After recent trips towards the south west (and brief flirtations with space travel) my time is now my own again and a change of direction is needed – northwards… I had been really lucky at Christmas to get all the maps and guidebooks needed for the Pennine Way, and now I have the time to do it, just have to hope that there are rooms at the inns B&Bs available.
At this late stage I could be pushing my luck so put in some requests with various companies who offer accommodation booking services. Some were totally thrown by my request (I could start whenever, I did not mind how many stages as long as I was not walking too far each day, I didn’t even mind which villages or towns I would stay in).
I finally stumbled upon a website called The Walking Englishman who had an excellent list of links, amongst them was Discovery Travel who were thankfully up to the challenge – my requests did not phase them at all and 4 days later I had the itinerary in my hand! I now have 20 days walking, which means I can take my time traversing the 260+ miles ahead of me.
Have made it as far as Malham today. Have been so lucky so far with some great weather.
I am pleased to say that I managed to complete the Pennine Way in 19 days, a whole day ahead of schedule! Reports to follow when I am back home – I am posting this from a moving train with it’s free wifi :-)
Well done Christopher. Hope you get your trip onto the website, would be interested to read it. My brother and I walked the Pennine Way last year in August/September, and it was an awesome experience. We made a couple of mistakes and ended up working hard to get it done in 12.5 days, but we’d still do it again. We’re doing the Coast to Coast this year… Can’t wait. I’m still writing up last year’s trip… so much to get down, but will get there…
All the best,
Dean