Category: Cape Wrath to Hastings
Day 59: Catherine-de-Barnes – Grand Union Canal( – Knowle – Kingswood Junction) – Stratford Canal ( -Lowsonford – Wooten Wawen – Wilmcote – Stratford-upon-Avon) – Alveston
23.0 miles – Still-brooding, English-summer-grey skies, warm, close GRAND UNION CANAL Kingswood Junction The Grand Union and Stratford-upon-Avon Canals come
Day 58: Hopwas – Birmingham & Fazeley Canal – Fazeley Junction – Curdworth – Birmingham ( – Erdington – Salford Junction – Aston Junction – Grand Union Canal – Yardley – Orton) – Solihull – Catherine-de-Barnes
27.4 miles – ponderous skies, which having considered things, deposited their rain, and then returned to self-contemplation I had camped
Day 57: Burton-upon-Trent – Trent and Mersey Canal – (Alrewas – Fradley Junction) – Coventry Canal – (Whittington – Hopwas)
18.7 miles – turbulent clouds which might have gone either way, but finally did the decent thing, and resolved into
Day 56: Burton-upon-Trent (rest day)
On which a young man from the hotel burst into my room without knocking with a package for me, and
Day 55: Burton-upon-Trent (rest day)
On which I did my laundry and then ventured out (briefly) into 38 Centigrade. Staying here was a good decision:
Day 54: Alsop (nearly) – Alsop Station – Tissington Station – Ashbourne – Wyaston – Yeakley – Alkmonton – Church Broughton – Marston-inDove – Rolleston-in-Dove – Burton-upon-Trent
27.2 miles – dusty, turbid heat, stale, murky sunshine I had three pieces of good luck to help me on
Day 53: Perry Dale – Peak Forrest – Hay Dale, Peter Dale, Monk’s Dale – Miller’s Dale Station – Chee Tor Tunnels – Sparklow – Hartington Station – Alsop (nearly)
23.2 miles – clear sunshine all day, becoming baking hot later I left at 6:15. It was one of those
Day 52: Clough Edge – Bleaklow – Featherbed Moss – Mill Hill – William Clough – Hayfield – South Head – Perry Dale
17.0 miles – Tearful grey skies which speak of failed endeavours and hopeless futures, windy, wet, cold Did I mention
Day 51: Marsden Moor (Eastergate) – Marsden – Butterfly, Blakeley, Wessenden, and Wessenden Head Reservoirs – Black Hill – Torside Reservoir – Clough Edge
16.8 miles – Classic sun and clouds I awoke at 4:20, teaed, breakfasted, and set off at five past six.
Day 50: Hebden Bridge – Stoodley Pike – Blackstone Edge Moor – White Hill – Marsden Moor (Eastergate)
Warm and sunny with a lovely, cooling breeze – idyllic walking weather I bought the maps I needed in Hebden
Day 49: Lothersdale – Lane Ends – Slippery Ford – Oakworth – Haworth – Hebden Bridge
22.0 miles – sultry skies, but the air still gluey ‘I need a shower!’ ‘I must buy a map!’ These
Day 48: Marsden – Airton – Gargrave – East Marton – Thornton-in-Craven – Lothersdale
15.5 miles – floury-blue sky, molten steel sunshine, oozing, viscous heat (27 Centigrade) It was already soldering hot before 9:00.
Day 47: Cragdale – Wharfdale (Buckden – Kettlewell – Conistone) – Malham
22.3 miles – Searing blue sky, honey-of-the-gods sunshine I awoke at five. the air was still as the moment, alive
Day 46: Keld – Angram – Thwaite – Hawes – Burtersett – Countersett – Stalling Busk – Cragdale
16.9 miles – Daisy-blue sky, pale ale sunshine Having fussed so much about moorland yesterday, it was high time I
Day 45: Baldersdale – Stainmore Forest – Bowes Moor – Tan Hill – Keld
14.9 miles – Milky-blue skies, lemon-blancmange sunshine, breezy, overcast later I spent almost all the day on moorland; it’s wild
Day 44: Langdon Beck – Middleton-in-Teesdale – Lunedale – Baldersdale
15.5 miles – warm, sunny, a gentle breeze I rejoined the Pennine Way, to which I have been paying scant
Day 43: Alston – Garrigill – Upper Tyne Valley – Teesdale – Langdon Beck
16.3 miles – Greyed out skies and hills, rain, often heavy, strong winds in the afternoon It’s not just that
Day 42: Twice Brewed – Haltwhistle – Lambly – Slaggyford – Alston
19.7 miles – DRY AT LAST, cloudy, sunshine later Haltwhistle is an unassuming little town, with the same quality of
Day 41: Whitley Pike – Bellingham – Shitlington – Kielder Forrest (another bit) – Hadrian’s Wall – Twice Brewed
23.4 miles – Mostly overcast, strong winds, completely superfluous rain, some sunshine later In deference to my readers, I have
Day 40 – Cheviot Hills (Beefsand Hill – Chew Green) – Byrness – Kielder Forrest – Whitley Pike
19.5 miles – Mostly overcast, breezy I awoke at 4:30, got up at 5:30, and left before 7:00. Condensation had