The Pennine Way

For those of you that don't know the Pennine Way is a 270 mile walk over the backbone of Britain between Edale and Kirk Yetholm in Scotland. It begins and finishes in a pub, which can only be a good thing! My sister Gemma and I decided that we would try and do this in the summer of 2005. It was going to take us 17 days with only 1 rest day. Neither of us do any real walking, we didn’t have much of the right kit, and we were young. I was 17 and she was 15, we are possible the youngest people to complete it unsupported.

We started in Edale and the first day brought low level cloud and visibility of about 10 feet. Luckily I recognised the landscape and realized I had been here before, thus even with so much cloud and snow around we still found our way…for the first half of the day. The afternoon led us to the aptly named “Bleak Moor”. This is a very high plateau and we just had to get up and over it. However, the path seemed to vanish at the top. Taking a compass bearing we eventually got to the other side, but about 2 miles east of where we were meant to be. In short…we were a bit lost, and it took another 2 hours to work out where we were and how to find the campsite. Lesson of that day is not to just take strip maps to navigate!

My bag ended up weighing in at about 4 or 5 stone (25-30kg) depending on how much water we were carrying for that day. The reason I had so much stuff was to take some of the weight off my sister (she had 2 stone) and because we had camping kit spread between only two of us. The maximum weight you should have to carry should be no more than about 2 stone. If you decide to camp either buy specialist lightweight kit, or take more friends to spread the weight.

The second day was one of the toughest on the whole trip. We decided to walk two days worth in one shot. Crowden to Mankinholes. It was very very hard, and by the end of it I had a blister that covered over half my foot. Second lesson to be learnt…get boots fitted. DO NOT TAKE ANY OLD BOOTS!

The couple of weeks involved pushing through pain barriers, trying to get into the rhythm and really trying to enjoy it. But it was tough, real tough.

The last day was the second toughest; going straight over the Cheviots in one foul swoop. There is no where to stop except for a couple of mountain rescue huts, but this should not be relied on. We started walking at 5am, getting onto the top peaks for the main part of the day. Being very careful not to get lost we followed the boarder fence for about 25 miles, stopping only once for half an hour. We arrived at the Boarder Inn Hotel at 4pm, exhausted.

It had been all in all and incredible experience. Some of the people you meet are amazing, friendly and helpful. It is as if all the walkers are one big community looking out for each other. For example, Gemma left her waterproofs on top of Cross Fell. Another walker picked them up and left messages with all the campsites and hostels for anyone who had lost them to contact him. In my opinion the hills bring out the best in human nature.

This walk is not for anyone, you must be fit and strong; mentally and physically. It will be wet, it will be cold, and most of all, it will hurt. If, however you do decide to go for it, I promise you fantastic landscapes, a sense of power, achievement and inner peace.

For those thinking of walking The Pennine Way I recommend the following books:

Pennine Way North by Tony Hopkins ISBN:1-85410-962-6

Pennine Way South by Tony Hopkins ISBN: 1-85410-851-4

Pennine Way by Edward de la Billiere and Keith Carter. ISBN: 1-873756-57-7

The first two contain strip backs and detailed descriptions of the route. The third contains sketch map with useful information on places to stay and eat. I would recommend taking all three. It is very hard to get lost with all of them. But most of all: Enjoy it!!!

J.