Category: Pennine Way 2022
-
Pennine Way Diary – POSTSCRIPT – Practicalities and Stats
GETTING HOME From Kirk Yetholm I caught a 9.20am bus to Kelso and then another bus at 11.15am to Berwick-upon-Tweed, from where I caught the train south. The bus rides were very scenic and Kelso is a very attractive town, with a continental-style square, some grand old hotels, a ruined abbey, and many independent shops…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Seventeen
ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER Tuesday 20th September 2022 Lamb Hill Refuge Hut to Kirk Yetholm After an uncomfortable night I get up at 6.30am. I’m feeling unbearably grotty now, having not showered since the camping barn in Greenhead – that’s 72 hours ago, and it will be another 10 to 12…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Sixteen
FLIRTING WITH SCOTLAND Monday 19th September 2022 Whitley Pike to Lamb Hill Refuge Hut My tent is dry when I get up early this morning, so I pack up and move on. Grouse are calling all around me. ‘Go back! Go back! Go back!’ they say… but they’ve been saying that since day two,…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Fifteen
I AM BECOME DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS Sunday 18th September 2022 Haughtongreen Bothy to Whitley Pike I wake up at 6.15am but don’t want to get up and disturb everyone. By 7am they’re all still snoring away, so I get up anyway. I quietly get all my poop in a group and take everything…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day XIV
VENI, VIDI, VOLE-Y Saturday XVII-IX-MMXXII Greenhead to Haughtongreen Bothy I sleep really well and wake up long before my alarm, feeling much more optimistic than yesterday. Shave for the first time on the trip and have coffee and cereal bars. I pay a quick visit to Thirlwall Castle just outside the guesthouse before moving…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Thirteen
STUBBORNNESS AND PRIDE Friday 16th September 2022 Alston to Greenhead I go out early and stock up on “food” for tomorrow as this will be my last chance to shop for a while. Back at the hostel I have a huge full English, plus cereal, toast, orange juice and coffee. I ask the lady…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Twelve
ICE COLD IN ALSTON Thursday 15th September 2022 Little Dun Fell to Alston After a bad night’s sleep I emerge to a fine but cold morning, just in time to see a sunrise every bit as sublime as last night’s sunset. I eat some cereal bars (always with the bloody cereal bars!) and, since my…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Eleven
THE HIGHEST PEAK Wednesday 14th September 2022 High Cup Nick to Little Dun Fell I must have really needed sleep last night because, despite the discomfort, I sleep right through my 6am alarm and wake up after 7am. Emerging into a thick fog, I immediately regret not taking a walk around last night and admiring…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Ten
HIT THE NORTH Tuesday 13th September 2022 Middleton-in-Teesdale to High Cup Nick I’m definitely in The North now. Past the mid-point of the PW and onto Harvey’s ‘Pennine Way North’ map. From here it gets wilder and more remote, with fewer amenities. Consequently, I may have to become more feral. On the plus side, I’ve…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Nine
THE MIDWAY POINT Monday 12th September 2022 Tan Hill Inn to Middleton-in-Teesdale Best night’s sleep so far, for all the reasons already stated. My shin is still painful and now very swollen. If anything makes me quit it could well be this. Breakfast is included and it’s here that I realise just how many other…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Eight
BLACK GROUSE COUNTRY Sunday 11th September 2022 Hawes to Tan Hill Inn I sleep really well, either from the beer or from the blissful silence of the campsite. Just outside the site, the view over Wensleydale looks gorgeous in the morning sunshine. I walk back into town and have coffee, a large sausage bap and…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Seven
BALLS–DEEP IN HAWES Saturday 10th September 2022 Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Hawes “Seriously, Davies? ‘Balls-Deep in Hawes’? Is that the best you can come up with?” Well… I, er…erm… “Are you proud of yourself right now? I thought you were supposed to be a smart guy. First you slut-shame Malham Cove and now this bullshit!” But… but……
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Six
GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIP SLUT Friday 9th September 2022 Malham to Horton-in-Ribblesdale I’m on the right side of Malham to continue the PW without going back into the village. I don’t think there is anywhere to have breakfast this early anyway. My guidebook tells me that there is nowhere to buy food on today’s walk so…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Five
CARAVAN OF LOVE Thursday 8th September 2022 Ickornshaw to Malham This morning is grey, misty and drizzly and most of the day’s climbing is in the first four miles. The walk is an uninspiring yomp through one sheep paddock after another – boring Beltex sheep as well, not even sexy Swaledales. Three Snipe flush from…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Four
EATEN BY LESBIANS Wednesday 7th September 2022 Hebden Bridge to Ickornshaw “You’ll get eaten by lesbians there”, says a man in reception, with a beautiful Mancunian drawl, when I say I’m going to Hebden Bridge. “Then again you might enjoy that”, he continues with a throaty laugh. I catch the tram back to Victoria Station.…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Three
EVIDENTLY TROUSERTOWN Tuesday 6th September 2022 Standedge to Hebden Bridge Wake up to thick fog. Empty my tent to find the water situation has mostly sorted itself out but everything is still damp. I continue walking and leave the Peak District behind. Visibility is poor but there are numerous Wheatears along this stretch, their eponymous…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day Two
IS IT TOO EARLY TO CRY YET? Monday 5th September 2022 Bleaklow Head to Standedge I get up to a clear sky at 6.30am, just as the sun is coming up. Unseen Red Grouse are chuckling away in all directions, a Mountain Hare is foraging on a nearby slope, and small parties of Swallows are…
-
Pennine Way Diary – Day One
LET’S GO FOR A LITTLE WALK… Sunday 4th September 2022 Edale to Bleaklow Head As it’s a Sunday the trains to Edale don’t start particularly early, and this is made worse when the first one is cancelled, so I don’t get to the start of the Pennine Way until after 11am. I hadn’t been in…
-
Pennine Way Diary – INTRODUCTION
“Walking for hours and miles becomes as automatic, as unremarkable, as breathing. At the end of the day you don’t think, ‘Hey, I did sixteen miles today,’ any more than you think, ‘Hey, I took 8,000 breaths today.’ It’s just what you do.” Bill Bryson – A Walk in the Woods (1997) In September 2022…
Vole Explosion 