LEJOG
Distance walked – 29.2km (18.3miles)
Total Distance – 944km (590.1miles)
Out on the wily, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green
Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights
Breakfast companions
We set off early from the Hebden Bridge Hostel this morning. The hostel was excellent and had a great communal kitchen and dining room/lounge which meant we were able to cook our own dinner last night rather than eating out which made a welcome change.
Hebden Bridge is a really lovely, interesting looking town with lots of quirky shops, cafes and restaurants. Unfortunately we were too tired to look around yesterday afternoon and everything was shut this morning, so it was a bit wasted on us. (In retrospect it would have made a good place for a rest day).
We bought some coffees and pastries at the Co-op which we ate in a churchyard surrounded by a group of very disinterested swans. We saw Steve from yesterday’s B and B having breakfast in a very nice looking pub as we walked past the window. He waved heartily. We may see him later today as he walks faster than us without a heavy backpack.
Straight up
Hebden Bridge is not officially on the Pennine Way (PW) but there is an unofficial loop path in and out that we took. The official end to yesterday’s stage is on a road in the middle of nowhere (slightly weird PW routing again), so it makes sense to take the loop into Hebden Bridge where there is accommodation and a supermarket. The loop is well signed now, so luckily we didn’t have to rely on the involved instructions in our guidebook.
The town is beautifully situated in a very narrow river valley, one side of which we had descended down yesterday afternoon. It would seem that the way out was to be directly up the other side. We turned off the main street, into an ancient lane that took us steeply up past tall ivy clad walls to cross another road and enter a wood.
On the school run
From here it was more steep up as we zig zagged through the green verdant wood that clung to the hillside. We passed some children being walked to school on what must be one of the most picturesque school runs in the country.
Eventually we came out into an open area with views down the valley to Hebden Bridge far below us. It felt like we could drop a pebble down the chimney stack of the ruined mill.
After a further short walk we arrived in the picture-perfect little village of Heptonstall complete with atmospheric church ruins and cobblestoned streets.
Tiny stile
We left the village, crossing many fields by small stile gates as we traversed high above the river valley before another short woodland stretch delivered us back to the official Pennine Way.
Except pies first thing in the morning
Our guidebook had mentioned May’s Shop, a Pennine Way institution, so we couldn’t resist a slight deviation from the path to investigate and see if we could buy one of her legendary pies. (BTW it’s a lot further than 50m)
May wasn’t there (apparently she’s about 90) but more worryingly there were no pies as they had not had their delivery yet. We had a good look around and bought some other bits of food before leaving rather desponded. As we left the shop we were greeted by a voice from above. Looking up into the field above the shop we saw Carl, who we met on the PW several days ago, just getting out of his tent. We stopped to talk – he had met the legendary May the day before, and she had told him several stories about the bad old days of the PW, when people would arrive at the shop caked in mud from head to toe, and other walkers never arrived, rumoured to have drowned after falling into bogs, pulled down by their heavy backpacks.
Our conversation was fortuitous, for as we talked a delivery van arrived and the driver opened the rear to reveal trays of freshly baked pies! Louisa followed him into the shop and returned victorious, laden with pies for our lunch. We wished Carl all the best and set off again.
Anyone seen Jeff?
From May’s Shop the path climbed again, up and over Heptonstall Moor. For some reason the PW avoids the Trig point here and instead contours around below it, but the views were still great. The great weather we have been having continued today, and by this stage the sky was brilliant blue with only a few occasional fluffy clouds.
Double bridge
Frequent change in terrain seems to be a feature of the PW, and we are really enjoying the variety of landscapes that we are journeying through. The route has clearly been cleverly plotted to take advantage of the best available scenery. One moment we were on the moors and the next we had dropped into a narrow, almost hidden valley to reach the confluence of two streams at a double bridge crossing point. With the sun shining this was a pretty spot and would have made a perfect lunch stop but it was still a little early in the day.
Seriously??
We followed one of the streams up and then past a series of large reservoirs over well formed gravel tracks. We briefly chatted with a trail runner who is running the entire PW in stages – (now there ‘s a great idea for the future….), before stopping to count ducklings. The reservoir was a floating playground of pairs of ducks, each with a trailing line of bobbing offspring. We counted seven as the largest group, being careful to keep our distance from the protective parents.
A tricky 2m high stile briefly impeded our progress, its conquer neither graceful or balletic, before we returned to the moors and ascended to the literary high point of the day, (and possibly of the entire walk), Top Withens.
Wuthering Heights
Top Withens is an isolated ruined farmhouse that was allegedly the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, the Earnshaw family house in the 1847 novel of the same name by Emily Bronte. It sits on the moors above the town of Haworth where the Bronte siblings lived.
Or not Wuthering Heights?
We sat on the grass beneath the old trees and ate our pies for lunch while a constant stream of daytrippers arrived from the valley below. Despite the sign stating that it definitely maybe wasn’t the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, it is certainly a busy spot.
本格小説
It is such a popular spot with Japanese tourists that the surrounding footpath signs are also in Japanese.
Cathy?
We took our leave of Top Withens departing on a well formed flagstone path that dropped off the moors into the next valley to pass around Ponden Reservoir.
Not so gentle hills
The gentle rolling green fields surrounding Ponden Reservoir were not that gentle as we passed on a long traverse around the water followed by a steep climb out of the valley. We were soon back surrounded by the giant epic expanses of Ickornshaw Moor. The Pennine Way is certainly giving us ‘big’ walking.
Nearly there
This last part of the day was long, and even after leaving the moor it was still up and down over more green fields with a few difficult descents before we arrived at the farm where we were planning to camp tonight. I ran out of water for the first time as the afternoon sun blazed down, so it was with relief that we were welcomed by the friendly owner of the Winterhouse Barn B and B.
Our Wuthering Heights for the night
With tent set up, we ate some very decent pizzas from the local takeaway, sat on the picnic table in the camping area enjoying the late afternoon sun. This was another fine day on the Pennine Way, and another day closer to John o’Groats.
