LITMIR.BIZ

      Plaque marking the start of the Pennine Way at Edale (Day 1)

      It took 30 years of lobbying and hard work to steer the Pennine Way to its official opening in April 1965. As a long-distance walk it is impressive. It traverses three National Parks, one Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a World Heritage Site. In fact, the route could be broken down into five or six unequal stages according to the type of area being traversed.

      Only the northern part of the Peak District National Park, the Dark Peak, is on the route. It is characterised by broad, bleak, high-altitude moorland. The Peak District only features for the first two days of walking, from Edale as far as Standedge, where it gives way to the gentler South Pennines. While this isn’t a National Park, it does have a distinct identity as far northwards as the Aire Gap, taking two or three days to cover.

      The Yorkshire Dales National Park captures the attention of wayfarers for four or five days, from Gargrave to the Tan Hill Inn. Next comes the enormous North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which, although never given National Park status, is one of the wildest and bleakest upland areas of England. It is home to enormous National Nature Reserves and is claimed to be the most scientifically studied upland region in the world. Crossing this area on the Pennine Way takes five or six days.

      When the Pennines peter out at the Tyne Gap, the route enters the Northumberland National Park, which is traversed in four or five days. This includes a splendid day’s romp along Hadrian’s Wall before heading to and through the Cheviot Hills, and finally hopping over the border into Scotland.

      It measures over 427km (265 miles), involving a cumulative ascent of 11,200m (36,700ft). Most walkers take between two and three weeks to cover the distance, and there are many ways to create a schedule to suit people’s different expectations.

      It is well worth reading The Pennine Way – the Path, the People, the Journey, by Andrew McCloy, published by Cicerone. The book explains how much hard work, lobbying and political manoeuvring went into the creation of the Pennine Way, and introduces many people and personalities who have been involved in the route over the past half-century.

PLANNING YOUR TRIP

Choosing an itinerary

      The Pennine Way is the toughest of the National Trails, so it suits those with previous long-distance walking experience. Those with little or no experience should consider gaining some in advance. Try a weekend walk here and there, staying overnight on your route. Progress to a week-long walk, preferably in upland terrain, carrying everything you would expect to carry on a long trek. Figure out what sort of clothing and footwear suits you best for those conditions. Keep a check on your progress day by day and hour by hour, to gauge how long it takes to cover varying distances and awkward terrain. Timings given in this guidebook are unlikely to be matched by most wayfarers; some will be faster, some slower, but the timings give a consistent standard throughout. Use them as a basic guide. If you complete a couple of stages faster, then it is likely that you will always do so, and you might want to cover extra distances further along the trail. If you fall behind the stated times, then figure out by how much, and apply that to all stages in future. If it is likely that one or two of the longer stages might take too long to cover, consider splitting them into shorter stages.

      The Pennine Way main route stays high to cross White Law (Day 20)

      While some people have run the Pennine Way in as little as three days, most take two or three weeks to walk the distance, and on average it tends to work out at around 18 days. The schedule offered in this guidebook takes 20 days, but there are places where stages can be extended. As with all long-distance walks, take each day at a pace that is neither slow nor stressful, and the trek can be completed comfortably and enjoyably. Fatigue and foul weather can result in alterations to carefully planned schedules, so wise walkers build a day or two into their plans to cover for such eventualities.

      The Pennine Way can be adapted to suit walkers of most abilities, and there is no need to follow the schedule outlined in this guidebook rigidly. Long days can be split. Short days can be extended. Pick-ups can be arranged wherever the route crosses a road, with careful planning. Nor is there any need to walk south to north, but this is the direction most people choose. Some do walk north to south. If you do this, you will need to reverse all the route directions, which could be a little confusing at times, but the signposting and waymarking is as good in one direction as it is in the other. The following statistics relate only to the main route and don’t include any diversions off-route. Those who walk the Hebden Bridge Loop and Bowes Loop, for example, will cover an extra 8.5km (5¼ miles), while detours off-route and back onto the route in the Cheviot Hills add around 6.5km (4 miles). Given other short detours for accommodation, most Pennine wayfarers will end up walking around 450km (280 miles).

      The route summary table at the beginning of this guide is based on a 20-day trek, following the daily stages presented in this guidebook. Below is a suggested itinerary for a 15-day trek, based on combining some of the shorter stages, or breaking the trek at different points to create longer stages. Anything less than two weeks would require considerable stamina and determination.

When

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