14th May 2024: Bellingham to Twice Brewed – 14.5 miles
I was awake about 3.30am, then again at 4.30 and again at about 6am. I felt refreshed though, despite that and finally stirred myself into action about 6.45. Breakfast was OK, albeit a bit late and my plan to be out walking by 8am suffered because of that. The Barn is a nice B&B, it’s quiet and the room is separated from the rest of the house by a conservatory, where you have breakfast and can sit and lounge if you choose.
In the end I was out and walking by about 8.15. The weather forecast had changed significantly since I’d seen it on the TV in the cafe yesterday afternoon. That forecast had predicted rain all morning at least, and probably on into the afternoon. The one I looked on my phone this morning suggested I may get away with another dry day, although it was going to be overcast, a little cooler than the last couple of days and maybe a little windy. So I set out in baselayer and shirt with my hard shell at the top of my pack, ready to be deployed quickly if needed.
The first mile or so eased me gently into what would be a day of many short ascents. It follows the road, then cuts across a few fields, chock-a-block with ewes and lambs, and then across some rough pasture to reach the tower of the relay station on Ealingham Rigg. I didn’t divert to the trig point, just like I hadn’t diverted to any of the minor tops on the first couple of days.
I had to shoo some cows and a massive bull away from a gate just before Shitlington Hall, but they weren’t a problem even though some of them executed a deft pincer movement and tried to come up behind me, but I turned and shouted at them and they quickly withdrew in disarray.
The next few miles are all quite pedantic, through fields and pastures, crossing dozens of boundaries, many of which are still stiles, some with locked gates beside them. The signage is easy to follow though, as you’d expect on a National Trail.
Dave at breakfast a couple of days ago, had mentioned an honesty cabin with cold drinks and snacks, along this section and I thought I’d been keeping an eye out for it. It wasn’t until I was closing a gate behind me that I noticed a sign for it. The sign was obviously for south to northers and there hadn’t been one for us southern bound walkers. It was a shame, but I wasn’t prepared to backtrack the 2 fields identified on the sign. For reference, it seems to be at Horneystead Farm, between The Ash and Longlee Rigg.
It tried to rain for a few minutes, but I called its bluff, refusing to put my coat on. I was already damp, from sweat, so unless it persisted or got heavier I was prepared to wait for a while. Sure enough, it stopped a few minutes later and although it was cooler now, it wasn’t uncomfortable.
The path, as uninspiring as this section is, was at least dry underfoot and the long views ahead were enough to keep my spirits up. I met my first walker about 10.30, obviously doing the Pennine Way (they’re easy to spot) and we exchanged a few words. I couldn’t decide initially whether he was Irish or Dutch, but in the end I think it was the former. I made a quick internal headcount as we said our goodbyes, and he was the 17th north bound walker I’ve seen.
- the group of 4 coming down Auchope
- the 2 lads at the Cheviot junction who went the wrong way
- the four lads staying in Forest View
- Nigel, also at Forest View
- three solo walkers and the couple from yesterday
The Way now passes a dense plantation, on a tarmac drive that I have no memory of from either of my previous walks. It soon leaves the trees behind and climbs up a long straight section. I was gratified to find a bench (of sorts) at the top of the climb and I took my first proper break of the day here. It was almost 11am and I’d covered over 7 miles. I had a banana (again nicked from breakfast) and a KitKat Chunky and half of my juice. It was warm and although the pack doesn’t feel as oppressive as it did the first couple of days, it’s great to have it off my back for a while, if only to let the sweat on my shirt dry off a bit.
The path left the road a short time later and used a lovely grassy track to climb between the remains of a dry stone wall and a wood comprising native species, rather than the usual conifer plantation. It winds like this for a short distance before emerging into a blasted landscape of more felled trees and stumps. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, but I’m sure this was all forest when I walked it last time. I remember two pleasant forest sections broken in the middle with the fine moorland stretch of Haughton Common, with a circular sheep fold in the middle of it.
What I got now was desolation; stumps, scrub and huge berms made of dead sticks and branches that weren’t worth processing. These were 10 or 15 feet high and went on for hundreds of yards without any gaps, and I shuddered to think what they’d be like if you needed to cross one.
The Pennine Way marker posts hadn’t been felled of course and they pointed the way across the landscape. The path was mostly on a good green track, probably exactly as it had been when it had wound through the forest, a few years ago.
I met number 18 as I was leaving what would have been the first forested section. He’d only just started from Twice Brewed, having had to abandon his walk there last year. He had a massive pack on and admitted to feeling a little out of condition, but he sounded determined to finish this time.
The fine moorland section was just as fine as I remember it from last time, although it was a damn site more boggy than I remember. I managed to stay mostly dry shod, I never over topped my boots and the new Salomons seem to be fairly waterproof. There’s loads of cotton grass flowering at the moment, all bobbing their heads in the breeze.
Beyond Haughton Common there should be another forested section, but that’s also been felled. It wasn’t until I reached Mollerstone Sike that I met vertical trees again. I joined the forestry road here and the trees are mostly new growth and widely spaced. I rounded a bend in the road and ahead I could see the Sill. I could even make out Rapishaw Gap, where the Pennine Way meets Hadrian’s Wall. A mile or so further on and I left the forest (or what was left of it) behind for good. It was fields and rough pasture now, all the way to the Wall. I was just about to close a large stock gate when I saw number 19 approaching the gate. I held it open for him and we chatted for a moment. He was the last Pennine Way walker of the day. Only the third person of any sort I’d seen since I left Bellingham.
There’s an annoying ‘false summit’ of a ridge before you reach the ridge on which Hadrian built his Wall. I’m feeling pretty strong now though, and even after the best part of 12 miles it didn’t bother me. I stopped on a handy step stile for my second lunch here and as I was setting out I felt the temperature drop and the sky went quite dark, so I put my coat on. Within 2 minutes it started raining. The sort of rain that would have made me soaked, so I would have needed to stop and put it on if my spidey senses hadn’t tingled.
Within quite literally 2 minutes of joining the Wall at Rapishaw, I met more people walking, than I had in the previous 4 days put together. Most had boots and packs, waterproofs and sticks and were probably doing the Wall walk. There were plenty of day-tippers mingled in there too, herds of folk all of whom demanded a ‘hello’ or ‘afternoon’.
I don’t remember the path above Crag Lough being as harsh as it is now. I guess it’s been upgraded to cope with the number of feet that use it now. There were scores of people on it. Despite the path, I still enjoyed the section through the wood above the Lough, and I stopped here for a moment to take off my coat. The rain had stopped and I was sweating inside it, but I just looped it though my pack lid, in case it was needed quickly.
The path beside the wall is like a roller coaster, following the edge of the Sill and my knees were complaining loudly at each descent. I even had a couple of people stop and allow me to come down, ‘no need to hurry’ the woman said to me. I must have looked a wreck!
Sycamore Gap was a punch in the gut of course. A blond female reporter was doing a piece to camera standing beside the fenced off remains of the old stump. I waited until she finished before I dropped down. The tree itself has been removed, which I think is probably a good thing – I can’t imagine how depressing this place would look if it was still lying there. In my opinion, they should wait until a new tree has grown tall enough and strong enough to support the weight of a person, then they should sting up whoever cut the old tree down. Whatever sentence they get for criminal damage, or whatever they can be charged with is just not enough for the damage that’s been done, both to the ancient tree and the site.
Beyond Sycamore Gap, I decided I wasn’t walking Hadrian’s Wall, so there was no real need to stick to the path that climbs and falls continually beside the wall. I dropped down to the parallel path, a few dozen yards away, which is much less undulating. I decided at this point that I would stop today at Twice Brewed, get the bus into Haltwhistle and return there in the morning, rathrythan walking all the way into the town. I’d missed the 13.04 bus, but it would be less than an hour to wait for the next one at 15.04.
As I was joining the road that leads down to the pub I met a solo lady walker. She said hello and started chatting away. She was doing Hadrian’s Wall, east to West though and was also heading down to the pub to wait for the time she could get into her B&B. Her name was Gill, from Melbourne in Oz, and we swapped walking stories as we walked to the pub. Inside we sat together and chatted happily for almost an hour. She’d done a couple of huge walks, including Canterbury to Rome and one of the Caminos, so I imagine Hadrian’s Wall was just a leg stretcher for something more serious later in the year.
Eventually I had to leave to catch the bus, which brought me into Haltwhistle about 3.25, which was a bit too early to get into my key-box managed B&B. I walked over to Sainsbury’s and stocked up on drinks and snacks for tonight and tomorrow. It pissed it down while I was inside, but had cleared when I came out again. I got into the B&B without any issues and I’ve just had a chippy tea. There’s actually no breakfast in my B&B, but I’ve seen a cafe over the road which opens in enty of time for me to catch the bus back to Twice Brewed.
I’ll leave it there for tonight. My lids are drooping and I’m going to have another early night I think.
Four down, five to go! Happy days!
4 thoughts on “Pennine Way (North to South) 2024 – Day 4”
Hello, nice blog. I will be doing my 5 attempt on the PW this year, N-S (1 – S to N split meniscus coming into Crowden, 2 – S to N my mother passed away when I was at Tan Hill, 3 – N to S I fractured my left tibia, and actually soldiered on strapped up and living off pain killers from just before Tan Hill all the way to Studley Pike, before I could not longer walk at all. The break was just below the knee, and I thought it was meniscus again – x-ray proved otherwise! 4 – N to S my blisters went septic to the point that I got trench foot and quit at Gargrave. This attempt I shall be going N to S again. My last attempt was just after Covid, and I think it was storm Eunace that had knocked down most of the forest between Ladyhill and Hardrian’s Wall. An approx 5 mile detour was needed and I ended rough sleeping in the forest. Question: is that detour still required (turn left = east at Ladyhill, and a couple of miles on turn right into the forest) or is the original route reopened (turn right = west at Ladyhill, and then a short way further on head south into the forest).
Jesus Richard, have you ever considered that the Pennine Way may not be the right walk for you 😁 – I’ve never heard such a list of injuries, and I thought I was injury prone! From Ladyhill south it’s just a sea of stumps – all the trees have been felled and harvested, and the path is clear all the way to Haughton Common and onwards to the Wall – no diversion needed anymore!
I’m winding myself up for another (probably final) south to north traverse in 2026, to put to bed the Pennine Way once and for all – as you will have read, my north to south walk was less than satisfying, and I need to wrap it all up with a proper south to north completion.
Good luck in your next attempt, and please let me know how you get on and what you think of the north to south route.
Thx. Thats good to know. Yup. Climbed many big mountains, done plenty of treks. But the PW keeps defeating me. I have actually done the thing a couple of times over in bits (in addition to the 4 full distance failed attempts. BUT it doesn’t count in my mind cos end 2 end it keeps on beating me. My family thinks I’m nuts … maybe I am. This year I was going to do the full Camino from Le Puy, cross the Pyrenees, thru Santiago to Finisterre. Planned the whole thing BUT the PW calked me back!
Oh. Some comments on N to S. I am sure that you know this, but maybe others don’t: the PW is traditionally walked S to N because the original guidebook was written S to N, and because weather – both sun and wind (and therefore rain) – are at your back. In fact, I have read online content that actually describes the PW as a S to N walk along the backbone of England ending in Scotland, without deference to the fact that it can, in fact, be walked in the opposite direction.
Having attempted it in both directions twice, I can honestly say that I prefer N-S by a long margin. Here are my personal reasons. Believe it or not, the 2 biggest reasons are psychological.
1. I feel as if I am walking downhill !
2. I was born in Huddersfield and now my daughters live in London. Heading south feels as if I am heading home and getting closer to my goal. Heading N feels the opposite.
3. Logistics / psychological. I like to get underway and also out again fast. It is possible to catch a morning train from Yorkshire, to Berwick, then buses to Kirk Yetholm, and be in a bivvy on Windy Gyle by 8pm. Similarly, it is possible to fly from London to Edinburgh, buses to Kirk Yetholm and be in a bivvy on Windy Gyle by 8pm. You might say that it is just as easy to catch a train to Edale and be in Crowden the same day. BUT, logistically, the northern entry is more complicated, and I like to get it out of the way when fresh and not desperate to get home. Also, trains from Edale are frequent to Manchester so you can finish in the evening and be back in civilization that night. At the other end, arriving in Kirk Yetholm there are only 2 buses each day which limits transport options (although I have not actually managed to leave from either the S or the N entry to the PW as yet.)
4. Shops etc. I rough camp / bivvy a lot. Not cos I am skint (anything but!), I just like to keep moving until I feel it is time to stop, which might be in a town or might be in the middle of nowhere. As such, carrying food is important. Although the day 1, 2 and 3 of the PW are the most remote heading N to S, I can supply in Kelso between buses, then I can resupply in Bellingham (Byrness is useless – and a quick comment on the Foresters in Byrness – it was “permanently” shut when I passed through in 2022, unless it has been reopened – and no shops in Byrness). But overall, its only 2 nights I need grub. By the time I get to Greenhead then I am ready for a shower and a bed. But the northern section onwards is great for resupplying in general all the way past Gargrave. Starting in the south, there is pretty much nothing after Manchester, starting the walk in Edale, all the way through to Gargrave, unless you take detours end of each day and/or eat in expensive joints. Going S to N D1 Crowden has only a limited shop in the campsite there, and its not always open. D2 There is a burger stall SOMETIMES crossing the A645 at Wessenden Head. There is nothing at Standedge without a detour into Marsden. D3 There is nothing until Hebden Bridge and the PW passes quite a way west of Hebden Bridge – so a detour is required again. D4 Last time I passed through Colden, May’s Shop wasn’t open, and there is nothing at Ponden (I have eaten at the Old Silent Inn a couple of times. D5 … there are finally good supply options in Gargrave. So basically, supply options are much better in the N than in the S, and I consider it better to head S to N, resupply well in Gargrave and push on to the end, rather than starve at the outset.
5. Prevailing winds and sun. I never noticed a difference, and I like wind and rain on my face anyway. And I much prefer the sun (if there is any) on my face rather than my back. So heading N to S gets my vote by a small margin for weather reasons.
Thats my 2 cents worth.