Foreword
Day 1 Edale to Crowden
Day 2 Crowden to Standedge
Day 3 Standedge to Hebden Bridge
Day 4 Hebden Bridge to Cowling
Day 5 Cowling to Malham
Day 6 Malham to Horton-in-Ribblesdale
Day 7 Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Hawes
Day 8 Hawes rest day
Day 9 Hawes to Keld
Day 10 Keld to Bowes
Day 11 Bowes to Holwick
Day 12 Holwick to Dufton
Day 13 Dufton to Alston
Day 14 Alston to Haltwhistle
Day 15 Haltwhistle to Once Brewed
Day 16 Once Brewed to Bellingham
Day 17 Bellingham to Byrness
Day 18 Byrness to Auchope Cairn
Day 19 Auchope Cairn to Kirk Yetholm
Conclusions
Foreword
The Pennine Way had been on my ‘must-do-some-day’ list since my early teens in the early 70′s, but the opportunity to blow three weeks annual leave and a significant lump of cash didn’t arise until the much less tender age of 51 in 2009.
Unfortunately, although I’d done a lot of day walks, the only multi-day backpacking walk I’d ever done was in 1972 and both I and the world of walking had changed a lot since then. A friend who’d shared the pipedream over the years wasn’t able to make it in the end so when the planned date arrived I set out on an ambitious but slightly naive solo attempt. Things went OK for a while but I wasn’t really sure what I was doing and it soon began to show. I lasted for 5 days when, just before Malham, a fall from a wet stile brought an unplanned but merciful end to the proceedings and I returned home feeling disgruntled, disillusioned and slightly battered. But also a good deal wiser.
Three years later I’d refined my kit and got some experience under my belt with a couple of successful national trails – the second one with my daughter Mel. The opportunity to have another crack at the ‘big one’ turned up again and this time, with Mel as a ready, willing and able companion, and in spite of a very dodgy weather forecast, we set out with high hopes of getting it done.
The adventure began on Saturday 21st April 2012 when we walked the 5 miles into Derby in pleasant, warm sunshine and caught a train to Edale via Sheffield. We laughed at the heavy low cloud we could see among the hills ahead as the train trundled from Hope into the Vale of Edale, amazed once again at how that corner of Derbyshire seems to have its own climate. We were even more amazed to discover that most of the Pennine and Cheviot ranges seemed to be sharing that climate over the next 3 weeks!
The rain conveniently stopped for a while as we pitched our tents at Cooper’s Farm campsite near the Old Nags Head, the official start of The Pennine Way and our venue for the evening, but it was coming down again quite heavily a meal and a couple of drinks later. We went to sleep with the sound of the rain pattering on the tents, wondering whether we’d get any decent weather along the way.
Hopefully the following account of our trip will be of interest, particularly to anyone thinking about walking the trail themselves. Everybody’s experience of it is different but reading about how others had tackled it and what good and bad things they’d encountered along the way helped us a lot with our planning. I’ve kept our tale as short as I can but there’s a limit – 260 miles walked over 18 days takes a bit of telling!