Having recently walked a fair few miles of the North Downs Way on my Street View equipped treadmill, I thought I'd follow up by walking the whole of the Pennine Way in the stages described on the National Trails website.
Day One: Edale to Crowden.
The website says this stage is 16 miles. I plotted the route on the Google map and it turned out to be 16.99 miles, which is exactly what the treadmill recorded.
The walk started well. My wife and I had a week's walking holiday in the Peak District last summer and we did a Kinder Scout walk so I remembered the trig point, Kinder Downfall, the reservoir and even some of the rocks!
Soon after setting off, a man overtook us ('us' is the Google cameraperson and me!) but stayed just a short distance ahead. Then, for the next two-and-a-half hours, he was always there. If he got too far ahead he would wait for us to catch up then set off again. On steep sections he often dropped back (a lack of fitness perhaps?) but would get in front again on the next downhill bit.
An iconic spot approaching Jacob's Ladder:
The trig point:
As I said, the photobomber was with us for about two-and-a-half hours and I'm sure he would have been with us the entire way - except that something unexpected happened at around the 10 mile mark. Google Street View stopped and went no further.
I should have noticed when I plotted the route that Street View had stopped; instead, I just carried on clicking along the route of the Pennine Way. The result was that for the last two hours I had no images to watch, just maps and charts. It really wasn't the same as having views (even of the back of an irritating person). When I'd finished the walk, I checked other sections of the Pennine Way to see if Street View was available, but it doesn't often appear to be. Oh well, at least I've done Edale to Crowden - even if nearly half of the walk was in virtual zero visibility!
However, in all other respects the walk was a big success. 16.99 miles is the furthest I've walked on the treadmill without stopping. It took me 4 hours and 15 mins, giving an average speed of 4.0mph. A lot of the 1,976ft ascent was near the start and I didn't push myself too hard, while the second half of the walk was generally downhill (that's level on the treadmill) so I was able to go very briskly to make up time.
I'm determined to do daily sections of a national trail, but Street View will have to be available for at least most of the way. I'll investigate later...