Hit the North!
In the spring of 2009, I walked the 429km¹ of the Pennine Way—a national trail along the hills of northern England—in 15 days.
Setting off from Derbyshire, I hiked over the Peak District moors into East Lancashire; through the Yorkshire Dales into Cumbria; along Hadrian’s Wall and through the Kielder Forest in Northumberland; finally traversing the Cheviot Hills to cross the border into Scotland two weeks later.
I camped along the way; carrying my tent, sleeping bag and stove on my back. Happily I was joined by my dad for two days, and my buddy Jim for another two. The rest of the time, I was on my own.
Itinerary.
Starting off from Edale in the Hope Valley, I stopped at each of the destinations below (listed in reverse; I walked northward), finishing at Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. Each place name will link to the note and map for the journey starting there, as I post them.
- Kirk Yetholm.
- Byrness.
- Bellingham.
- Greenhead.
- Alston.
- Dufton.
- Middleton-in-Teesdale.
- Tan Hill.
- Hardraw Force.
- Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
- Malham.
- Gargrave.
- Ponden.
- Blackstone Edge.
- Crowden.
- Edale.
Flip Film.
Coming soon, possibly….
Links.
There’s plenty of excellent Pennine Way resources and chronicles around; here’s the sites I made use of before I left.
- Pennine Way National Trail (official site).
- The Pennine Way Association.
- The Pennine Way Site.
- End to End — The Pennine Way.
- The Pennine Way Walk.
¹ The distance varies in each account I read (fractal-like objects are difficult to measure), but 429km (268 statute miles) is what the National Trails guide reckons so I’ll go with that. It’s a bloody long way, that much I know.