steveandlynnwalkdotcom

Distance 17.31 miles, cumulative 728.70 miles, time 6 hrs 45 mins, walking time 5 hrs 40 mins, pace 3.1 mph, Camped – Crowden Caravan and Camping Club campsite.
We’re Out…….of Yorkshire and into Derbyshire and the Peak District. We had a steady climb out of Standedge and over Wessenden Moor and Black Hill. We passed the Black Moss and Swellands Reservoirs. The dam of the Swellands Reservoir burst during construction in 1810 and six people were killed when the peaty water carried a 15 ton boulder 2 miles downstream and into a mill and cottage. The miller’s wife’s body was found a further 6 miles downstream.

A tough day of climbs finished with a steep and tricky descent into Crowden. The weather was mainly dry with the odd shower.

We shared this section of the walk with a group of three lads from a scout group in Gloucester who had just completed their GCSEs. They had rested yesterday and were at Standedge when we had arrived. 

It turned out that the parents of one of the lads were also having a weeks holiday and were staying in a holiday cottage nearby. So mum and dad had come out to the site at Standedge to see their son and they took the lads into the nearby town for fish and chips. Today, dad had decided he wanted to walk with them for the second half of the day in order to spend some quality time with his son. So much to his son’s embarrassment, and to the delight of the other two lads, mum drove dad to a point halfway where the route crossed a main road. Dad joined the walk and mum was going to drive on to the campsite to pick dad up. The lads saw an opportunity and gave the tent they were carrying to mum saving them the load. 

We arrived at the campsite before the lads to find that mum had arrived and put the tent up for them, bearing in mind the last we had seen of them was when we had left them earlier in the morning with no sign of any mum and dad. 

The three lads therefore came in for some serious mickey taking from an ‘old couple’ who were able to carry and erect their own tent. The lads were suitably embarrassed and out of earshot of the mum and dad confessed to being relieved that the mum and dad would not be around to embarrass them for the remainder of their walk and to completely remove what little remaining street ‘cred’ they had left. 

Steve however, was quite taken with mum but any thoughts of asking her to transport and erect his tent were quickly extinguished by a ‘look’ from Lynn which roughly translated indicated a slow and painful death by disembowelling.

We were asked about our kit. Our kit has been doing very well. The only visible wear and tear has been some stitching starting to come apart on one of Lynn’s boots but otherwise our well used Robbens tent, Berghaus waterproofs, Rab mid layers, Montane smocks, Thermarest sleep mats and Bridgedale socks are proving very reliable. The only ‘non High Street’ stuff we have are down sleeping bags and gillets which are made to order by a company called PHD Mountain Software based in Manchester. They are very warm, very light and pack down into tiny stuff sacks. http://www.phdesigns.co.uk

For shorts, trousers and base layers we use cheap dry fit clothes from Mountain Warehouse,Uniqlo, Matalan and shops like Sports Direct.

Lynn wears Berghaus fabric boots and a Karrimor 65 litre rucksack and Steve wears Scarpa fabric boots and a 70 litre Montane rucksack. We use a tiny collapsable gas stove which uses standard butane/propane mix canisters with an an old set of camping aluminium saucepans which seem better than anything we have seen currently available. All the kit means we each carry between 10 and 12 kilos depending on food and water requirements. We have green tea and instant porridge for breakfast and lunches are usually a malt loaf or oat crackers and cheese. We always carry biscuits and try to buy fruit for each day. We carry one dehydrated main meal for emergencies in the form of foil bags, you just add hot or cold water. For this walk we have a well travelled spag bol – mmm… yummy can’t wait for an emergency. We usually find a pub for our evening meal. The campsite we are on today is four miles from the nearest pub but the site wardens make pizzas to order each evening, having taken advance orders and organised staggered time slots for the campers. The pizzas were delicious and were even delivered to the tent.

Distance 19.42 miles, cumulative 711.39 miles, time 8 hrs 30 mins, walking time 6 hrs 45 mins, pace 2.9 mph, Camped – The Carriage House Inn campsite.
The midges were very bad this morning and covered the tent. We retreated to the campsite car park to make a brew and get breakfast where they were a little less numerous. 

We climbed out of Jack’s Bridge over Stoodley Pike and passed the reservoirs on Langfield Common. The route continued over Blackedge Moor and towards Saddleworth Moor. Before reaching Saddleworth Moor a major milestone was crossing the M62. We crossed near junction 22, for those following on our progress on road maps, and fortunately there was a grand overbridge for the sheep which we used.

Where we crossed the motorway it is in a steep cutting and remains out of sight and earshot until you are right on top of it and then our senses were assaulted by the traffic. A sudden contrast from the noises and sights we have been used to for 6 weeks now. Albeit we had a helicopter for company for much of the day as it inspected power line pylons. 

During the day we had views on to some major conurbations which we assumed were Rochdale and Manchester.

Our overnight stop was Standedge the location of the Standedge Tunnels, four parallel tunnels running beneath the Pennines for 3 miles and 64 yards. There are three rail tunnels and one canal tunnel, which is Britain’s longest and deepest canal tunnel.

Having pitched at Standedge we wanted to get into Marsden for some supplies and decided to get the bus, it never came, so we walked the 2 miles into the town and did our shopping. We found the bus stop to return and were reassured by a couple of people waiting that we were in the right place and the bus would be coming but it was always late. Nearly an hour after the due time we shared a taxi back to the Inn with two lads who were also waiting for the non existent bus and who worked at the pub. They refused to take our money and gave us a menu recommendation. 

The pub in the middle of Saddleworth Moor specialises in Turkish food, so a set menu for two and a litre of wine later we were ready to sleep.

The day had been bright and dry and full of contrasts which gave us something to ponder as we sat in the pubs conservatory watching the cycle chain gangs slog it out up the A62 and para gliders riding the thermals. A Turkish meal, with Italian wine and West Yorkshire’s finest scenery and hospitality, the EU referendum could not have been further from our minds.

Distance 19.02 miles, cumulative 691.77 miles, time 7 hrs 30 mins, walking time 6 hrs 15 mins, pace 3 mph, Camped The New Delight Inn campsite.
Having enjoyed Sue and Sandy’s excellent hospitality and breakfast we did manage to leave Cowling (see yesterday’s photo of the speed limit sign). We followed Sue’s directions, re joined the PW and climbed onto the fells which were once again being managed for game shooting.

Given that the camping pod installed at the bottom of our garden has been destroyed by the squatters, Steve took a keen interest in the designs of the various shooting huts on the fell. He thought they looked quite comfortable.

We suspect the squatters must have left by now as the grass around the house will so long that they would not be able to get in or out. In return for offering to cut our lawn we found a new car for JR. It is equipped with a swimming pool and unlike his current car it has tread on all four tyres.

We have left North Yorkshire, which was at least as large as Scotland and today we walked through the metropolitan boroughs of Bolton and Calderdale, although there was no sign of any urban centres. 

The PW footpath over the fells is mostly laid with flagstones which makes for easier walking than wading through the underlying peat bogs.

We are in the heart of Bronte country judging by the fingerposts, some of which were even in Japanese. Japanese women are besotted with the three Bronte sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne and we did see one Japanese lady on the trail. This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charlotte Bronte and at the Bradford Literary Festival in May Bronte mania was in full swing. That concludes the cultural section of today’s blog.

Of more interest to most readers will be the cow having a bad hair day and the white peacock. 

We dropped down through a series of reservoirs to reach Jack Bridge and the quaintly named ‘New Delight Inn’ with it’s attached camping field.



After the ritual battle with the midges, which seem to be bad everywhere at the moment, we had a gentle riverside meander and short climb over to Gargrave, where following the obligatory co op resupply shop, we visited the tea room. The quaint tearoom was full of old fashioned kitchen utensils and food tins and by our table was a road map of the British Isles from 1966. We now understand the vintage of road map our respective Dads must be following our route with.
We met more walkers today. One fella was attempting to walk the Pennine Way ‘there and back’, in 19 days ‘to save a train fare’ and is due to finish back in Edale on Thursday. We bumped into him a few times and as we peeled off to our overnight stop he carried on, looking a little the worse for wear as he neared the final few days of the challenge he had set himself. Most walkers will try and do the PW in just the one direction and fit it in within a two week holiday which still requires a few longer days. To complete it in both directions in 19 days is ‘quite hard’ no wonder he looked ‘very tired’. 

Another walker we spoke to had last tried to complete the PW 37 years ago and had to give up in Cowling with heat stroke after 4 days. He always said he would return to try again and here he was.

We also got grilled by 5 ladies who were spending 6 days on the trail and they were fascinated by how we were doing our walk. 

Our principal, and as it turned out most costly, encounter of the day was with Len. On entering Gargrave much to our surprise we crossed a canal, which tells you how much attention we are paying to the map at times. A few miles later the PW joined the Leeds to Liverpool canal and as we walked on to the towpath Len was walking along in the same direction following the canal. He turned out to be great company and was a real canal buff and being from Wakefield he knew the local area well. He was fascinating to talk to and the time passed quickly. We were concerned we should not miss our turn off so a quick glance at the map confirmed we needed to turn off after the next main road crossed the canal. Unfortunately we had already passed the main road in question so engrossed were we in our chat with him. Fortunately, the penny dropped and we ended up adding a couple of extra miles to our day.

Whilst on our route extension we saw another long distance trail cross the canal, the Pendle Trail, which uses a witch on a broomstick as its waymark logo. We had briefly entered Pendle in Lancashire. The Pendle witches are famous – yes, we had never heard of them.

In 1612, twelve witches from Pendle were accused and tried for ten murders by witchcraft. One died in prison before trial, ten were found guilty and hung and one was acquitted. Their trial was one of the most famous in English history. In 1998 the then Home Secretary Jack Straw was petitioned to pardon them. The convictions were upheld. Today the Pendle witches are much in evidence as the basis for promoting the area to visitors. 

Having got back on track we climbed Pinhaw Beacon to enjoy 360 degree views, dropped into Lothersdale. and finally climbed up to Cowley to conclude one of our longer days.

We hope to be leaving Cowley in the morning but are a little concerned about the sinister logo on the 30 mph speed limit sign we read on entering the town – or maybe it was all the talk of witchcraft that had spooked us.

Distance 14.97 miles, cumulative 649.37 miles, time 6 hrs 15 mins, walking time 5 hrs 15 mins, pace 2.8 mph, camped Townhead Farm.
We spent the previous evening in the Golden Lion at Horton with 65 year old Patrick who was walking Land’s End to John O’Groats for the fifth time! This time he paused in Edale and went to Wales to run in the man versus horse race – 21.52 miles cross country. He completed the race and then returned to Edale to continue his trek. He knew the route by heart and had lots of tips for us. 

Overnight it continued to ‘rain heavily’ and in the morning visibility was poor. We decided to skip Pen-Y-Ghent and rejoined the PW to cross Fountain Fell having used an alternate route out of Horton on a stretch of the ‘Pennine Journey’ trail. Visibility remained poor and Graham C and Ryan G will be pleased to know we actually had to navigate on the compass and map.

The weather gradually lifted as we approached Malham Tarn and it was bright sunshine as we reached Malham Cove. Malham Cove is a famous limestone ‘gorge’ or gryke as the clefts in the limestone are called. The Cove and limestone pavement is a real tourist magnet. The Cove was recently featured on TV in ‘Best Walks with a View’ which Steve is always keen to watch. Lynn suspects this is nothing to do with the featured walks but more to do with the presenter Julia Bradbury. Similarly his interest in dress making has developed since Claudia Winkleman has been a host of ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’. Very sad.! Malham Cove was very busy including some large school groups which reduced in size as kids disappeared down the limestone clefts. This provided rich pickings for the resident Peregrine Falcons. The RSPB had a stand set up with telescopes to view the birds. The RSPCC were nowhere to be seen. 

We spent a productive afternoon on the free wifi in one of the Malham tea shops looking at and booking some forward accommodation and marvelled at the tea shop owner’s ability to organise a queuing system for the hundreds of kids wanting ice-creams (6 out – 6 in ) which spectacularly broke down when the kids were all Japanese. These little things keep us entertained.

The campsite at Malham had a supply of previously posted maps held for us which helped with the forward planning for the next few days.

Today we both had ‘bad hair days’. 

Distance 16.82 miles, cumulative 634.4 miles, time 6 hrs 15 mins, walking time 5 hrs 15 mins, pace 3.2 mph, camped Holme Farm.
The sun appeared first thing for a few minutes got tired and went back in. We climbed out of Hawes over Dodd Fell and joined a Roman Road to nowhere, the Cam High Road, which runs along a high ridge. Had the weather been better we would have had some good views and taken plenty of photos, but it wasn’t and we didn’t. We dropped down into Ribblesdale having shared some of the trail with the Dales Way. 

We passed a few other walkers, cyclists and a group of 5 fell runners. We later learnt that one of the other walkers was walking north doing Land’s End to John O’Groats but we had not stopped to speak to him as he had seemed pretty focussed on forging ahead.

 We reached Horton in Ribblesdale, which is overlooked by a large quarry, and found the campsite, our cheapest yet at £8 (Lynn’s side of the family please note our thrift). The campsite was hosting a Macmillan Charity Walk event, which had seen 100 walkers on Saturday and 50 today. 

Horton in Ribblesdale is home to the Yorkshire Three Peaks Walk a 25 mile circular walk scaling three of Yorkshires highest peaks, Pen-Y-Ghent 2,277ft, Whernside 2,414 ft and Ingleborough 2,372 ft. The challenge is to complete the walk in under 12 hours. Lynn thought that looked interesting, Steve had other words in mind. Walkers attempting the route are encouraged to ‘log in’ at the Pen-Y-Ghent Cafe in Horton and then ‘log out’ at the Cafe on completion of the walk to record a time. We went to the Cafe and had tea and cakes, which we managed in under 12 hours. Our route tomorrow takes us over Pen-Y-Ghent.

The rest of the day and evening it rained very heavily, once again Steve had other words in mind, but at least it had remained dry whilst we were on the trail.

This Sunday, our usual day for phoning parents, was our first without a phone signal, so Happy Father’s Day to Ray and Bal. 

Distance 15.7 miles, cumulative 617.58 miles, time 7 hrs, walking time 5 hrs 15 mins, pace 3 mph, camped bainbridge-ings campsite.
North Yorkshire is like Texas. It has the largest and highest of everything. Today we walked through the ‘largest moorland regeneration scheme and black grouse recovery project in the Pennines’ as we climbed out of Swaledale over Great Shunner Fell and dropped down into Wensleydale and the highest market town in England – Hawes (850ft).

Hawes is a real tourist hotspot and was busy with visitors. Wensleydale is also home to ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ much of the filming done In nearby Askrigg where James Herriots vets practice was based.

It seemed appropriate to have a ploughman’s for lunch with Wensleydale cheese given Hawes is home to the Wensleydale cheese visitors centre. 

We had our own cheese factory which we finally extinguished with an overdue laundry visit thanks to the campsites washer and tumble dryer – outbreaks of bliss all round. Never has so much satisfaction been taken from a single load of washing.

On arriving in Hawes we were greeted by the site of 4 para gliders using Wether Fell to make the best of the sunnier weather and breeze. 

Distance 14.48 miles, cumulative 601.88 miles, time 5 hrs 55 mins, walking time 4 hrs 50 mins, pace 3 mph, camped Rukins Farm.
We left Bowes and County Durham behind us and entered England’s largest county, North Yorkshire. We squelched through the peat bogs and it was a relief to reach Great Britain’s highest pub, the Tan Hill Inn at 1,732 feet. For such a remote pub it was quite busy with lunchtime visitors. Famously, one New Year’s Eve customers got stranded there for 3 days – result!

We reached a few milestones today. We passed the 600 mile mark and started our 6th week on the walk, so 5 weeks completed and 5 to go. To celebrate and to keep Ryan, Geri and Alexander happy, we posed for a selfie at shooting butt number 5 on Tan Hill. We are masters of the selfie now.

At the halfway point our bodies and feet remain good and we have not fallen out, although that is largely due to Lynn’s patience and Steve’s tolerance or is it Lynn’s intolerance and Steve’s impatience? 

The weather remained overcast and after a brief bit of sunshine we pitched the tent at Keld and sat the rest of the drizzly day out.

Keld derives from the Norse for spring ‘kelda’ and was probably created as a village by Scandinavian settlers in the 9th century AD. Keld is the highest village in Swaledale, which is probably the loveliest of all the Dales. We do not stay in Swaledale for long tomorrow, as the PW leaves it, but when we walked Wainwright’s coast to coast trail many years ago we walked its length and enjoyed it’s scenery.

Distance 15.67 miles, cumulative 587.4 miles, time 7 hrs, walking time 5 hrs 35 mins, pace 2.8 mph, B&B The Ancient Unicorn Hotel.
Another overcast day as we climbed up to and crossed Crossthwaite Common before dropping down to pass  four reservoirs. We then climbed over Cotherstone Moor prior to arriving in Bowes which is where the A67 joins the A66.

We passed Battle Hill Range and an old Military storage facility. RAF Bowes Moor Chemical Weapons Storage and Disposal Depot was used to store mustard gas bombs by the RAF during WWII. German Sarin and Tabun nerve agents were also temporarily  stored there before being sent for sinking in the Atlantic. The site remains contaminated. The local tourist guides seem not to cover this attraction, which seemed an appropriate place to leave our socks as we are well overdue a laundry day.

We passed one other walker who was going north on the PW and being supported by his wife who was driving the route and meeting up with him each evening with the tent. This provided the basis of a ‘lively’ debate between Steve and Lynn on the nature of marriage and gender defined roles. Steve hopes to find a Llama soon to use as a pack animal.

We are staying in the recently refurbished Ancient Unicorn Inn were Charles Dickens used to stay on his travels fortunately it is anything but a bleak house.

Bowes Castle is just up the road but no longer providing accommodation.

Distance 23.32 miles, cumulative 571.73 miles, 9 hrs 55 mins, walking time 8 hrs 20 mins, pace 2.8 mph, camped Leekworth caravan and camping park.
A steady climb up to High Cup Nick started the day. Followed by crossing Dufton Fell to Cow Green Reservoir. We then followed the River Tees from the dam to Middleton. The river dropped through a series of waterfalls and initially the going was steep and tricky underfoot. High Force and Low Force waterfalls are dramatic and attract visitors to Howick and the Strathmore Estate. 

Immediately after the dam there was a very steep and tricky descent which required some scrambling. We thought of Conal and Linda with Bob the Barrow and could just not see how they would manage the scramble. Sure enough we found a veritable barrow graveyard (see pictures), fortunately we could not see any skeletal remains. 

The weather was dry and overcast which made for good walking but poor photos. 

Lynn made friends with some stone sheep and then found some real ones to talk to. We saw plenty of day walkers and visitors to the waterfalls and dam but we didn’t stop to chat as today was a longer day for us. Steve was a little grumpy all day as he had a thick head having celebrated the previous evening at ‘The Stag’ by trying some of the real ales.