I hiked most of the Pennine Journey about three years ago and started at Settle. I went out to the east route first, up to Hexham (camped at the racecourse, a God-forsaken place) along Hadrians Wall then down to Appleby (timed it well, the horse fair was visually and noisily so interesting) but had to return home two days before I finished. I found that when actually on the Pennine Journey route I only saw 4 hikers, it was only on the shared sections of the Pennine Way that more people appeared.
To memory, I think it's only about 14 miles shorter than the Pennine Way?
Just before typing 'Pennine Way' our landline rang, it was a computer-generated voice telling me that Amazon Prime would take £79.99 out of my account today and if I wanted to speak to an Amazon member of staff I just needed to press 1 on my phone. I pressed end of call.