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

Keld to Baldersdale

Looking back towards Keld
Looking back towards Keld

What a perfect day. Last night the wispy cirrus view from the large windows of Keld Youth Hostel hinted that today might be pleasant, and it most certainly was; the sun shone all day, the clouds were few and far between and the wind never rose above a gentle breeze. As far as English summer days go, today was the business.

Tan Hill

The Tan Hill Inn
The Tan Hill Inn feels a long way away, and it is (look carefully and you'll see it)

If my memory serves me correctly, the Pennine Way gets interesting for a little while after Middleton-in-Teesdale, but Middleton is still a couple of days away and the price to pay is a pretty boring passage from Swaledale to Teesdale. Last time I did this section in one day and it was too much of a strain to be any fun, so today I walked from Keld to the Youth Hostel at Baldersdale and tomorrow I've got a short hop to Middleton, a village which I remember being worth exploring.

Sponge Hopping

The Tan Hill Inn
The Tan Hill Inn

These moors are a disaster area in wet weather but in late June they're much easier to cross. There's an alternative 'bad weather' Pennine Way route that avoids Sleightholme Moor and follows a road, and I took it back in the rainy mists of 2000. Today I stuck to the Way proper and had a hoot, because for miles on end I felt as if I was walking on a sea of sponge.

Sleightholme Moor
Sleightholme Moor

Up and Down

A Pennine Way signpost
A Pennine Way signpost; apparently they aren't specifically designed to blend into the background, but you could have fooled me

Just for variety, the rest of the journey to Baldersdale crosses plenty more heathery grouse moor. After dithering around Sleightholme Beck for a while the Way crosses the River Greta at God's Bridge, a natural stone bridge that's far more impressive when there's more than a dribble in the riverbed, which is all there is in this dry summer we're having; and after God's Bridge the Way dives under the A66 before heading into North Moor and Cotherstone Moor. By this time of year the ground has hardened up and it's back to dreary, endless heather as far as the eye can see.