Looking to take on one of the world’s greatest walks this summer? Then trek the backbone of England – an epic trail over beautiful hills, via sparkling waterfalls, pretty villages and blooming wildflower meadows. Mark Sutcliffe reveals the best ways to explore the Pennine Way
Photos: Stephen Garnett
DISCOVER
Quite simply, the Pennine Way is Britain’s most iconic National Trail – a 268-mile trek along the spine of England, traversing three National Parks and the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Over 15–20 days, Pennine Way walkers will clock up the equivalent of 1.3 ascents of Everest, gained by scaling a succession of lofty summits and elevated plateaus across Northern England’s most spectacular upland terrain.
It isn’t the longest National Trail – that would be the 630-mile South West Coast Path, immortalised in Raynor Winn’s bestseller, The Salt Path. And it isn’t the toughest long-distance hike; that is widely acknowledged to be the Cape Wrath Trail – a 230-mile odyssey through some of the most remote wilderness in the Scottish Highlands. But it is the original designated National Trail and, to the tens of thousands of folk who have walked it, still the best – right up there with the world’s greatest hikes, such as the Appalachian Trail and El Camino de Santiago.
After walking the Pennine Way in 2010, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage summed up the experience with a characteristically pithy coda: “To embark on the walk is to surrender to its lore, and to submit to its logic, and to take up a challenge against the self.”
GETTING STARTED
The Pennine Way starts – appropriately enough – at Edale in the shadow of Kinder Scout in the Peak District National Park. This was the backdrop for a series of mass trespasses in the 1930s. From Kinder, the route meanders for more than 250 miles through the northern uplands, traversing increasingly wild and remote terrain to reach the Scottish Border at the hamlet of Kirk Yetholm.
Which way to walk – from north or south?
It’s traditionally walked south to north, keeping the prevailing winds and weather at your back, but don’t forget to cast regular glances over your shoulder as some of the best views may be behind you. Daily distances vary from a mundane 11-mile schlepp over the moors above the mill towns of West Yorkshire to the challenging 22-mile trek from Greenhead to Bellingham via Hadrian’s Wall.
