Had a very lazy morning, didn't leave until 10:45 becuase we decided to haqve breakfast in bed, which really consisted of malt loaf in a sleeping bag. We were looking forward to getting into Keld and meeting up with Jades family as they were coming to act as a support tent for 6 days which meant daysacks! It was a very windy morning but we were just happy that it wasn't raining.
The first part of the day was up over the moors and again was pretty boggy. Walking over here we met a man that seemed lovely but a little strange! He was wearing boots, short shorts, a t-shirt and then a MASSIVE PAIR OF GLOVES! No exaggeration....they were huge! He also had mud all up his arms and legs, he looked like he'd been rolling in it! He warned us it was boggy up ahead and was warning us, and yeah it was but not that muddy!
We walked on and came to a big road that crossed through the moors, it looked really random like it didn't really belong there. There was a fence along the side of the motorway and the guidebook said that there was an underpass that led underneath but yet again we must have wandered off of the Pennine Way as it was nowhere in sight, due to the Pennine Way yet again lacking sign posts, so we wandered alongside the fence hoping that we would find it and looking a bit confused and were getting beeped at by cars that were passing on the other side, including a bomb disposal unit van!
Eventually we found the underpass and carried on over the moors. We arrived at a farm where there was a sign that read Tan Hill 4.5 miles. The guidebook told us that there was a pub at Tan Hill and we could not wait to get their because we both needed the toilet! We had both gone 40 days now without having a nature poo and we didn't want to make today the day! I think it's become a bit of a competition and neither of us want to be the first to have to go! So, we practically ran the next 4.5 miles although it was really really boggy in places. Could not have been happier to arrive at the pub but it was not at all we had expected. I expected a nice quite little pub, not to arrive in the middle of a scooter convention!.....the awkward moment when you turn up at a scooter convention without a scooter.
We fought our way through the busy pub and used the toilets then went and brought a drink. It isn't until your in a place like this surrounded by people that haven't been out walking all day that you realise how bad you smell....and we smelt bad! I felt bad for the people that we had to squeeze past as we walked through.
As much as we didn't leave we knew that Jades family would soon be in Keld so we left and walked the last 4 miles down into the village. It was a nice walk down and the sun was shining. We were now in the Yorkshire Dales and looking down it lookede really pretty. It was about 6 o clock by the time we got into Keld and as Jades family weren't there yet we went and found a campsite. The campsite was a bit weird as it was kind of spread around the whole of the village in a few different fields that the people owned and the toilet block was only in one of the fields. We dumped our bags in the nearest field and then as we had no signal went up and sat on a wall beside the road in the direction we thought Jades family would be arriving just hoping that they would find us! As we had no signal, the mobile phone was useless, we were thinking back at the times when people didn't have mobile phones and when you said you were going to meet someone, then you ahd to meet them!
They eventually found us and after lots of logistics we ended up in the field with the toilet block. I don't know how they fitted in the car they had so much stuff! It was lovely to see them and they spoilt us! Emma (Jades Mum) had brought us up proper towels and some of Jades clothes so whilst they set up the big tent we had showers and then put on clean and different clothes! This is very exciting when you have only had 3 t-shirts a pair of shorts and one pair of trousers for the last 40 days. Also the joy of a proper towel! I didn't have to try and dry myself with my half a flannel! All clean Emma then cooked us some dinner, it was amazing! It was also so nice to have a tent we could stand up in, everything is so much easier. Not only that....we had pillows!
Monday, 8 August 2011
Day 39- Langdon beck to Baldesdale
Woke up at 7am to hear rain on the tent so went back to sleep! Got up and started packing at away at a more reasonable hour of 9am....Jade was in a hideous mood and not loving life! The first words i heard were "I hate walking, i hate rain, i hate rolling my therma rest up blah blah blah." I just ignored her.
We went over to the Youth Hostel and made the most of the showers! Went to collect our clothes from the drying room to find they had dried a treat although they were a bit stiff. Its not about being able to bend your trainer liners! Before we left we went to give the guy some money but he was so sweet and said not to worry as it was a charity walk. He then kept offering us breakfast and food for the journey, i think he was worried because there aren't many shops about if your walking north. We had food already and couldn't accept anything else, we explained this and also told him not to worry as we were going south so we had shops coming up.
This morning was a really lovely walk down beside the river Tees. We followed this for about 8 and a half at it led us into a pretty town/ village called Middleton in Teesdale. On the way we passed High and Low force which i think are pretty famous waterfalls! High force is the most powerful waterfall in England apparently! We were wondering whether people could paddle down it because it looked pretty scary! We had a little peek over the edge and searched for downstream v's and eddies! We sent Chris Heaney a text asking whether people do paddle down it and he replied saying it was "DEATH ON A STICK!" Walking along here we also passed the young mums convention again, they obviously enjoy pushing prams along really rocky little paths!
In Middleton in Teesdale we stopped off for teas and hot chocolate in a cute little cafe. We sat in there for ages and got our books out and had a read. If anyone was watching us they probably thought we were being really anti- social....they didnt know we'd spent the last 39 days together!!
We finally dragged ourselves away and walked the last 7 miles to Baldesdale. We managed to loose the Pennine Way a couple of times....i really don't know how we do it but it has happened quite a few times! We couldn't really tell when we arrived in Baldesdale because there wasn't really anything there! I knew it was going to be little but not this little, all we saw was a B&B and a road! We carried on off the road onto the moor a little way in search of a place to set up the tent. It was all pretty boggy looking but we chose the driest bit of bog available and just hoped that it would be ok. Bog aside it was a nice spot to camp and it was really pretty as the sun was setting. We were looking forward to tomorrow when Jades parents were driving up to join us for a week as support car/tent!
We went over to the Youth Hostel and made the most of the showers! Went to collect our clothes from the drying room to find they had dried a treat although they were a bit stiff. Its not about being able to bend your trainer liners! Before we left we went to give the guy some money but he was so sweet and said not to worry as it was a charity walk. He then kept offering us breakfast and food for the journey, i think he was worried because there aren't many shops about if your walking north. We had food already and couldn't accept anything else, we explained this and also told him not to worry as we were going south so we had shops coming up.
This morning was a really lovely walk down beside the river Tees. We followed this for about 8 and a half at it led us into a pretty town/ village called Middleton in Teesdale. On the way we passed High and Low force which i think are pretty famous waterfalls! High force is the most powerful waterfall in England apparently! We were wondering whether people could paddle down it because it looked pretty scary! We had a little peek over the edge and searched for downstream v's and eddies! We sent Chris Heaney a text asking whether people do paddle down it and he replied saying it was "DEATH ON A STICK!" Walking along here we also passed the young mums convention again, they obviously enjoy pushing prams along really rocky little paths!
In Middleton in Teesdale we stopped off for teas and hot chocolate in a cute little cafe. We sat in there for ages and got our books out and had a read. If anyone was watching us they probably thought we were being really anti- social....they didnt know we'd spent the last 39 days together!!
We finally dragged ourselves away and walked the last 7 miles to Baldesdale. We managed to loose the Pennine Way a couple of times....i really don't know how we do it but it has happened quite a few times! We couldn't really tell when we arrived in Baldesdale because there wasn't really anything there! I knew it was going to be little but not this little, all we saw was a B&B and a road! We carried on off the road onto the moor a little way in search of a place to set up the tent. It was all pretty boggy looking but we chose the driest bit of bog available and just hoped that it would be ok. Bog aside it was a nice spot to camp and it was really pretty as the sun was setting. We were looking forward to tomorrow when Jades parents were driving up to join us for a week as support car/tent!
Day 38- Garrigill to Langdon Beck
It was lovely to have Luke with us this morning, even if it was a bit of a sweaty night night! We all awoke at 9 to an extremely sweaty tent so we had an emergency open all vents! I had a pretty rubbish night sleep because of hayfever and Becks kept waking up because she had a sore ankle but Luke seemed to sleep well! It was midge city when we got out of the tent this morning, it was like they were waiting outside of the door waiting for us to get out so they could strike! Luke seemed to struggle with them as he wasn't used to them and got well acquainted with the Midge dance but myself and Becks seemed to ignore them as we had managed to cope with those in Fort William.
The village hall toilets were open so it was 'wild camping' with benefits, today was going to be a bit of an experiment in terms of route finding as we didn't have a map...... Luke looked slightly concerned and we couldn't even say 'its fine, we've done this before' because we haven't we have never followed route instructions via text on the moors before, but the route text was from Chris Heaney so we had faith, if Chris Heaney said you don't need a map, then you don't need a map!
Today we were supposed to tackle cross fell and other hideous hills above 800m, which i have been dreading for about 3 weeks, Becks keeps telling me not to worry about a hill 3 weeks in advance, and as it turns out, i needn't have worried as we missed it out anyway! We missed this section out as it was going to be really tiring and we wern't Pennine Way keenos, our aim was not to complete the Pennine Way but to walk North to South, which we did, the alternative route given was more low level however we did have to cross a raging river!
So we started walking at 10am following the South Tyne Trail, it was one of the longest 3 and a half miles ever as it was a continuous obstacle course of styles! I am no mountain goat especially with a full rucksack, i looked like a giant slug trying to get over most of them! We managed to stay on course of the text instructions but it all went to pot when we got to the source of the Tyne, we must have missed the turning and ended up at a junction, I didn't want to make the call, so Luke took an executive decision and chose a path which 'looked good', good enough for us :) Far up on the hill in front we could see a large group of people walking, we put two and two together, i thought it looked like a large group on a circular walk meaning we weren't too far away from Cow Green reservoir and the car park, there was no path leading to them, so we went off piste!
Things were looking good until we discovered a river, quite a big fast flowing river blocking us to get to the other side! Luke the mountain goat just leaped across to the other side making it look far too easy - he did have a day sack! Myself and Becks walked further down to find a suitable place to cross, annoying Becks jumped across too! I have serious issues with balance and co-ordination and there was no way i was going to get to the other side without taking a swim! It wasn't a brilliantly warm day and i had clean socks (rarity)on so didn't fancy taking a swim. Luke came to my rescue and carried my bag over, i then manned up but had a bit jump in the middle of the river and wasn't 100% committed to it, your either 100% committed to a jump, or you don't do it! I was a mess in the middle of the river, Becks and Luke gave up on me and had lunch on the other side of the bank, Becks also decided to be official photographer to document the situation which was very thoughtful of her!
Finally made it across the other side and got a victory photo, it was a boggy off-piste walk to the path on the side of the hill and in no time we caught up with the people we could see when we were at the bottom on the other side of the river, turned out to be some kind of young mum convention, i don't know how they were all pushing prams on the path it was really rocky! We now had absolutely no idea where we were and as we were about to turn the corner we all prayed there would be a massive reservoir, we were up high so were in a good position to look around for obvious features, however not so useful with no map.........
Wohoo! A reservoir! We were the best non map navigators in the land! Thanks Chris! This was as far as Luke could hack so he said his farewells a couple of miles south of the reservoir, we asked him how he was planning on getting back as his van was in Garrigill.....he said he would hitch hike! What a mission! We had a group picture and 3 became 2, we papped him leaving so he could live up to his lone ranger name, he got all embarrassed! We only had a couple of miles to Langdon Beck but it was so dramatic! First off, people living in Langdon Beck need to know what facilities they have, no one really knew of a campsite even though it was definatly in the area! Tarmac walking is no good for my sensituve toes and within minutes i went from wlakingunfortunatly there was no mobile phone signal so i made an arrow out of rocks pointing to the farm i went to incase she came back and i was gone, the farm turned out to be a really strange experience, it was full of random birds staring at me! No luck anyway so had to tuen back and there was no sign of Becks.
Next thing i know Becks is sat in front of a van waving at me! My first thought was that she found the campsite owner and he had drove to pick me up but on closer inspection it was Luke! Luke had come to our rescue! He said the second car that drive past him picked him up and dropped him in to Garrigill, as it only took him 15 minutes to get back he decided to drive to Langdon beck to see if we got there okay, what a hero! He chucked our bags in the back and i rode in the back of the van! No seat belt, how exciting! He dropped us off backtracking at the Youth Hostel
The owners of the Langdon Beck YH were amazingly wonderful people, he said we could pitch the tent outside of the YH and we could come in and used toilets,showers,drying room,kitchen and the lounge, so basically everything apart from the bedroom, we pretty much stayed in a youth hostel for free! We love standing up cooking and for once in 38 days we had toasted pitta breads!
The village hall toilets were open so it was 'wild camping' with benefits, today was going to be a bit of an experiment in terms of route finding as we didn't have a map...... Luke looked slightly concerned and we couldn't even say 'its fine, we've done this before' because we haven't we have never followed route instructions via text on the moors before, but the route text was from Chris Heaney so we had faith, if Chris Heaney said you don't need a map, then you don't need a map!
Today we were supposed to tackle cross fell and other hideous hills above 800m, which i have been dreading for about 3 weeks, Becks keeps telling me not to worry about a hill 3 weeks in advance, and as it turns out, i needn't have worried as we missed it out anyway! We missed this section out as it was going to be really tiring and we wern't Pennine Way keenos, our aim was not to complete the Pennine Way but to walk North to South, which we did, the alternative route given was more low level however we did have to cross a raging river!
So we started walking at 10am following the South Tyne Trail, it was one of the longest 3 and a half miles ever as it was a continuous obstacle course of styles! I am no mountain goat especially with a full rucksack, i looked like a giant slug trying to get over most of them! We managed to stay on course of the text instructions but it all went to pot when we got to the source of the Tyne, we must have missed the turning and ended up at a junction, I didn't want to make the call, so Luke took an executive decision and chose a path which 'looked good', good enough for us :) Far up on the hill in front we could see a large group of people walking, we put two and two together, i thought it looked like a large group on a circular walk meaning we weren't too far away from Cow Green reservoir and the car park, there was no path leading to them, so we went off piste!
Things were looking good until we discovered a river, quite a big fast flowing river blocking us to get to the other side! Luke the mountain goat just leaped across to the other side making it look far too easy - he did have a day sack! Myself and Becks walked further down to find a suitable place to cross, annoying Becks jumped across too! I have serious issues with balance and co-ordination and there was no way i was going to get to the other side without taking a swim! It wasn't a brilliantly warm day and i had clean socks (rarity)on so didn't fancy taking a swim. Luke came to my rescue and carried my bag over, i then manned up but had a bit jump in the middle of the river and wasn't 100% committed to it, your either 100% committed to a jump, or you don't do it! I was a mess in the middle of the river, Becks and Luke gave up on me and had lunch on the other side of the bank, Becks also decided to be official photographer to document the situation which was very thoughtful of her!
Finally made it across the other side and got a victory photo, it was a boggy off-piste walk to the path on the side of the hill and in no time we caught up with the people we could see when we were at the bottom on the other side of the river, turned out to be some kind of young mum convention, i don't know how they were all pushing prams on the path it was really rocky! We now had absolutely no idea where we were and as we were about to turn the corner we all prayed there would be a massive reservoir, we were up high so were in a good position to look around for obvious features, however not so useful with no map.........
Wohoo! A reservoir! We were the best non map navigators in the land! Thanks Chris! This was as far as Luke could hack so he said his farewells a couple of miles south of the reservoir, we asked him how he was planning on getting back as his van was in Garrigill.....he said he would hitch hike! What a mission! We had a group picture and 3 became 2, we papped him leaving so he could live up to his lone ranger name, he got all embarrassed! We only had a couple of miles to Langdon Beck but it was so dramatic! First off, people living in Langdon Beck need to know what facilities they have, no one really knew of a campsite even though it was definatly in the area! Tarmac walking is no good for my sensituve toes and within minutes i went from wlakingunfortunatly there was no mobile phone signal so i made an arrow out of rocks pointing to the farm i went to incase she came back and i was gone, the farm turned out to be a really strange experience, it was full of random birds staring at me! No luck anyway so had to tuen back and there was no sign of Becks.
Next thing i know Becks is sat in front of a van waving at me! My first thought was that she found the campsite owner and he had drove to pick me up but on closer inspection it was Luke! Luke had come to our rescue! He said the second car that drive past him picked him up and dropped him in to Garrigill, as it only took him 15 minutes to get back he decided to drive to Langdon beck to see if we got there okay, what a hero! He chucked our bags in the back and i rode in the back of the van! No seat belt, how exciting! He dropped us off backtracking at the Youth Hostel
The owners of the Langdon Beck YH were amazingly wonderful people, he said we could pitch the tent outside of the YH and we could come in and used toilets,showers,drying room,kitchen and the lounge, so basically everything apart from the bedroom, we pretty much stayed in a youth hostel for free! We love standing up cooking and for once in 38 days we had toasted pitta breads!
Day 37- Haltwhistle to Garrigill
It rained pretty much all day today. Well at least until Alton. The camping shop had a little book shop so after 20 days of no reading before bed, i was reunited with a lame Jackie Collins book, probably the heaviest book I could find also. I always find its going to be a sad day when you have to start in a raincoat, but we had decided to ditch of the Pennine Way and take the easy nav, 12 mile flat disused railway to Alston, i don't think Becks enjoys these tracks but i didn' think it was too bad, the PW runs parallel but via the hills, so whenever i felt bored i looked up and thought 'yes, i'd rather be down here'. So many dead rabbits en-route today! They started to look almost like they were 100m markers, throughout the day though they started to get slightly more gruesome! We reached the half way point at Slaggyford when i discovered a litre of undiluted orange juice had spilt all over my bag. Lovely, the aroma of sweaty orange! The most annoying part was firstly iy was a new bottle,so a waste of moeny and secondly, my raincover had been on my bag protecting everything, so actually everything underneath the raincover was getting wetter then things out in the rain........ Becks was wondering what the smell was, she said she smelt it a mile or so back! It was my own fault i remember not screwing the lid on, but, it could have been worse, no one died.,
After Slaggford the PW joined our track, and i wish it didn't as it was a kilometer of boggy marshy horribleness, i was glad when it went back up on to the hill! The disused railway was looking a little less disused and slightly more used, walking up workmen were fitting new bits of rail and laying down the stones....slightly worrying though was as we approached Alton, a train was coming along the track.....we wee hoping the driver knew that the track was going to run out in about a kilometer or 2 time and there were no turning points! We were worried for everyone on board.
We arrived in Alston which we were told was a town with a serious lack of girls in it and Margaret was telling us there was a documentery on it a while ago, i think its regained now as all we saw was girls! We definatly outstayed our welcome at a very cute cafe called blueberrys, we brought a cup of tea each and stayed in there for near enough 2 hours, but it was very cosy inside, and very raining outside. Our friend from uni Mr.Luke Milner had rang us and said he wanted to come and meet us to stay the night and walk with us for the day, he would be the first person we would meet that we actually know! He was coming from Keswick so we decided we would push on to Garrigill 3 and a half miles away and would hopefully beat his to Garrigill with the tent set up and dinner on. Yeah right! Firstly the shop in Alston was the last for 2 days so we had to stock up which meant our packs were extremely heavy, and next, Paddy Dillon forgot to mention that unless you are superman/woman the next 3 and a half miles would be pure hell if you are carrying a heavy rucksack. Cheers Paddy.
This was definalty the longest 3 and a half miles of the trip so far, and was a complication of fields, rivers, styles, charging cows and style gates. In usual Jade and Becks style we deviated off the PW path (this time accidently) and ended up getting tangled in trees, nettles and brambles along the river, we knew we couldn't have been on the right path as it was so overgrown, as yes, we were on the wrong path so we had to crawl under barbed wire to get back on track, as with dead rabbit markers every 100m earlier in the day, we were now greeted with a range of styles every 100m! Some of the were monster steps, they must have been created by someone about 8 foot tall! The biggest hurdle however, wasn't until 200m away from Garrigull, so close we could see the road and village, we were both halfway through a field which looked empty, when out of no where galloped a heard of massive black cows. I love cows, but these cows were far too inquisitive for their own good, they lined up in formation like they had been practicing and gradually got faster heading towards us, i just said to Becks, turn around and walk very quickly out if this field! I shouldn't have turned round as i was jujst watching them gain on us, back over the style we went we were back to square 1 and now further away from the road. Booo.
Of course, it's never as easy as just find the road, we had to take a 20 miniute de-tour through bog, under an electeric fence, through a field with grass up to our hips and then over a drystone wall which fortunately led us on to the road! Luke rang us wondering where we were, we tried to explain we were almost stampeeded and would be there within about 2 minutes. We were so relieved to turn the corner and see his white van with Luke popping out! Very lovely to see him so to celebrate, we went to the pub for lemonade and limes all round! Luke brought us dinner and chicken and chips has never gone down so well, so Luke if your reading this, we both very much appreciated dinner! It got to about 10pm and realized that all systems had completely gone out of the window as we hadn't even thought about a place to sleep! However in the time it took Luke to have a wee, me and becks had managed to sort us out accomodation fot the night with a lovely oath of brass outside of the village hall with parking for his van and toilets open all night :) We couldn't let Luke sleep in his van so we had a very squashed and sweaty night with the 3 of us in our Vango 200 storm!
After Slaggford the PW joined our track, and i wish it didn't as it was a kilometer of boggy marshy horribleness, i was glad when it went back up on to the hill! The disused railway was looking a little less disused and slightly more used, walking up workmen were fitting new bits of rail and laying down the stones....slightly worrying though was as we approached Alton, a train was coming along the track.....we wee hoping the driver knew that the track was going to run out in about a kilometer or 2 time and there were no turning points! We were worried for everyone on board.
We arrived in Alston which we were told was a town with a serious lack of girls in it and Margaret was telling us there was a documentery on it a while ago, i think its regained now as all we saw was girls! We definatly outstayed our welcome at a very cute cafe called blueberrys, we brought a cup of tea each and stayed in there for near enough 2 hours, but it was very cosy inside, and very raining outside. Our friend from uni Mr.Luke Milner had rang us and said he wanted to come and meet us to stay the night and walk with us for the day, he would be the first person we would meet that we actually know! He was coming from Keswick so we decided we would push on to Garrigill 3 and a half miles away and would hopefully beat his to Garrigill with the tent set up and dinner on. Yeah right! Firstly the shop in Alston was the last for 2 days so we had to stock up which meant our packs were extremely heavy, and next, Paddy Dillon forgot to mention that unless you are superman/woman the next 3 and a half miles would be pure hell if you are carrying a heavy rucksack. Cheers Paddy.
This was definalty the longest 3 and a half miles of the trip so far, and was a complication of fields, rivers, styles, charging cows and style gates. In usual Jade and Becks style we deviated off the PW path (this time accidently) and ended up getting tangled in trees, nettles and brambles along the river, we knew we couldn't have been on the right path as it was so overgrown, as yes, we were on the wrong path so we had to crawl under barbed wire to get back on track, as with dead rabbit markers every 100m earlier in the day, we were now greeted with a range of styles every 100m! Some of the were monster steps, they must have been created by someone about 8 foot tall! The biggest hurdle however, wasn't until 200m away from Garrigull, so close we could see the road and village, we were both halfway through a field which looked empty, when out of no where galloped a heard of massive black cows. I love cows, but these cows were far too inquisitive for their own good, they lined up in formation like they had been practicing and gradually got faster heading towards us, i just said to Becks, turn around and walk very quickly out if this field! I shouldn't have turned round as i was jujst watching them gain on us, back over the style we went we were back to square 1 and now further away from the road. Booo.
Of course, it's never as easy as just find the road, we had to take a 20 miniute de-tour through bog, under an electeric fence, through a field with grass up to our hips and then over a drystone wall which fortunately led us on to the road! Luke rang us wondering where we were, we tried to explain we were almost stampeeded and would be there within about 2 minutes. We were so relieved to turn the corner and see his white van with Luke popping out! Very lovely to see him so to celebrate, we went to the pub for lemonade and limes all round! Luke brought us dinner and chicken and chips has never gone down so well, so Luke if your reading this, we both very much appreciated dinner! It got to about 10pm and realized that all systems had completely gone out of the window as we hadn't even thought about a place to sleep! However in the time it took Luke to have a wee, me and becks had managed to sort us out accomodation fot the night with a lovely oath of brass outside of the village hall with parking for his van and toilets open all night :) We couldn't let Luke sleep in his van so we had a very squashed and sweaty night with the 3 of us in our Vango 200 storm!
Day 36- Stonehaugh to Haltwhistle
Woke up this morning completely and utterly midged, it was that bad I couldn't even pack my bag outside of the tent as I was being completely eaten alive, so we retreated to the amenities block to pack and got grass everywhere! We were the only people staying in the campsite aswell so there was no question who to point the blame at! We finally had the super noodles for breakfast which we were denied at Kirk Yetholm, becks couldn't believe we had carried them all this way without eating them!
Luckily we remembered we had the toilet key, and as we paid a £2 deposit, we wanted to make sure we got it back as £2 is £2! The campsite owner who we thought was strange last night was still strange today but generous and gave us a donation towards the Children's Hospice, so we were back on the road which would get us on to the glorious Pennine Way, i don't even think a kilometer was covered until i was surrounded in an army of flies! The path veered off on to what looked like a muddy, overgrown path, and of course, that was exactly what it was, I don't know why we expected anything less of the Pennine Way, it was absolutely hideous amd had to take off our rucksacks to crawl under trees which had fallen on to the path, we were then led to what can only be described as a mud pool, however, someone had very kindly placed a couple of round sinking logs in the middle of the pool, I do not have brilliant balance at the enst of times, never mind with a rucksack with the risk of getting sludged, so things were taken slowly, Becks mountain goated through and i just got........stuck. At one point i had gathered an audience as people were waiting the other side to cross over but they either got fed up waiting or realized that they had poorer balance than me decided to go off-piste and ventured in to the woods to get across, myself and Becks realised this option would not have worked for as we couldn't seem to veer more than 2m off the path without ending up somewhere we really shouldn't be!
We then made some quick progress and could see a gap in the crags above us which according to Paddy Dillons Pennine Way guide book, Hadrians wall was just behind it, no offence to Paddy, but please start writing guide books for the few who walk north to south, reading backwards was proving difficult, we got to the top of the crags and met Hadrians wall where a couple were feeding a baby, dragging a baby up seemed like really hard work, then i thought, my bag weighs about 5 or 6 babies! So far the weather has been on our side but looking behind us it looked like we were narrowly avoiding a soaking. Overall not amazingly impressed with Hadrians wall, i was interested in the history but didn't really understand that if they wanted to keep the Scots out of Eng;and, then surely if they got as far as the wall they have already managed to invade England? So the wall did look like any other drystone wall, Becks wanted a picture with it and i said you could have a picture with nay drystone wall and call it Hadrians Wall and no one would ever know! She later papped me sitting next to it with a 'Ha, i've got a picture of you and the wall'!
We spent a couple of hours walking along the wall but thanks to Chris and Vin we managed to cut off a section so instead of heading to Greenhead we went south to Haltwhistle, although the section we did do along the wall was crazy, very up and down, some scrambling, defiantly not suited for someone with a full rucksack! We met a guy on top of the wall who was selling drinks and sweets to raise money for mainstream Inca Trail, we brought some wine gums as we knew what it felt like to stand all day fundraising! I was impressed with all of the reading paraphernalia en-route, plenty to keep me going, we were led out on to a carpark which used to be an old quarry with toilets so in expedition style, they were used and abused, when we were sat in the carpark legfarging i said to Beck, 'Look, it looks like that hill has been cut in half!' She was like dum dum, you just told me it used to be a quarry!
Haltwhistle wasn't too much of a mission away but we were tired, we expected it to be a small town but when we got there it turned out to be the center of Britain! We couldn't quite work out distances but we did cheesy poses by the signposts and felt proud to have been at the top, middle, and heading to the bottom! I am suprised it took 36 days, but today was the day we were asked if we were hobos. We knew it was coming, just not sure when. We were walking down the street when 4 or 5 boys aged about 12 started asking us what we were doing, they didnt believe us when we said we had walked from JOG, so one asked 'are you hobos?' his friend nudged him and said you can't ask them that, thats really rude! So we had to explain that yes we did have lovely houses with masses of soft furnishings in them, and we were kind of walking towards them.
My feet felt a tad trench footy so i swapped and donned on the flip flops for the last 2 miles of walking to the campsite, the extra 2 miles today, meant 2miles les tomorrow! It was another camping and caravaning site which gave us a bad vibe, but it turned out to be quaint plus it was a fiver each, we thought we would be camped with the rest of the tents, but no, we were led out of the site, past the barrier which allows the cars though to a green called 'squirrel square' which was well midge.
Luckily we remembered we had the toilet key, and as we paid a £2 deposit, we wanted to make sure we got it back as £2 is £2! The campsite owner who we thought was strange last night was still strange today but generous and gave us a donation towards the Children's Hospice, so we were back on the road which would get us on to the glorious Pennine Way, i don't even think a kilometer was covered until i was surrounded in an army of flies! The path veered off on to what looked like a muddy, overgrown path, and of course, that was exactly what it was, I don't know why we expected anything less of the Pennine Way, it was absolutely hideous amd had to take off our rucksacks to crawl under trees which had fallen on to the path, we were then led to what can only be described as a mud pool, however, someone had very kindly placed a couple of round sinking logs in the middle of the pool, I do not have brilliant balance at the enst of times, never mind with a rucksack with the risk of getting sludged, so things were taken slowly, Becks mountain goated through and i just got........stuck. At one point i had gathered an audience as people were waiting the other side to cross over but they either got fed up waiting or realized that they had poorer balance than me decided to go off-piste and ventured in to the woods to get across, myself and Becks realised this option would not have worked for as we couldn't seem to veer more than 2m off the path without ending up somewhere we really shouldn't be!
We then made some quick progress and could see a gap in the crags above us which according to Paddy Dillons Pennine Way guide book, Hadrians wall was just behind it, no offence to Paddy, but please start writing guide books for the few who walk north to south, reading backwards was proving difficult, we got to the top of the crags and met Hadrians wall where a couple were feeding a baby, dragging a baby up seemed like really hard work, then i thought, my bag weighs about 5 or 6 babies! So far the weather has been on our side but looking behind us it looked like we were narrowly avoiding a soaking. Overall not amazingly impressed with Hadrians wall, i was interested in the history but didn't really understand that if they wanted to keep the Scots out of Eng;and, then surely if they got as far as the wall they have already managed to invade England? So the wall did look like any other drystone wall, Becks wanted a picture with it and i said you could have a picture with nay drystone wall and call it Hadrians Wall and no one would ever know! She later papped me sitting next to it with a 'Ha, i've got a picture of you and the wall'!
We spent a couple of hours walking along the wall but thanks to Chris and Vin we managed to cut off a section so instead of heading to Greenhead we went south to Haltwhistle, although the section we did do along the wall was crazy, very up and down, some scrambling, defiantly not suited for someone with a full rucksack! We met a guy on top of the wall who was selling drinks and sweets to raise money for mainstream Inca Trail, we brought some wine gums as we knew what it felt like to stand all day fundraising! I was impressed with all of the reading paraphernalia en-route, plenty to keep me going, we were led out on to a carpark which used to be an old quarry with toilets so in expedition style, they were used and abused, when we were sat in the carpark legfarging i said to Beck, 'Look, it looks like that hill has been cut in half!' She was like dum dum, you just told me it used to be a quarry!
Haltwhistle wasn't too much of a mission away but we were tired, we expected it to be a small town but when we got there it turned out to be the center of Britain! We couldn't quite work out distances but we did cheesy poses by the signposts and felt proud to have been at the top, middle, and heading to the bottom! I am suprised it took 36 days, but today was the day we were asked if we were hobos. We knew it was coming, just not sure when. We were walking down the street when 4 or 5 boys aged about 12 started asking us what we were doing, they didnt believe us when we said we had walked from JOG, so one asked 'are you hobos?' his friend nudged him and said you can't ask them that, thats really rude! So we had to explain that yes we did have lovely houses with masses of soft furnishings in them, and we were kind of walking towards them.
My feet felt a tad trench footy so i swapped and donned on the flip flops for the last 2 miles of walking to the campsite, the extra 2 miles today, meant 2miles les tomorrow! It was another camping and caravaning site which gave us a bad vibe, but it turned out to be quaint plus it was a fiver each, we thought we would be camped with the rest of the tents, but no, we were led out of the site, past the barrier which allows the cars though to a green called 'squirrel square' which was well midge.
Day 35- Forest to Stonehaugh
Quick apology that we've been so behind on blog but we've had real trouble finding internet anywhere and have been rather busy! :) People have suggested missing out days and writing them in after or writing in less detail but we want to share all the stories so please bare with is :)
Woke up terrified!! Scariest wake up call ever! A massive lorry drove inches past our tent at 7:00 am and we thought it was going to flatten us! However, it was very effective and we were up and all ready to walk by 7:55. As soon as we got walking the flies were out in full force and already following jade....she was instantly annoyed!
Today it was pretty cloudy and it was raining on and off. The path led us up out of the forest and through a really boggy way before we came out on to the open moorland. The path was boggy and muddy but also like an assault course, we had to take our bags off at one point to crawl under a massive tree that had fallen down on the path. Our shoes and socks were wet in no time! After following the path across the moorlands we then ended up at a farm, from here Bellingham wasn't far, however, it took us ages to get there and we blame the signposts....they are rubbish! We think the Pennine Way is biased and doesn't like people that are walking North to South! We ended up following a footpath sign into a field full of sheep and got to the end of the field to find that a massive bull was standing right in the gateway that we wanted to get through. We were scared and didn't want to walk past it so we decided to go through another gate further around which lead us through another field. We snuck around the edge of this over field which was really high grass and hoped the bull wouldnt see us but the sheep definately gave away our sneaking! They were all either really noisy or they'd suddenly go really quiet....thanks! So we got back into the field we wanted to be in and had successfully managed to sneak past the bull only to find that there was no way out of the field, it was a dead end! So we had to sneak back out again and army crawl under an electric fence! Anyway, we finally arrived in Bellingham and brought cake from the cute little bakery before having a nice long break and cup of tea in a cafe further down the road.
Full of tea and cake we carried on our way. We somehow managed to loose the Pennine Way again but got back on it easily enough. We past the noisiest cow ever that seemed to have been sectioned off into its own field, it was standing up on a high stony ledge and howling like a wolf as we walked past, we could here it all the way down the road.
We wanted to stay at a campsite tonight and saw one on the map which was slightly off route at a place called Stonehaugh. We weren't sure the best way to get there or even exactly where we were so we decided to knock on a farmhouse door and ask. The couple that lived there were lovely and when they heard what we were doing brought us out a cup of tea and kitkat each, gave us some sponsorship money and googled the campsite for us because they weren't totally sure that it was a proper campsite. They also had a really cute dog called Friday (Jade swears it was called Wednesday) and a cat called Alice! Turns out it was a proper campsite and the easiest way to get there was on the road so we decided to do that.
We got to the campsite and went and payed but it was a crazy pricing system, had to pay per person and then for a tent on top! Surely you either should pay per person or per tent....not both! There was also a key system for the toilets which we don't like, however, the campsite was quite nice. Lights in the showers were a bit weird though they went out after about 1 minute so had to take it in turns- one in the shower one on light duty! Would be tricky if you were camping on your own!!!
Woke up terrified!! Scariest wake up call ever! A massive lorry drove inches past our tent at 7:00 am and we thought it was going to flatten us! However, it was very effective and we were up and all ready to walk by 7:55. As soon as we got walking the flies were out in full force and already following jade....she was instantly annoyed!
Today it was pretty cloudy and it was raining on and off. The path led us up out of the forest and through a really boggy way before we came out on to the open moorland. The path was boggy and muddy but also like an assault course, we had to take our bags off at one point to crawl under a massive tree that had fallen down on the path. Our shoes and socks were wet in no time! After following the path across the moorlands we then ended up at a farm, from here Bellingham wasn't far, however, it took us ages to get there and we blame the signposts....they are rubbish! We think the Pennine Way is biased and doesn't like people that are walking North to South! We ended up following a footpath sign into a field full of sheep and got to the end of the field to find that a massive bull was standing right in the gateway that we wanted to get through. We were scared and didn't want to walk past it so we decided to go through another gate further around which lead us through another field. We snuck around the edge of this over field which was really high grass and hoped the bull wouldnt see us but the sheep definately gave away our sneaking! They were all either really noisy or they'd suddenly go really quiet....thanks! So we got back into the field we wanted to be in and had successfully managed to sneak past the bull only to find that there was no way out of the field, it was a dead end! So we had to sneak back out again and army crawl under an electric fence! Anyway, we finally arrived in Bellingham and brought cake from the cute little bakery before having a nice long break and cup of tea in a cafe further down the road.
Full of tea and cake we carried on our way. We somehow managed to loose the Pennine Way again but got back on it easily enough. We past the noisiest cow ever that seemed to have been sectioned off into its own field, it was standing up on a high stony ledge and howling like a wolf as we walked past, we could here it all the way down the road.
We wanted to stay at a campsite tonight and saw one on the map which was slightly off route at a place called Stonehaugh. We weren't sure the best way to get there or even exactly where we were so we decided to knock on a farmhouse door and ask. The couple that lived there were lovely and when they heard what we were doing brought us out a cup of tea and kitkat each, gave us some sponsorship money and googled the campsite for us because they weren't totally sure that it was a proper campsite. They also had a really cute dog called Friday (Jade swears it was called Wednesday) and a cat called Alice! Turns out it was a proper campsite and the easiest way to get there was on the road so we decided to do that.
We got to the campsite and went and payed but it was a crazy pricing system, had to pay per person and then for a tent on top! Surely you either should pay per person or per tent....not both! There was also a key system for the toilets which we don't like, however, the campsite was quite nice. Lights in the showers were a bit weird though they went out after about 1 minute so had to take it in turns- one in the shower one on light duty! Would be tricky if you were camping on your own!!!
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Day 34- Chew Green to roughly 5miles south of bryness (forest)
We didn't really want to leave this morning but knew that if we didn't leave today we never would, so we got up and started packing up. After another yummy breakfast we got in the car and Margaret and vin drove us back to chew green where they picked us up from. I felt a bit car sick on the way there as the roads were pretty windy so we had to stop on the way so I could get out and get some fresh air, Margaret also let me in the front which was really nice of her!
At chew green margaret and vin walked us back up to the path and waved us off...we were on our way again, bags full of food that Margaret had given us. The first part of the walk down to byrness was really boggy and we had to keep zig zagging and keeping out wide to find some ground that we wouldn't sink through! It was also raining! The very last bit into byrness was through a forest and it was actually ridiculous! It was like an obstacle course...muddy, rocky, overgrown and very steep in places! We finally made it down this dangerous section of path and ended up in a field that we couldn't get out of. We couldn't find the gate anywhere! We decided to have a food break and then worry about getting out of the field after but this wasn't as leisurely as it sounded as we were soon being attacked by midges!
We finally managed to get out of the field and walked along the road then down through another forest....here is where the day started to get really frustrating! We ended up missing our turning and walking right into the forest which we weren't meant to do. We spent ages wondering around forest tracks and looking at the map and in the guidebook trying to work out where we went wrong. In the end we realised we must have got lost pretty much as soon as we got on this track off of the road so walked back to a campsite that we passed. We asked in the campsite for directions and the man in reception who seemed a bit strange told us to go right back over the bridge and there was a little gate there that we were meant to go through. Whilst we were there we used the toilets and there was a strange sign which said "if you hate children don't turn off the lights and the taps"....we think they were trying to be dramatic but we had to read it a couple of times to understand and thought they could have just written "please turn off the lights." Anyway, we walked right back to the bridge we thought the man meant to then have to walk all the way back when we asked another girl for help and she said the path was next to the bridge that was right next to the campsite! Eurgh!! Very annoying!! After wasting hours wandering around we were finally back on the pennine way, by now it was 5 o'clock! We knew we wouldnt get to Bellingham now which had been the plan so we decided just to walk on a bit further and find somewhere to wild camp.
We ended up camping 5 miles further on in a forest, on a small bit of grass right beside the track. We decided to camp here although it wasn't the best wild camping spot ever as the guidebook said that it was really boggy the other side of the forest. By now it had stopped raining and it was actually a really nice evening, however we had to hide in the tent as there were midges absolutely everywhere! I have never seen so many midges on a fly sheet!! We were surrounded. Fortunately Margaret had made us some pasta so we didn't have to sit outside and cook and get eatqen alive!
At chew green margaret and vin walked us back up to the path and waved us off...we were on our way again, bags full of food that Margaret had given us. The first part of the walk down to byrness was really boggy and we had to keep zig zagging and keeping out wide to find some ground that we wouldn't sink through! It was also raining! The very last bit into byrness was through a forest and it was actually ridiculous! It was like an obstacle course...muddy, rocky, overgrown and very steep in places! We finally made it down this dangerous section of path and ended up in a field that we couldn't get out of. We couldn't find the gate anywhere! We decided to have a food break and then worry about getting out of the field after but this wasn't as leisurely as it sounded as we were soon being attacked by midges!
We finally managed to get out of the field and walked along the road then down through another forest....here is where the day started to get really frustrating! We ended up missing our turning and walking right into the forest which we weren't meant to do. We spent ages wondering around forest tracks and looking at the map and in the guidebook trying to work out where we went wrong. In the end we realised we must have got lost pretty much as soon as we got on this track off of the road so walked back to a campsite that we passed. We asked in the campsite for directions and the man in reception who seemed a bit strange told us to go right back over the bridge and there was a little gate there that we were meant to go through. Whilst we were there we used the toilets and there was a strange sign which said "if you hate children don't turn off the lights and the taps"....we think they were trying to be dramatic but we had to read it a couple of times to understand and thought they could have just written "please turn off the lights." Anyway, we walked right back to the bridge we thought the man meant to then have to walk all the way back when we asked another girl for help and she said the path was next to the bridge that was right next to the campsite! Eurgh!! Very annoying!! After wasting hours wandering around we were finally back on the pennine way, by now it was 5 o'clock! We knew we wouldnt get to Bellingham now which had been the plan so we decided just to walk on a bit further and find somewhere to wild camp.
We ended up camping 5 miles further on in a forest, on a small bit of grass right beside the track. We decided to camp here although it wasn't the best wild camping spot ever as the guidebook said that it was really boggy the other side of the forest. By now it had stopped raining and it was actually a really nice evening, however we had to hide in the tent as there were midges absolutely everywhere! I have never seen so many midges on a fly sheet!! We were surrounded. Fortunately Margaret had made us some pasta so we didn't have to sit outside and cook and get eatqen alive!
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