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Walking Land's End to John o'Groats with Mark Moxon

Alston to Haltwhistle

The signal box at Alston train station
The signal box at Alston

The section of the Pennine Way from Alston to Greenhead is generally accepted to be a complete and utter waste of time. Even fans of the Way don't think much of the zigzagging track that plods across farmland and boggy commons; I know this because Barry, my fellow End-to-End walker from Street and Bewdley, turned up at Alston Youth Hostel last night and he doesn't have one good thing to say about the Alston-Greenhead walk. When I did it back in 2000 I hated it; my knees hurt from the descent of Cross Fell and when I walked I compensated so much for the pain that I ended up damaging the tendon in my right foot. I didn't know it as I slogged through the bog into Greenhead, but that was to be my last day on the Way; I woke up the next morning unable to walk and I had to give up and return to London. I wasn't sad, as by this time I'd had quite enough of the idiocy of the bloody Pennines, but it left a deep impression, an impression that when the Pennine Way wants to suck, it sucks hard.

The old and rather overgrown train platform at Featherstone Rowfoot
The old and rather overgrown train platform at Featherstone Rowfoot

Haltwhistle

Lambley Viaduct
Lambley Viaduct

The walk was uneventful, flat, easy and over before lunch. There are some great spots, especially the old train stations which stand there with their empty platforms, presiding over station houses that have long since turned into highly desirable private residences. One station, at Lambley Viaduct, is closed off to the public and the South Tyne Trail takes a short detour around the old building, but apart from that the trail faithfully follows the route of the old track, and with the stations, viaducts and bridges still very much recognisable as their former selves, walking the trail is a bit like being an incredibly slow, ponderous train.