LEJOG
Distance walked – 25.7km (16.0miles)
Total Distance – 1046.9km (654.3miles)
Do your eyes have an answer
To this song of mine
They say we meet again
On down the line
The Roches – Hammond Song
Leaving Hawes
Another great day on the Pennine Way today, which can be summarised as – big up, big down, small up, small down, and big up to finish. We were crossing the Yorkshire Dales however, so despite the route simplicity, this was a day of beautiful views and scenery.
We camped at the rear of the Youth Hostel in Hawes last night. It ended up being pretty crowded with 6 or 7 tents crammed into a tiny patch of lawn (bit like a festival – with noise to match). It was good value though as we had use of shower facilities and the self-catering kitchen/lounge inside.
We met another LEJOGger, who pitched up late yesterday afternoon. We have christened him Aussie Phil, even though he is from Liverpool (he looks, sound, and acts a bit Australian). He was with another male walke who is doing the Pennine Way. We spent some time comparing notes. He is not sure if he is going to make it all the way, as he is behind schedule, although he seemed pretty relaxed about this and was even debating having a rest day in Hawes. He seemed quite concerned about our punishing schedule – we have no rest days until Edinburgh, which is another 14 days away!
Guest Walkers – Jay and Clare
As Louisa says, “this walk isn’t going to do itself”, so we set off, leaving Hawes under a grey sky, heavy with cloud. We were joined by our friends Jay and Clare, our guest walkers for today, who instantly leavened the dubious weather with their fine company and great conversation. The first few kilometres were a mixture of country lanes and sheep fields, across the valley to the little hamlet of Hardraw. Hardraw is famous for its waterfall, Hardraw Force, which is the highest single drop waterfall in England. We have visited it before, so we resisted the lure of a detour, and continued on, leaving Hardraw to climb up onto open moorland and the start of the ascent of Great Shunner Fell.
Great Shunner Fell – Highest point so far
The climb up was long but gradual as we followed the path over a broad moorland crest. There were several long stretches of flagstones and a number of false summits before we eventually attained the top where there was a stone cross shelter and trig point. At 716m, this is the highest point of our journey so far! It was certainly the easiest mountain we have climbed on the way, as the gradient was so gradual and the path easy under foot.
Descent towards Thwaite
The skies had completely cleared by now and we sat in the shelter having a morning snack in the brilliant sunlight, enjoying the expansive views. Our run of amazing weather continues, and we are certainly experiencing a different Pennine Way to that which we expected. I imagine today’s climb would have been quite a chore in foul weather.
On the lookout for Zombies
The descent was steeper and more abrupt as the path took us down into the valley of Swaledale and the village of Thwaite. A longish stony farm track, quite rough underfoot, delivered us into the village where bizarrely everything seemed to be shut and we couldn’t even find a bench to sit on. We lunched on a stone wall in the middle of the deserted village beside an abandoned car, (had there been a zombie apocalypse?) before sadly farewelling Jay and Clare who were walking back to Hawes. It has been great seeing so many of our old friends from the UK on this walk. There has been sadness as well as we will probably not see them again for several years as we return to Australia after our walk.
Yorkshire Dales
Louisa and I continued our pilgrimage alone, leaving Thwaite (no zombies seen), across classic Yorkshire Dale territory. The path took us up again, contouring quite high around the edge of Kidson Hill, with beautiful views down Swaledale.
View along Swaledale
We have walked in this area before when we completed Wainwright’s Coast to Coast several years ago (our first long distance path) and also spent a week’s holiday in a cottage nearby, so the landscape felt very familiar to us, bringing back many happy memories.
We gradually descended towards the River Swale on a well formed path before briefly joining the Coast to Coast Path to cross the river. Our guidebook refers to this as ‘as close as you get to a motorway junction in British long distance walking’. We had the interchange to ourselves, but did see some people enjoying the nearby waterfall. (A short detour here takes you into the village of Keld.)
River Swale with waterfall
Keld Yurts
We now faced the final ascent of the day, about 6km up to the Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain, where we planned to camp for the night. As we started the ascent, we were able to see the yurts at Keld where we had previously stayed on our Coast to Coast walk. We had wanted to stay there again, but it was a minimum two night stay due to school holidays, so we had opted for the cheap camping at the Tan Hill Inn.
The Yorkshire Dales are one of the highlights of the Pennine Way and of the entire LEJOG, and the scenery out of Keld was spectacular. We could see a crossing of dales to the East, the steep valleys displaying a colour gradient of greens as the height changed. Everywhere was criss-crossed with an erratic patchwork of stone walls, interspersed wityh random small stone barns.
Tan Hill Inn on the horizon
As we climbed, the moorland became bleaker and a little stark, but the walking was still easy and enjoyable and it wasn’t long until the Inn suddenly came into view on the horizon.
It was quite busy in the pub with late afternoon day trippers and the staff seemed a bit frazzled – many of the places we have visited seem to be short-staffed post COVID/Brexit, but they were very friendly and GBP10 for camping with a hot shower seemed like a great deal.
Infinity Paddock
We were told to camp anywhere out the back, which turned out to be an infinity paddock, with views stretching below us forever. There was one fellow camper, (doing the Pennine Way), who we had meet last night in Hawes. We have nicknamed him ‘The Spy’ as he entertained us over a great dinner in the pub with occasional opaque references to working in some high role in the military forces. We both retired to the tent, hoping he wasn’t going to have to throttle us in the night for spilling too much information. . . . .
We fell asleep instead to the howling of the wind on the tent, content after another great day on the Pennine Way. One day closer to John o’Groats.
