A Walkers Tale

Today we are setting out for the first of two days that will be spent completing the western half of the Mary Towneley loop of the  Pennine Bridleway  - after which we will have completed the  Pennine Bridleway  in full. The Mary Towneley referenced here was the inspiration behind this trail, and a campaigner for long-distance equestrian trails - and this loop was one of the first sections of the  Pennine Bridleway  to open - providing a rare opportunity for horses to have a long-distance stroll across the countryside.

Today we are out to complete the length of the Pennine Bridleway  - walking a missing section of the trail, that until recently had been closed due to fire fighting operations on Tintwistle Moor. As before (whilst walking from Broadbottom to Edale ) we have to deal today with the added complication of this section not actually existing in full - with the  Pennine Bridleway  having never actually been completed through this part of the country (despite the trail having officially opened twelve years go). But on this occasion we don't have all that far to go before we will reach an officially existing section of the trail - and since we are starting in Broadbottom, we will easily be able to navigate around the section that doesn't actually exist.

Despite doing quite a lot of walking around the rest of Britain, I haven't done any walking on any of the Scottish Trails. But being set to head up to Scotland to spend some time with friends on Loch Linnhe, I decided to head up early, and see what the walking was like north of the border. Of the Scottish Trails, the ones that have most tempted me have been the Great Glen Way , the John Muir Way, the Speyside Way and the Three Locks Way (as well as some of the coastal sections). And with only limited time (and no desire to get too muddy), the section of the Great Glen Way from Gairlochy to Fort William felt like it would fit nicely into this trip.

Today we are out doing another section of the Pennine Bridleway  - but on this occasion we have had to deal with a few complications during the preparation for this walk. The main issue is that I cannot head out from Greenfield as I had planned - and the issue here is that the trail passes along the edge of Tintwhistle Moor, which has been the location of a large wildfire in recent months.

The previous day I had walked from Alston to Appleby-in-Westmorland - and having stayed over in Carlisle I was looking for a nearby walk that wouldn't involve too much walking. And having decided to do the Dales High Way in four separate walks, I figured that the shorter remaining section - from Sedbergh to Ribblehead would be ideal.

Today we are back ticking off sections of the Pennine Way - and after today we will only have the one section left to complete, between Byrness and Kirk Yetholm (although the plan is to finish this trail next year, as I now start to wind down the walking miles). My most recent day of walking on the Pennine Way also started at Alston - but since then there has been a change in the bus timetables, and so whilst the first bus out from Haltwhistle previously got in at 10am, that has been pushed back to 10:46 - which is a little bit too late a start to be comfortable in terms of train times in Appleby-in-Westmorland. In response I have changed the approach, and yesterday I took the train over to Carlisle, and stayed overnight.