Day 47- Jack Bridge to Diggle

Was really hot again this morning and we weren't looking forward to carrying our big bags again! It was a killer and we felt like slugs! Its amazing how much faster you can move with just a little bag. The first part of the morning was a steep up and then downhill into Callis Bridge and then a big steep climb up the other side to Stoodley Pike Monument.....very sweaty! The monument was big and quite scary looking but i thought it was pretty cool. Apparently it was something to do with Napoleon and the battle of waterloo, i took some pictures because i thought dad would find that interesting! From here the path led us across the moor, past some resevoirs and to a pub called the white house. As there were no shops along this section we didnt have much food on us so stopped here for some chips, making it just in time before they stopped serving food. 

We left the white house and then got very very lost! I don't know how it happened as we definately started off on the Pennine Way and stayed on the path it signposted us on to the whole way....there must have been a sneaky turning off point that we hadnt noticed. Its annoying because because we were on an obvious path we didnt check the guidebook, if we had we would have realised that we were meant to stay up high. So it was really frustrating and we ended up in totally the wrong place. As we knew that we had to cross the motorway and we could see it just ahead we made our way in that direction. We ended up by a house next to a motorway bridge and were looking at the map trying to work out exactly where we were and where we needed to be when an old lady came out of the house, we knew it wasnt good when she said "i hope your not meant to be on the Pennine Way...." Eurgh! It was worse then we thought, we were way out! Although it did make us feel better when she said that it happens to lots of people. She then said that to get back on the path we would have to cross the motorway at this bridge then follow along the fence which runs alongside the motorway all the way up to the pylon which was on the horizon. It was ages away!! It was so annoying and really depressing, how had we made such a big mistake?!

Anyway, we got on with it and were soon climbing fences, ducking under wire and walking through heather alongside the motorway. It was still so hot! A human shouldn't sweat as much as i did today! We were both feeling a bit depressed and down heartened and stopped for a rest but we couldn't even relax then because we were being attacked by flying ants!! We carried on walking and i could finally see the brige ahead which the Pennine Way crossed, ive never been so happy to see a bridge. I was walking in front so i stopped here and waited for Jade. When she approached i saw the look on her face and thought it best not to say anything but to just carry on walking. It annoys me when Jade moans but i know things are really bad when she gos really quiet....right now she was really quiet.

From here it wasn't too far to Standedge where we had aimed to get to by the end of today but we had a bit of a dilema because we had no food on us for dinner and there was nothing at Standedge. In the end we decided we would take a little detour and walk the mile and a half off route down into Diggle and either treat oursleves to a pub dinner or find a food shop. Just before we got to Standedge we met a strange lady....Jade said the second she saw the teddy hanging its little arms and face out of her front back pack she knew she was a bit odd! We chatted to her and we were a bit worried to find out that she was planning to walk in the dark....i really hope that she got back safe!

Feeling shattered after a long, hot day we finally arrived in Diggle. The first place we saw was the Diggle Hotel so we dumped our bags outside and went in. We decided to have a pub dinner and walk to the shop in the morning as apparently it was a bit of a walk away. The staff at the hotel were really nice and when we were asking about camping places one of the girls said "the boss is out but she usually lets people camp out on the grass out front, im sure that'll be fine." Perfect! Dinner was lovely and we got chatting to the people on the table next to us who were really nice. The lady was really sweet and was shocked that sometimes we wildcamp and can't shower! Before she left she put £5 and a biscuit on our table and said to treat ourselves for breakfast....how lovely!! After dinner we went and set up the tent then went to bed feeling really gross.