Walking Forum
Main Boards => Long Distance Walks => Topic started by: Hazzer on 22:56:55, 16/02/15
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Has anyone encountered any published (in print or online) old versions of the Pennine Way route?
I've walked the old main route over Kinder, northwest from Black Hill the original way and over Featherbed Moss, the forestry road via Gib Shield, and I've noted Wainwright's remark about the former route from Crowden, which I mean to try. I'd like to have a look at as many of the old ways that are still available on the ground as possible, but finding records of them has not been easy.
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A first edition copy of Wainwright's Pennine Way Companion shows the "original" route and is still available. The second edition (revised by Chris Jesty) shows the current route - which essentially follows the alternative original routes.
Bear in mind that when the PW was originally opened there was NO official route over the moors south of the White House Inn. The 1 inch OS maps of the time show no paths and had "Pennine Way - route undefined" often with alternatives. The idea was that walkers would eventually find the best way across the trackless moors. Of course in those days days there were no signposts, waymarking or slabs - and the moors were a wet boggy nightmare. I know I walked them regularly!
I cannot recall how we plotted the route - we walked it before any detailed guides were available - certainly before Wainwright's Companion. Even the HMSO guide which I have an old copy of is dated some years after our walk. I just remember the pencil line on the maps!
My walking companion, whom I've largely lost touch with, has the log books of the trip, which include details of the route taken; but so far I've been unable to prise a copy of them from him - we now live 200+ miles apart.
You need to find publications dated in the sixties = all mine are are modern - I thru walked it last summer. The current slabbed route is a doddle - apart from the climbs.
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Ebay is always worth a look, there can quite often be quite early editions of guidebooks or travelogs on there.
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I walked it in 1974 Slogger, and interestingly (to me!) my time over much of the old bog-hopping route didn't vary greatly from my time on some of the slabbed sections.
I don't agree that it's a doddle now. The weather is still the major potential obstacle, Blenkinsopp Common is still as filthy as ever, and I've been up to the top of one of my thighs in the Cheviots.
Some of the slabs have sunk, are submerged, titled, broken, disappeared.....and you still have to be very careful where you're putting your feet. Miss your footing in a bog and you get wet and filthy. Trip over a slab and you'll brain yourself.
My oldest Wainwright just says 17th impression, which I take it means the 17th reprint of the original, but I know that several described stretches are not the original line.
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There is Alan P Binns Walking The Pennine Way on Amazon, I have the 1974 edition.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Pennine-Way-Alan-Binns/dp/0900397217
1966 edition is on there too.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Walking-Pennine-Way-Alan-Binns/dp/B0000CN20Q
Not bad for 1p each.
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Who said it's a doddle?
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I'm sorry Hazzer, but I'll stick with my doddle assessment. The Cheviots were largely slabbed last spring - The climb up to the Auchope Cairns being one of the few exceptions.
Blenkinsopp Common is one of the few major stretches without slabs - but that is a fairly gentle moor - certainly compared to the old routes over Bleaklow and Black hill. I have nightmares of the peak goughs with their six foot drop and corresponding climb to progress 20 yards. Mile upon mile of that gets exhausting!! The bogs around Black Hill are treacherous, my third companion went thigh deep following the same line as we first two - it must have been close to the spot where Wainwright went waist deep! The modern route is a comparative breeze - it's even dry!.
The 25k OS maps show the older line from Crowden, via White Low, to Black Hill and thence to the A635 and over the Featherbed Moss to Black Moss Reservoir. This latter stretch follows the county boundary which (in the sixties) was marked by a line of posts - one of the few bits of easy route finding!
I agree that the slabs can be treacherous - particularly the mile stretch north of Hadrian's Wall - but so can paving stones in towns! Just because you don't have to think about finding your way does not mean that you don't have to watch where you're putting your feet - at least the slabs don't suck the boots off your feet O0
Personally, my least favourite sections were those involving rock scrambles such as the Falcon Clints - far too easy to slip and twist an ankle or worse if you're carrying a heavy pack.
I don't agree that the weather generally makes walking difficult - unless visibility is very bad - it just tests your resolve! I had some foul weather - and a broken tent :(
Wainwright's route can be capricious. On the climb out of the Hebden valley, near the old chapel graveyard, there is a signpost with both the official route and Wainwright's preferred alternative.
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Oh, right Hazzar got the wrong poster for the comment "it's a doddle".
However those slabs certainly make for a faster and less messy walking in certain area's thus making it far easier than the pre-slabed days. I remember having to go from post to post (when visibilty allowed) over Featherbed Moss and the general waymarking was very poor. However that was in the days before the mass interest, and those accessing these areas were all serious walkers who could usually navigate competently.
Having said that, sometimes those slabs can be a nuisance when iced over and one ends up walking on the rough heather etc to one side. Descending Great Shunner Fell in January at night, the slabs were lethal and the ground to the side really rough and full of holes, made for slow progress.
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I agree about the difficulties of walking the moors in winter. On one hand they're frozen - so you can't sink into them; on the other they can be slippy!
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Pity if its too easy lads. Sort of takes the gloss off it a bit but you cant turn back the clock sadly. I hope it still throws up the odd challenge and its standing isn't too reduced these days. On a personal note I am fairly happy not to get covered in ordure on the first two days of a fortnights walk! O0
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I still found it enough of a challenge. A lot of the slabs were under water when I did it as they act like a smooth stream bed in places!
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Oh, despite everything, it is still a challenge, it's 268 miles for one thing, plenty of miles for all sorts of things to wrong, never mind the weather. It will test you, be sure of that, but probably one of the most memorable walks you may ever do.
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It's easy to turn the clock back - just walk by the side of the slabs to get the true moor experience! O0
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Good point. With the current state of my feet I reckon it would be a challenge even if it were an astroturf track all the way. You get one thing attended to and it promptly throws out another part of your body. Hoping the preoccupation of walking and warmer less damp weather comes to the rescue. An analysis of roman cemeteries near where I live on the banks of the Ouse showed it to be the arthritis capital of the Empire. Not much changed in 1800 years...
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This has got so far off-topic that I'm going to return to the theme with a new thread!
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Walked this in August 2015, after these posts, having failed in 1978 when I was washed miserably off Cross Fell. It was certainly tougher in the '70's, but is most certainly still a challenge. I'll do it again as part of LEJOG in 2019, all being well, but I may look for detours round the boggy bits - e.g. the South Tyne Trail instead of Blenkinsopp Common.
Anyone found a better route to Scotland?
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I walked the Pennine Journey route last year, it starts in Settle and you have a choice, either get to Scotland by going up east route to Greenhead, or to take the west route and get to Hexham. Its all marked clearly on the OS maps