Alston to Greenhead
When I woke up at Di and Ian’s this morning, the cloud was covering the top of the hills, but thankfully it was dry, and the weather was due to only get better as the day went on.
After a lovely stay, Ian dropped me back in Alston, for me to continue my journey.
The Pennine Way took me out of Alston and along fields to Slaggyford. The clouds were rising, but the distant moorland looked moody with the clouds hanging above it.
From Slaggyford, I took a track towards the moorland. I was warm by now, so I was down to my t-shirt. Whilst I say eating some early lunch, I met a couple who were walking the Pennine Way in sections. They had started in Alston today and plan to get to Bellingham, over the bank holiday weekend. We had a lovely chat, then we happened to pass each other a couple of times during the afternoon.
On the way to the moor, I crossed over Knar Burn, which feeds into the River South Tyne. I crossed the river on a bridge, next to a lovely viaduct. I enjoyed the way the river went right underneath it and around the middle support.
On my way up the moorland, I met Gemma, who was recce-ing for the Spine Challenger North race. Run at the same time as the main Spine race, the Challenger North covers the last 160 miles of the Pennine Way, which are attempted in one continuous effort! I really admire anyone who takes on any of the Spine races, it definitely takes a huge level of endurance. We walked together for a short while and chatted about our respective challenges. It was really nice. Gemma is in between Mountain Leader training and assessment, so we had a quick chat about building logbooks too.
Once we reached the road, Gemma ran off into the distance. (There was no way I was matching her pace!)
The Pennine Way took me into Lambley Common where I stopped for second lunch. It was nice to have views of the fields, with the moorland behind. I rang my mum whilst I was sat there. I’d not caught her for a couple of days, so it was nice to catch up.
Today has been day 3 of my period, which is usually one of my worse days. So today I focused on fuelling lots and taking my walk at a leisurely pace. Today’s route was slightly shorter at 27km, so I was in no rush.
Lambley Common merged into fields. I passed High House, which looks like an old barn, but it also had slit windows, which were increasing.
I stopped on the well placed wall for a snack.
I crossed Hartley Burn, then on my way back up passed a stile, that made it very clear that it wasn’t my route. After seeing so many signs pointing the right way, it was quite funny to find one that states it is the wrong way. It made me wonder how many people have made that mistake before!
As I climbed out of the valley and met the access land boundary, I came to my very own milestone, I reached 1000 miles! I’d done some maths yesterday and worked out that I would finish today on 1003 miles. I worked backwards and found the point where 1000 miles would be. It felt amazing to get to this point.
At the start of my walk, I definitely had some imposter syndrome, it was just my little walk and didn’t feel like anything big. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve really felt a shift, I feel really proud of how far I’ve travelled and I really feel like I belong. Having reached 1000 miles, I know that I can tackle the 700 ahead of me. I feel inspired by my own achievement and can feel my confidence in myself growing.
The Pennine Way then took me over Blenkinsopp Common. It was a grassy moorland, which was a little damp in places, but still it was a lot drier than I would have expected. The ground was nicer and spongey, which was lovely to walk over.
Today I’ve had quite a few ladder stiles, which seem to be popular up here. I crossed a couple in Yorkshire, but they definitely seemed to be the stile of choice today!
From Blenkinsopp Common, I dropped down to Greenhead, where the Pennine Way merges with the Hadrian’s Wall National Trail, and I found my campsite. Tomorrow, I’ll walk a section of the wall from Greenhead to Sycamore Gap, before continuing north. It will be nice to revisit part of the trail after walking it on a Girlguiding trip last year.
By the end of the day, the sun had come out and it was lovely and warm. Tonight and tomorrow, rain is due, but it should clear up by late afternoon, and tomorrow’s campsite has good showers, so all is good.
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