27 April 2013: 26km. Started 09:30. Arrived 17:00.
This was a relatively easy day in between two harder days. As I left Bellingham, I saw Tom going into the shop. He had stayed at the bunkhouse. I had a minor scare as I left the road to get on to the path. I had to go through a farmyard and was just about to exit through a gate when a dog ran up to me and started barking. However I made it safely out of the farmyard without being attacked.
The terrain was marshy and undulating but the views were good. Tom soon overtook me. The three men I had seen the previous day overtook soon after. I learned that they were old friends from student days and now all live in Wandsworth.
The ground gradually became more boggy until I entered the forest. It was about three miles along a forest road and it seemed very monotonous and tedious. There was a muddy track on to my destination.
The hostel was really a walkers’ bed and breakfast. It was an incredibly friendly place. Joyce and Colin had clearly made it their vocation over many years to serve the walkers of the Pennine Way. They were full of stories. We were all ate around a single dinner table like a big family. After dinner we sat in the lounge until one by one we went to our rooms to try to sleep ready for the tough day ahead. Some people complete it as two days and Colin does a shuttle service to a point two miles walking distance from the Pennine Way so as to split the walk. There is no road any nearer. One person staying was taking that option and he had already walked the first half. The rest of us were taking it as a long single day. The three university friends were there.
Colin talked about the route and warned about avoiding a bog at Houx Hill as it was bottomless and would swallow humans. I went to bed and slept fitfully, wondering about being swallowed by a bog, losing my way as I knew there was some tricky navigation as well as worrying about oversleeping. I was also concerned that this was to be the most difficult day I had tackled since the day I became so exhausted walking from Malham to Hawes.
Where's Kathryn? 