thought it was about time i gave an update.......
OK, well we left edale on a sunny (?) Monday morning, bright eyed (well maybe) and a heavy back pack to boot. and that was the lightest i could get it.....anyway, all was well for the first few miles, Jacobs ladder was a piece of p.. er easy. however once at the top, the visibility was very poor, and low and behold we lost our way slightly....GPSS pointed us back in the right direction, however, i managed to slip and hurt my left knee - great. so the rest of the 15 miles was interesting to say the least. thank heavens for poles. now our plan was to do edale to standedge (28 miles) in one day. bad plan. we stopped at crowden. pitched the tents, admired my blisters, ate and slept.
day 2 and on to standedge. can i just say i was wowed by the views. this really is a beautiful country we live in. 11 miles to do. and on the whole it was all good. just kept telling myself that this is the hardest two days and we if we could do those to days, we could complete it..... spent the night in the grounds of a pub - great food! and great land lord. nice touch for us - as we were walking across the reservoir we came across some work men on a tea break - bless them they took pity on us and made us a cuppa. that was the best cup of tea i've ever tasted!
day 3 was an early start. by this point we had made friends with a guy called Dave who was doing lejog. Really wish i had taken his phone number, this guy was truly wonderful. full of advice for us novices, and to be honest i really dont think we would have got as far as we did with out him. i think this day was one of my favourites. bacon butties at the snack van on the a672 near windy hill....crossing the m62...i really felt i was getting somewhere. walking speed was improving and i was feeling good. lots of blisters, but feeling good. made it up to stoodleypike monument, and started to make our way down to hebden bridge.
now here is where i learned a valuable lesson. remember to eat. even if you do have indigestion and feel sick, still eat. otherwise you are going to run out of energy, and struggle. from hebdon bridge we made our way on to jacksbridge, where we camped for the evening. the climb out of hebden bridge is a [censored] to say the least, and i was soon learning, every day started with a climb and ended with a down hill. and learning a few lessons as well.
day 4 - and on to lothersdale. cant remember a lot about this day - except my feet and boots being wet at the end of it. i seem to remember walking over lots of moor land and it being very foggy. found it kept me going by running though the musical score of "oliver" in my head. it worked. kept my speed up good on the first half, but saw it tail off again in the 2nd part. another overnight stop, this time in a make shift camp site which was really someones front garden! but very hospitable, and dried my boots for me.
day 5 - to malham. again the day started well. i felt as though i was feeling OK. knee was a bit sore still, blisters sore still (too many to count), and the weather wasn't bad. was looking froward to doing a stint along the river and the canal, and a bit of shopping in gargrave. trouble is, things dont always go to plan. probably less than 4 miles in on our 16 mile day i slipped slightly in a field. very slightly, but enough to tear my thigh muscle. kept thinking i would walk it off, but that wasn't happening. stopped for a quick drinks break and took the weight of my leg, only to find i couldn't put alot back on it. painkillers taken, and not bothered face put on, and on we went. slowly. i equate the pain i was feeling to childbirth - fro you guys out there excruciating. walking with another person will push you on. i knew i couldn't just stop - i had to get to gargrave. how i got there i'm really not sure. and it started to rain. double whammy. but we got there, and after getting me into a bus shelter to have a rest, rob (my companion) went off to shop, feed me, find a chemist for me to go to, and get me a cup of coffee. the chemist shop was helpful, and two supports later - one for each leg and the strongest painkillers she could give me, off we went on to malham. and it rained. and rained. and rained. soaking wet we pitched our tents, showered, ate and slept, wondering what the next day would bring.
day 6 brought a soaking wet backpack and for rob soaking wet clothes and sleeping bag. and a heavy pack because of it. not the best of days. fountains fell was very bleak and windy. and pen y Ghent - nice to look at but very windy. so we cheated and took the path around it. a good plan as it happened - my legs were not up to it and i was really starting to struggle, thus worrying about putting rob in danger with me not being 100 percent. hobbled into Horton, tent pitched, pub meal eaten, and sleep.
day 7 and on to hawes, and knowing that we could finally wash our kit and get it properly dry when we got there. first part of the day went well, was struggling a little bit, but managing ok. still felt guilty as i was holding rob back. he had a much quicker pace than me, and had to keep waiting for me to catch up, secretly he was enjoying the ten minute break he got every half an hour.......
the hill down to hawes was just the worst experience i had. injuries now ran to dodgy knee, ankle, and leg, and i was really struggling to put one foot in front of the other. it was at this point i decided i really couldn't go on. i was going to have to bail. it simply wasn't right to put Rob through having to get me from a to b any more.
alot of soul searching went on over the next few hours and a plan was formulated. i didn't want to bail, we were doing this for charity, and i wanted to see it through. the only way i was going to do this was to loose weight from my rucksack, and so we managed to between us to loose 8kg, which was posted back home, which included my tent, and any clothes we hadn't worn. also the small stove and tins/mugs went as well. shall we just say we had learned the lesson of travelling light very well.
day 8 - and a short day to keld. the difference after losing the weight was terrific. i was actually able to climb up hills now in one go. eureka! managed to lose our way at the very end of the day, the trail just seems to disappear, but we made it to keld in the light.
day 9 - and onto Bowes - and the only campsite i've been on where i've had a shower in a cow shed while listening to radio 2 - i kid you not! managing to get into camp early, the sun was shining, and after a doze in the sun, all was good.
day 10 onto middleton in teesdale - again a short day before what we knew would be a long day the next day. and again it rained, and we got very wet......meh......my injuries where still there, but mellowing a little. rob however was starting to feel his Achilles. after a good rest though we felt ready to tackle the next stage.
day 11 to dufton. now we knew this was going to be a long day, but i didn't realise just how difficult it was going to be. the first 8/9 miles are great, and we were moving very well - we even posed for photographs. however then next section is alot more tricky, and saw us scrambling over rock, and then scrambling up them to cauldron snout. i think the main problem was that it had started to rain, and this made the rocks very slippy. i spent most of the time on my bottom. and after that the weather just got worse. i have never known rain like it, and we found ourselves in a thunder storm. the rain was getting so bad it was becoming difficult to distinguish the paths from the streams - they just looked the same. high cup nick, which should have been one of the most beautiful parts of the walk, quickly turned into the most frightening. wild horses along the ridge was unnerving enough, but walking on the ridge, which was becoming increasing more dangerous was one of the most frightening things i have ever come across. the rain had turned what should have been a trickle of water into a torrent over incredibly slippy rocks and true to form, i ended up on my bottom yet again. by this point i just wanted to get off this mountain and down into the valley. the last "mile" which incidentally turned out to 3 (thanks rob!) were the longest i travelled on the walk. i was so relieved to get to dufton. water proofs had well and truly failed, and we made the wise decision to book into the youth hostel.
once there it was becoming obvious that we really shouldn't carry on. i had managed to damage my shoulder when i fell, and robs Achilles was twice the size it should be. we decided to sleep on it and take a rest day, and take stock.
next morning, and after walking into the nearby town, a trip to the chemist, and the train station we decided to call it a day.
so 169 miles and 11 days into the walk and it was over.
at first i was very disappointed. the goal we set ourselves of 268 miles in 10 days went out of the window on the first day. we quickly revised the schedule, thanks to Dave, and 14 days became our target. then after picking up the injuries it went to 16 days, with the possibility of me bailing after 14, and rob doing the last section with Dave. and then it was over. it took a few days to sink in what we really had done and just what we had achieved. and we learned some valuable lessons about the kit we were using. all my waterproofs failed, boots let me down, and basically pants. the backpacks had buckles snapping on them....so alto of rethinking will be done for the next adventure.
but the pennine way is unfinished business, and it will be completed in the future.