Total miles: 16.6
Elevation gain: 2,876ft
Time walking: 11am – 6pm
Miles to date: 612.4
And she’s back! Today was glorious! Yesterday’s extra food intake and earlier-than-planned finish, along with waking up to a gorgeous sunny morning, seems to have done the trick and my spirits were high. I had the much anticipated Lyme Park to look forward to and I would finally reach the Peak District and its glorious hills! And I’d hit the 600 mile mark! 600 miles! My mind is just blown by that figure…
After a slow start (making the most of the sun to dry out my tent!), I headed back to the canal for a short while, squeezing through the tiniest gap in the wall to reach it. It was one of those beautiful, fresh and delightfully sunny mornings and it was very peaceful along the canal and in the fields as I climbed up my first hill of several today. Passing through a small farm I came across three women with a group of dogs, looking rather puzzled. I soon saw why. The path into the Lyme Park estate went over a huge ladder stile and there wasn’t a big enough gap in the fence to enable to the dogs to squeeze through. The ironic thing was that there was a sign right there saying that dogs were welcome but they had to be kept on leads. Welcome…if you can work out how to get them in! After a little bit of encouragement they managed to persuade the younger dogs to climb/jump up the stile and down the other side but to get the older dog over they had to have one of them pick the dog up (and it was a collie, we’re not talking a small dog here!) and pass him to someone waiting at the top, to climb down with. Quite the operation for a gentle walk in the countryside!
The path continued to climb and the views out across Cheshire behind me were growing increasingly expansive. I also came across my first heather of this section of the journey, its soft honey fragrance wafting through the warm sunny air. I could have laid down in the heather, face bathed in the sun, listening to the gentle munching and grunting of the sheep grazing nearby, all day! But I had the promise of a home-cooked roast dinner waiting for me which was just about enough to keep me on my feet!
I could tell I was nearing the main part of Lyme Park as the number of people started to increase, the paths started getting more distinct and the surroundings grew more formal and landscaped. Sure enough it wasn’t long before the big house came into view, the bustling car park just below. Lyme Park is a gorgeous stately home which became particularly famous when BBC’s Pride and Prejudice was filmed there. “The” Mr Darcy scene (the one with the lake and the white shirt….) being the most memorable for many! You have to pay to get into the house and the immediate grounds and apparently it is well worth the visit. I didn’t have the time to do it justice today so I just did the loop around the outer fence, not quite close enough to get a really good shot of the famous view of the house overlooking the lake, but good enough to feel I’ve seen it.
It was quite bizarre to be surrounded by people again, even though it wasn’t long since I’d walked a short way through busy Chester. It always seems strange, to see people out enjoying their Sunday, when for me it’s just one more day on my long journey. Some people look at me curiously, some smile, a few say hello or ask where I’ve come from/where I’m going. Some are absorbed with their children or dogs or each other and don’t notice this little slice of adventure walking past them. It’s not a complaint or a judgement, it’s just an interesting reflection about all the things around us that we maybe don’t see!
I walk up the hill to a viewpoint overlooking the back of the house, out to Manchester and “The Cage”, a tower within the park which stands on its own little knoll with stunning views. I didn’t walk out to the Cage, figuring I’d have plenty of my own views soon enough as I climbed higher into the Peak District. My route skirted up and past the Red Deer Park (gosh those deer have a good view!) along a section of the Gritstone Trail to Bollinhurst Bridge. A few squelchy fields later and the view opens up to the moors ahead of me, the Kinder Plateau looming on the horizon, still impossibly far away and yet only a day’s walk away. My heart quivers with excitement. they always look beautiful, but in the bright afternoon sun they look crisply enticing, and I can’t quite believe I have the good fortune to be headed that way!
On the way down into Furness Vale I very nearly had a run-in with some cows, the first I’ve encountered in a while. As I was walking through the field towards them, a group of young beef bulls I think, they spot me and start trotting in my direction. I eye them warily, wondering if they are going to break into a full on gallop. I eye the dry stone wall next to me. It’s about hip height. I look back to the oncoming cavalcade…and decide to hop over the wall, heart racing a little and feeling incredibly grateful for a solid stone wall rather than flimsy and spiky barbed wire! The bulls reach the wall and look at me rather confusedly, as if they are wondering how I escaped them or were disappointed not to have a game of football with me. I joke, but cattle can actually be very dangerous. I know I’ve been lucky so far, and my heart was pounding as I got lucky once more. Thankfully the cattle quickly lost interest and headed on the way I had come, as I had to cross back into the field a bit further on in order to reach the stile at the other end.
Passing a pub in Furness Vale I decided to pop in to use the loo and see whether it would be a nice place to stop for a glass of something cold. It wasn’t! You know that feeling when you walk into a room and everyone turns to stare….yeah, that! It didn’t feel like the sort of place a young, single woman would usually venture on her own, let alone a foreigner to these parts! As I was there I used the loo anyway, but promptly hurried out without buying a drink, deciding I’d stop for a break part way up the next hill instead.
Heading out of Furness Vale (via Gowhole, Shedyard Clough and up to New Allotments, if you’re trying to figure out my route on a map!) the route climbed up. And up. And up! A couple passed me as I paused for breath and I looked enviously at their light day packs. I passed them a bit further up as they stopped for a break, then they passed me again when I finally stopped for my lunch at the top, looking back out to the Cage in Lyme Park, which seemed to be too far away to have walked past it just a few hours earlier. After my lunch I negotiated some muddy paths churned up by mountain bikes and horses to find the path I wanted which headed down to the Chapel Road and up to join the Pennine Bridleway.
Now I felt like I was properly in the peaks! Looking at the map it amused me to see I’d be heading south for the last few miles to reach my destination – Edale. A sensible person would continue East-North-East and pick up the Pennine Way north of Jacob’s Ladder, but this crazy fool is determined to start the Pennine Way from the very beginning! Of course, there’s the friendly host and roast dinner to look forward to in Edale too, so it’s not completely nonsensical! I did manage to confuse a couple of mountain bikers who stopped to chat. they assumed I was walking JOGLE rather than LEJOG. I could see them questioning my navigation abilities and wondering whether to correct me when I told them no, I was indeed walking to John O’Groats. they actually seemed somewhat relieved when I told them why I was currently heading south, rather than north!
My route followed the Pennine Bridleway for the next 4 or so miles, an absolute delight on a sunny summer’s afternoon. I skirted the deliciously named hilltops of Mount Famine and South Head and paused for a break in the pleasant little nook of Roych Clough where several streams sparkle their way down off the moors and converge to cross the path at a ford and small bridge. My water was running low and getting rather warm in the heat of the day so I decided I would christen my water filter. I’d bought it for emergencies really, but a friend had pointed out that it would make sense to make use of it more generally, to save me carrying so much water! And oh, what a good suggestion. Not only was it rather fun to collect water from the stream and suck it through the filter, it was refreshingly cool and thirst-quenching to drink. I had a good guzzle then refilled once more and, feeling enlivened by the combination of fun and rehydration, quickened my pace for the last few miles.
I left the Pennine Bridleway to drop down over Rushup Edge along the Chapel Gate track into the Edale Valley. Ahead of me I could see the approximate route of the Pennine Way snaking through the valley, meeting the hills at the notorious Jacob’s Ladder, which was just tucked away out of sight. It was strange, to think I’d be walking back that way tomorrow morning! The path into Edale from the tiny Barber Booth was well signposted and I arrived with perfect timing, just as David, my host for the night, pulled up in his car!
I was excited to meet David – not only a fellow actuary but also a fellow end-to-ender! He did the route in reverse, walking from John O’Groats to Land’s End 20 years ago, and it was great to swap experiences. He ‘reassured’ me that the feeling probably would come back in my toes….although it might take 12 months…(yikes!). David and his partner Ally had cooked me a gorgeous (and huuuuge) roast dinner which needless to say got wolfed down rather hungrily. Followed by a delicious homemade sponge pudding with custard. And wine. Heaven! I know food always tastes better after exercise, but this was seriously good food. And such gorgeous people. Once again, one of the best things about this journey is the incredible people I’m meeting, the new friends I’m making!
Tomorrow is set to be tough but brilliant – the notorious first day of the Pennine Way! I can’t express how excited I am, although that excitement is tinged with a little apprehension. They say that a large proportion of people who start but don’t finish the Pennine Way give up in the first two days! Eek! I figure I’ve had a good warm up though… David is going to walk the first few miles with me so it will be lovely to have a spot of company again, and we are going to take the original starting route rather than the route that goes up Jacob’s Ladder. The Grindsbrook route is apparently far prettier, albeit a little more challenging. The Pennine Way, finally here!
