Pennine Way (north) and links
The Pennine Way, which stretches for 268 miles along the "back bone of England", was the first of the UK's National Trails to open, more than 50 years ago now, back in 1965. It stretches from Edale in the Peak District to Kirk Yetholm, close to the Scottish border. The trail was established as a result of hard work from Tom Stephenson, a journalist and the first full-time secretary of the Ramblers' Association. Its opening wasn't possible without the granting of public access (in the form of the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act) to the moorlands of the Peak District and Pennines. These were previously reserved for grouse shooting, and in 1932 Benny Rothman had famously led a mass trespass onto Kinder Scout.
The walk up from Edale and across Kinder Scout is one that I did frequently as a teenager, in the first 10 years of the Pennine Way's life. In fact the route of the Pennine Way has altered since I was a teenager, because of erosion on Kinder Scout; it now goes up "Jacob's Ladder" and skirts around the edge of the moor. However the route does still cover a lot of moorland, and I have not very happy memories of squelching through the bog, probably with boots that weren't as robust as those I wear now, wearing waterproofs that were both less waterproof and less breathable, and undoubtedly carrying a rucsack that was less comfortable. The Pennine Way also has, possibly with some justification, a reputation as a tough, very masculine walk; a route I associate with those whose aim is to complete the walk as quickly as possible and don't stop to admire the countryside. When we were in Kirk Yetholm on St Cuthbert's Way, we overheard an (admittedly female) walker in the hotel where we had dinner, saying that she had just completed the Pennine Way for the nth time, but she'd had some spare time at the end of the walk and tried to follow another route - but hadn't been able to work it out. She had no idea of the concept of using a map to plan a route and to read the countryside when you're walking. Altogether, we didn't think the Pennine Way was for people like us. It was not on my (quite long) list of walks that I'd like to complete before my knees finally give out.
A number of things happened to make me reconsider. Firstly, we began to realise that the Pennine Way does not just cross moorland - it passes attractive features like Malham Cove and High Force, and goes through attractive towns like Hawes and Alston. Secondly, whilst we were walking the Herriot Way, we had an invigorating walk along the Pennine Way in the snow, north to south from Keld to Hawes. Finally, on our journey of linked up footpaths, heading north, we'd reached Middleton-in-Teesdale and if we could get to Kirk Yetholm we'd have reached the Scottish Border and have linked up to St Cuthbert's Way which we had already walked - and the Pennine Way (initially on a route shared with the Teesdale Way) goes from Middleton-in-Teesdale to Kirk Yetholm. We decided to give it a go!
We followed the route from Middleton-in-Teesdale to Cow Green Reservoir whilst staying at Butterfly Cottage in nearby upper Weardale in August 2015. Also on this holiday, we discovered an alternative (shorter and lower level) route from Cow Green to the village of Garrigill, and thus we also discovered the South Tyne Trail. We had still intended to return to Garrigill in 2016 and to walk on to the Scottish Border on the Pennine Way. Part of this section is shared with the Hadrian's Wall Path, and we decided to walk along the whole of the Hadrian's Wall Path in May/June 2016.
In walking Hadrian's Wall Path we discovered a delightful little link from the end of the South Tyne Trail in Haltwhistle to Hadrian's Wall, and we also discovered St Oswald's Way and the Northumberland Coast Path. Thus it was that we ended up taking a different route to the Scottish Border, and thus it was that the Pennine Way became a route that we didn't complete and probably never will. However we have passed some lovely places which are firmly on the Pennine Way (in particular Low Force, High Force, Cauldron Snout, Garrigill and Alston).
We have encountered some walkers of the type who put me off the Pennine Way in the first place, but we have also met some lovely people on the path. Ironically, in walking between Garrigill and Alston in August 2016, we also discovered a part of the Pennine Way that is about as far removed as the over-walked moorland sections as it is possible to imagine; an overgrown path by a river with no other walkers.
This webpage and and the links from it outline a walking route which approximately follows the Pennine Way from Middleton-in-Teesdale to the Hadrian's Wall Path.
JordanWalks "Pennine Way (north) and links" pages last checked, 31st December 2019.