I called at the Floating Light later on and met the two campers who were just leaving as I arrived. The pub was quite busy despite being a roadside inn quite a way from the nearest town. Obviously a lot of people still drive out in the country for a drink still, despite the tightening up on drinking and driving these days.
Day 16 - Monday 27th June 1993 - Standedge to Crowden - 11 miles on PW + 1.3 miles from/to accommodation - 1500 ft ascent + 110 ft from B&B
Accommodation: Crowden Y.H.A. - £15.10 full meals
After a good night's sleep I had the Globe Farm breakfast, which is of great renown amongst Pennine Wayfarers. It consisted of fruit juice, either grapefruit or cereals, then egg, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, black pudding, beans and fried bread, followed by toast and marmalade. Chatting with the landlady, it ensued that the lady from Sheffield had stayed there on the Friday night, arriving quite late in the evening, and was wondering whether to walk the whole 27 miles to Edale the next day. There was no news of her boots, so it is still a mystery as to whether the old ones managed to last out or whether she had been forced into buying some new ones on the way.
I got off to another leisurely start at about 9.30 a.m. with mist just hanging to the top of Standedge (about 1300 ft), but looking as if it might clear later. There was not much sign of activity from the two campers, although I could hear their voices from within their tent, so they were probably trying to summon up enthusiasm to get started. I made my way by the reservoirs over the moors, which do not give rise to any particularly good views as they lie near the moor tops. The cloud started lifting, so it made for quite good walking conditions. As I dropped down into the Wessenden Valley, however, there was a change to much more dramatic scenery with steep sided valleys and streams with waterfalls all brightened up by patches of sunshine. Walking along the path I came face to face with a cow, which was not unusual except for the fact that it did not move but held its ground making me have to skirt around it. Only then did I realise that it was a small bull and not a cow. However, it didn't take any more notice of me, but it did make me a little bit more wary about what animals were around.
Blakeley Reservoir, below Wessenden Reservoirs
Waterfall near Wessenden Reservoirs
Wessenden Reservoir
At 11 a.m I stopped for a break by the side of a small waterfall. There was no point in arriving at Crowden in the middle of the afternoon, so I may as well stop at any pleasant spot that took my fancy. The weather kept on improving, and by the time I went past the Wessenden Reservoirs and headed towards Black Hill it was beautifully sunny and warm, so I stopped in a sheltered spot and had lunch and sunbathed for an hour and a half. The route to the summit was quite easy, as the peat was dry enough to walk across in most places; even the trig point was easy to reach. Although this is a peaty wilderness and hated by most Pennine Wayfarers, it does still have a certain charm, especially when the weather is fine, even though Wainwright said that he loved all hills, except for Black Hill, but there again, he didn't like much of the Pennine Way either.
On the way towards the summit I met a group of about five Pennine Way walkers, and at the summit there was a fairly elderly lady with two young ladies, presumably her daughters. One of them was carrying a large pack with camping gear and was walking the Pennine Way as far as Horton-in-Ribblesdale before heading for the Lake District. She intended to stay the night at Globe Farm and was going via the old Pennine Way route over the featureless peat bogs of Saddleworth Moor, even though I tried to persuade her that the Wessenden route was far more scenic and less boggy. The extra mile and the extra bit of climbing involved by dropping further down the valley put her off. It turned out that the other two had come up to help her celebrate her birthday and, having walked with her to Black Hill, returned to Crowden and back home.
Peaty Summit of Black Hill
Longdendale and Crowden from Laddow Rocks
The route down from Black Hill was quite boggy in places, but didn't provide any real problems. I had another stop at Laddow Rocks to admire the view of Longdendale although the sky had by then clouded over. I was passed by a chap who was walking from John O'Groats to Land's End taking in as many of the National Trails as convenient on the way, and who was also heading for Crowden Youth Hostel. I arrived at the hostel at 5.30 p.m. and found it again to be very quiet, with only a handful of people staying there. Dinner at 7.30 p.m. consisted of soup, steak and kidney pie and apple crumble and was very nicely cooked.
The nearest pub to Crowden is about 4 miles away, so I had a stroll around outside but didn't stay long as there were swarms of midges about. I went back inside and had a chat with some of the others who were staying there. One chap had walked up from Reading and intended to walk the Pennine Way, then hitch further up Scotland before walking back down again. The chap I had met at Laddow Rocks was very interesting and I spent quite a while talking to him.
He was retired from his job of checking maps for the Ordnance Survey, which gave him the advantage of having a complete set of maps (even if they had a few mistakes in them) and must have saved him quite a bit of money. He came from Portsmouth and had attempted the walk the other way previously but gave up after a while. This time he had cut down quite a bit on the weight he was carrying and had also planned a couple of short breaks in the walk to meet up with members of his family, to act as a morale booster. In Scotland he had been averaging 25 or more miles a day, although that was mostly on roads, but he was not doing much less on the Pennine Way. He started at John O'Groats on 2nd June having got up there quite quickly on only two or three coaches as opposed to my five to travel a third of the distance. On the way down the Pennine Way he diverted to Preston to spend a day's rest with his daughter, walked with her and her husband the next day and then continued on his own again.
He was a member of the Long Distance Walkers' Club and had met many of the famous walkers such as John Hillaby and John Merrill, who has walked the 6000 mile coastline of Britain amongst his 100,000 miles of walking. He also met another chap who had done the same, but had also walked around all the islands as well. The accommodation and food costs can be quite considerable on long walks, so he was trying to keep to about £10 a day by using a mixture of hostels and camping, and also by mainly making his own meals, so that the total cost for the walk would be about £500. One chap whose advice he asked said he lived on £2 a day, but he lived a very frugal existence. He would walk until dusk after stopping along the way to make his meal, then throw up his tent in the nearest field. In the morning he would be up again at dawn and would pack up his tent and walk for a way before having breakfast. That way he could camp for nothing without being noticed.
Day 17 - Tuesday 28th June 1993 - Crowden to Edale station then travel home by rail and bus - 15.7 miles on PW + 1 mile from/to accommodation - 2470 ft ascent
Torside Clough and Torside Reservoir
Rhodeswood Reservoir, Longdendale
Torside Reservoir, Crowden and Black Hill
The last day of my walk was beautifully sunny and warm, just as the start had been. After breakfast I said goodbye to a couple of other chaps I had met in the hostel who were walking north to Globe Farm. I made a slight detour to take a photograph, so met them again coming towards me when I rejoined the way again. In order to add as much variety as possible in an area where I have done a lot of walking, I took the old route of the Pennine Way from Crowden to the end of Torside Reservoir. This goes part way up the hillside instead of by the side of the reservoir and gave a better view of Longdendale. The steep ascent up by Torside Clough was hot work, but improved higher up as there was more of a breeze. I pressed on at quite a good pace as I didn't want to be too late getting to Edale and I was feeling refreshed after two days of easy walking. After a few miles my feet felt as if they were burning so I stopped by a stream and dipped them in for a while, and this refreshed me nicely.
I made my way over Bleaklow without any problems - the way the route is now marked it almost completely avoids any peat by following the firm bottoms of groughs and stream beds. It is now possible to cross the once notorious Bleaklow and hardly get your boots dirty - if you tread in any peat you know you have gone the wrong way, and this has mainly been achieved by searching out the best natural route rather than by extensive path work, although there is some of this on the ascent and descent. This easy route over Bleaklow is, however, at the expense of scenery. There are small paths round the edge of Bleaklow that give much better views, but these are seldom seen by Pennine Way walkers who stay on the marked route and consequently this part is generally viewed with little affection. I didn't make any detours myself as I have plenty of chances to do these on day walks, so I headed down Devil's Dike towards the crossing of the A57 Snake Road, where I was accosted by a young woman doing a survey.
She asked various questions about travel to and from the Pennine Way, what accommodation I was using and how much of the walk I was doing. She was very pleased to find that I had come all the way as I was the first one she had interviewed to have done so. The main part of the survey was to find out what people thought of various types of path improvements that had been made and I was asked to give marks out of 10 to a series of colour photographs which had been so badly faded in the sunlight that they were difficult to tell apart. The young woman was quite keen to walk the Pennine Way herself, but was a bit dismayed when I told her how much some of the bed and breakfasts cost. She had helped in laying a couple of miles of stone slabs from where we were towards Mill Hill. I tactfully suggested that it might have been better just to lay them over the bad bits where they were really needed rather than in a continuous line. She said that when this had been suggested previously, whoever was organising the work said that if they did that they would only have to come back later to fill in the bits in between.
She also found it quite incredible that many people were still walking the original routes over Kinder and Saddleworth Moor despite the fact that these ceased to be the official routes several years ago. What she didn't take into account is that many walkers favour the Wainwright Guide which shows these as the normal routes and the others as alternatives. What also deters people is that each of the new routes adds about a mile of walking, which many people are loath to do, even if the routes are easier to follow and have better scenery.
I made my way along the path she had helped to build and was quite glad when the stones came to an end and I was walking on peaty ground again, although I did appreciate the help they gave over the boggy sections. There were several walkers around Mill Hill and on the northern edge of Kinder, where I stopped for lunch. It was still very warm, but the wind was so strong near the edge that when I started to drink from a cup, half of the water blew away out of my mouth. I was pestered by some sheep as soon as I got my food out. Some of them have become a real nuisance because of people giving them food and have to be chased away quite vigorously before they will leave you alone.
After Kinder Downfall, which was dry, I decided to take the original route straight across the plateau for a change. The basic idea behind this route is to follow the Kinder River up to its source and then pick up the source of Grinds Brook over the other side. The only problem with this is there are hundreds of groughs draining into either of these and also into watercourses going in other directions, so it requires a bit of skill and also a bit of luck to find the right ones. As for the mass of peat in the middle, that was not a problem in dry weather like now, but after heavy rain it can become a complete quagmire. I was relying, rather over-confidently, on my own knowledge of this area as this was not shown in my guide book, no longer being the recommended route. I found my way easily beside the Kinder River, but then was unsure which route to take when it came to a fork, so I followed a set of footprints straight on rather than turning to the left as I should have done. When all signs of a path ran out I just kept heading roughly south which I thought was the right direction, instead of west which was the proper direction, and eventually followed a stream down to a point which was about a mile or two west of where I should have been. Having retraced this route later, the fork to the left in the Kinder River, which I should have taken, leads to a much more clearly defined path for a while, but then it degenerates into a free-for-all across the peat, with boot prints going in every direction from all the people who have been going round in circles, lost. However, on this later occasion I did manage to find my way roughly, but not exactly to the right place.
Having reached the southern edge of the Kinder Plateau I thought I would still walk round to Grinds Brook and descend to Edale that way. On the way I detoured along a ridge to take some photographs, thinking it was Grindslow Knoll and thinking that I could then drop down from there to Edale. Unfortunately it was a ridge too soon and I ended up scrambling down Crowden Clough and making my way round the hillside to join the recommended route for the last mile into Edale, which I reached at 4.10 p.m. It is quite ironical that the place where I got most lost was the area I should know the best, but then this came about because I was too blasé in assuming that I knew it well enough not to need a map. Still nothing really was lost; all it meant was that I came on a route half way between the two routes and I even saw a few views I had not seen before such as the Wool Packs rocks.
Wool Packs on Kinder Scout, somewhat off-route
Looking across Edale to Lose Hill and Back Tor
Finish outside The Old Nag's Head, Edale
Return Home
Unfortunately the Nag's Head, which is the official start of the Pennine Way (or finish) was closed, so I couldn't even have a celebratory pint, which I could have done with in the hot weather. I took a photograph of myself outside of the pub and then headed down to the station to see about a train. The 4.25 p.m. was just going as I arrived and the next one (I thought) was at 5.25 p.m. I seemed to have lost my T-shirt, which had been tucked under the straps of my rucksack, so I went back up to the Nag's Head thinking I might have dropped it there. I couldn't see any sign of it there, so I returned to the station to wait for the train, calling in the Gents on the way to change into other clothes for travelling back. When no train arrived at 5.25 p.m. I consulted the timetable again to find that the 5.25 p.m. was on Saturdays only and that the next one was at 5.57 p.m., and even that arrived 25 minutes late. The connection to Doncaster and the bus home both involved some waiting so it was 9.15 p.m. before I got home to a big welcome and a dinner that Jean had been keeping warm for hours thinking that I would get home much sooner.
After Thoughts
All in all the walk went much as I had expected; the schedule worked out quite well with the longest day or two being fairly taxing and the shorter days being easy, which meant that it was quite well balanced and enjoyable. As I had expected, the most enjoyable parts were when the weather was fine and the scenery was good, although I was still able to enjoy the lesser scenery and the walking in all but the worst conditions I met. The weather was not quite as kind to me as on some of my previous walks, with somewhat more rain and some very strong winds, but on the whole I had more fair or good weather than bad.
The thing that surprised me most of all about the walk was how few other people I met who were doing it. Some days I saw two or less, and I considered it a busy day if I saw six or more. When one thinks of all the fuss there is about erosion because of the thousands who walk the Pennine Way, it doesn't seem to ring true. However, a friend of mine was walking on Mill Hill a few weeks later and saw a group of about 50 people who were obviously on their first day of the walk. The difference comes when the colleges and schools start their holidays and students set off in their masses. This also explains the age profile of people that I have met on all of my walks which had led me to believe that the average age was about 50. During late July and August this probably drops to about 20 or less.
The advantage of walking in June is that the weather is generally drier and fresher than in July or August, although the English weather patterns are so unpredictable that there is always an element of chance involved. The fact that so few other people are walking then adds to the enjoyment of the walk itself but means that there is less chance of having company in the evenings. The fact that so many school parties choose June to have outings and educational trips in the more popular areas puts a strain on Y.H.A. accommodation and also at this time of year many hostels close for one day a week. This puts up the cost of the walk because of the need to stay in more B&B accommodation, which is also not usually as sociable for the lone walker, although they are generally more comfortable and provide better meals. As it was, the total cost of the walk including accommodation, food, travel to the start and from the finish, and incidental costs along the way such as telephone calls and drinks, worked out at about £350.
Note 2023: looking back at the costs in 1994, they need to be adjusted by inflation to make comparisons with current prices. Using official inflation rate from 1993 to 2023 means costs need to be multiplied by about 2.6 times. However, there are considerable differences in inflation between different categories so costs of accommodation, meals and drinks are often more expensive than may be expected.
As far as doing the walk for the second time is concerned, there are some advantages and some disadvantages. I definitely think that the Pennine Way is a good enough walk to deserve a second visit, as it offers such a variety of scenery, taking in some of the best walking county in England, outside of the Lake District. There is also the possibility that places which suffered bad weather first time round may have better weather second time around, and this was true for me in a number of places. Equally well, the opposite is true as I found on Great Shunner Fell, where I had a beautiful, clear, sunny day on the first walk, but mist and rain on this one. The differences in weather all help to add a touch of variety, so that the second walk does not seem too much of a repeat of the first one. One of the disadvantages is, of course, that there are no real surprises second time around but, as I have said before, this tends to make one take more interest in all aspects of the way and also to look out for things which may have been missed previously.
Having walked the Pennine Way twice now, I think it will be some time before I get the urge to do it again, although it is a bit too early yet to be sure. There is something about the Pennine Way which appeals to me; possibly the remoteness of much of the walk, and the minimal amount of road walking. The one point where I must disagree with Wainwright is when he says of the Pennine Way "This is not a great walk", because I think it is, even if the scenery doesn't always match up to that in the Lake District. However, the lure of somewhere new is likely to influence the choice of my next walk, although I have not come across another one yet which has all the characteristics which appeal to me. Many walks stay too much on lower ground for my liking, whilst some others are a bit too remote, with the need to carry camping equipment. Some of the coastal walks seem very attractive, but I have reservations about whether they might become monotonous after the first few days. Another alternative is to invent a walk to one's own liking using public footpaths on Ordnance Survey maps, but somehow this doesn't quite seem the same as doing a recognised walk, even if it takes in better scenery. Still, it gives me something to think about over the winter!
Photography and Technology
Over the years that I have been doing long distance walks, camera technology, Internet technology and display technology have developed by giant leaps from 35mm colour slides that had to be scanned to produce low quality digital images for the website up to the present day with high quality digital photography, almost unlimited memory and super fast broadband,
The article in the 'Other Items' section chronacles all of this throughout my walks.
