LEJOG 2015
Todmorden Saturday 23 May 2015
Start: Todmorden
Finish: Todmorden
Miles walked today: 0
Total miles: 472
A day off! Whatever next? Lesley and I have a delicious and leisurely breakfast and decide to walk to Hebden Bridge along the Rochdale canal. It's a lovely route and we stop often to examine the locks and take photos. Although a little overcast it's quite warm and pleasant.
At Hebden Bridge we sit outside a bicycle shop (which doubles up as a cafe) and enjoy a coffee alongside the canal. Hebden Bridge is perfect, the sun comes out and I wander around taking photos while Les scours the shops.
One shop - Not a Full Shilling - catches our eye and we spend a long time looking at the amazing recycled jewellery and talking to Karen the lovely proprietor.
Les and me return to Tormorden on the other side of the valley. We're high up now, and Stoodley Pike Monument is clearly visible on the hill opposite. The sun stays out, the scenery is wonderful and all is well with the world.
Back at Todmorden we pop into a local shop for apples and spend ages talking to the shopkeeper and his wife about his brother - mayor of Todmorden last year - and his uncle in Pakistan who sadly died recently. There were over 13000 people at his funeral. We see lots of photos and leave with regret that we might not visit Tod again and be able to pop into his shop.
An excellent dinner at the Queens Head rounds of a perfect day off.
Skipton Sunday 24 May 2015
Start: Hebden Bridge
Finish: Skipton
Miles walked today: 23
Total miles: 495
It's funny how things turn out... They start off really tiny, defenseless and weak. Time goes by and they grow, thriving as you nurture them. You take pride in their progress, thrilled at each milestone. Eventually, as is the way with these things, they start to leave you, and soon you're left behind, lonely and bereft. Any way, enough about bank balances. Unless you've got a big one: - we're getting close to the target now.
Lesley got the train back to Nottingham. It was wonderful to see her, I wish she could have stayed longer. I started walking from Hebden Bridge at around 10.00. The weather brightens as the day progresses. The sun shines in the afternoon. The wind doesn't drop much but is bearable. Charlotte, Emily and Anne must have wandered about here as it's near enough the heart of Brontë country. I don't see any of the hoards of Japanese tourists who are supposed to flock to these parts though. The scenery is typical high moors, and lower down there are lush green fields punctuated with stone walls. I meet one other Pennine Way-er who is heading for the campsite at Lothersdale.
When I get a signal I manage to book a b&b in Skipton where I receive a very warm welcome from Jenny.
Football: the Premier League prediction game that Dot, Ken, Jim and I play has been won again by Jim. Well done to Ken, someone has to come last. Dot and I are very close for second place but I fluked it :)
PS Thanks to Sally and Chris for your kind donations!
Horton in Ribblesdale Monday 25 May 2015
Start: Skipton
Finish: Horton in Ribblesdale
Miles walked today: 23
Total miles: 518
Imagine if you will, gentle reader (all five of you) that you are sat in a Bedouin tent. The walls are hung with rich tapestries and works of art. The carpet underfoot is thick and luxurious. The tent is furnished with all the trappings any nomadic desert dweller could wish for, including two large fridges.
This was the scene which awaited me at Horton in Ribblesdale campsite at around 7.30 pm tonight.
The tent has double glazed windows, and the door of the tent is solid wood. I knock timidly.
"Come in, come in" cried a disembodied voice from within.
I open the door to be greeted by a blast of lovely warm air and, if I wasn't mistaken, the aroma of the only grouse I really like - the famous one.
"Get your pack off lad, take a seat" says the older of the two occupants. "What would you like to drink?"
I have to say this is the best greeting I've ever had at a campsite. I'm rendered speechless for a moment.
"Whisky? Brandy? Or something long and cool?"
"Errr, do you think I could have a coffee?" I ask. I'm cold and long for a hot drink.
My benefactor seems taken aback, then laughs.
"Coffee? Why not."
While my drink is prepared, I'm quizzed about my walk, and own up to doing LEJOG.
"****ing hell" is the response. I note that the accent is more east Yorkshire, with the second and third letters of the expletive both "o"
As I sit sipping coffee and admiring the fantastic interior of the tent, Chris, the proprietor, enters. A large gentleman dressed in an immaculate three piece suit. His two friends update him about me.
"Have a biscuit, lad" Chris says, offering me a packet of large ginger nuts, "Take two - one gets lonely"
I wish I could have sat there all night but time was passing and my tent won't put itself up.
Tent erected, I make for the pub. Chris is in there, with his wife and son, Isobel and Jonathan. They invite me to sit with them and my resolve to go easy on the beer evaporates along with my beef sandwich and chips.
Earlier in the day when I leave Jenny's lovely B&B she gives me a donation. Thank you so much Jenny. We hug and say goodbye.
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal takes me to Gargrave, where I rejoin the Pennine Way to Malham. It's a bank holiday and packed with people. I walked a mile or two with Martin, a Pennine Way-er who is wild camping all the way. We get a snack in the village hall and I walk on.
Malham Cove is a huge natural amphitheatre, very busy with bank holiday people, then later Malham Tarn, a large lake. The area is porous limestone, but the Tarn sits in a saucer of older slate, which traps the water. The weather improves, and I catch Mancunian Mike. We ascend the 2277 feet of Pen-y-Ghent together, a bit of a slog with back packs and involving a bit of scrambling up rocks. The views are wonderful at the trig point. From there it's all downhill to the campsite.
The last word to Kenonymous:
"As you trudge the Pennine Way, do you find yourself hankering for a Ramsbottom??? You can grab a pint of it at Dent Brewery :-) .... baa!!!"
Keld Tuesday 26 May 2015
Start: Horton in Ribblesdale
Finish: Keld
Miles walked today: 27
Total miles: 545
A long day - but good. I'm walking at 8.30 after saying goodbye to Chris's family and Mike. Looking back at Horton in Ribblesdale I'm surprised to see the scars above the village from massive quarrying operations.
Around 10 I'm sitting and breakfasting on cheese, apples and digestives. It really is a life of luxury out here... (does cheese go off? It's been in my pack a while, not refrigerated. Tastes and smells ok). There is not a sound except for birds and the occasional bleat from a sheep. Wonderful.
Twice in the morning I see lively streams disappear into massive caverns leading deep underground. Potholing? Perhaps not for me...
I get to Hawes around 1.30 and get some refreshments in a bikers cafe. It's a pleasant place with a market today. It's too early to stop so I decide to head for Keld, via Great Shunner Fell (2350 feet). The climb is relatively gentle. By 7 pm I'm walking high up on one side of the valley of the River Swale which leads to Keld. At one point the side of the valley is completely yellow with primroses.
Don't want to camp. The B&B is full, as is the (ex YHA) hotel. But just when I'm giving up hope and thinking of getting my tent out I find an excellent campsite with yurts and rooms. I share a room with David and Stephen from the US who two weeks ago both qualified as doctors. They're doing the Coast to Coast walk as a reward for over six years hard study. Me and Tina did the coast to coast in 2007 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Keld is where the Pennine Way and Wainwright's Coast to Coast intersect.
Middleton in Teesdale Wednesday 27 May 2015
Start: Keld
Finish: Middleton in Teesdale
Miles walked today: 23
Total miles: 568
My alarm is set for seven and I creep out of the room trying not to disturb Stephen or David. Downstairs I make a coffee and breakfast arrives in the form of a bacon and egg baguette. Mmmmm. How very civilised.
I'm walking at 8.00. The weather is fine, with occasional sun. Four miles in I get to the Tan Hill Inn (Britain's Highest Pub!!) and duck in for a coffee. Sleightholme Moor is a boggy seven or eight miles of flat, high wilderness, where I meet Stuart. He too is walking LEJOG! We swap stories and it turns out he's walked the Pacific Crest Trail - last year. It makes LEJOG look puny and took Stuart almost six months. You may have read Cheryl Strayed's book Wild or seen the subsequent film.
Later it's reservoir land, serving lots of northern cities, I presume. (Typical pub loo graffiti: don't flush the toilet, Leeds needs the water!). One last up and down, which includes a chat to a very pleasant farmer, a little rain, and I'm in the huge metropolis of Middleton in Teesdale. The Teesdale Hotel www.teesdalehotel.co.uk/ has a room and I settle in for a night of luxury and catching up with this humble missive from the great outdoors. Night night...
