Pennine Way Day 2

Thursday 22^nd August 2019 Todmorden

Awake at 6:30 but not away from the B&B until 8:45, and then I undertook the 4km return journey to get back to the Pennine Way around 9:30.

Soon I saw another guy ahead of me, then I passed him, then I got lost on a hillside and he caught up.  We floundered through bracken (obviously off trail) before we stumbled back on the trail.

We walked together, sort of, with me in the lead, for a while, but then some pretty heavy rain started, and I strode on ahead leaving him in my wake, just before Black Hill.

Later, the rain eased up some.

The walk took forever, and by my reckoning was around 46km in total, even though I had originally calculated as 35.4km based on the websites I had used.  Naturally once I hit the 36km mark, everything seemed to take forever from there.

Near the end I was dragging myself along beside these long reservoirs up on a long hill and the day was darkening.

Eventually I saw Todmorden way below me in a valley and I basically stumbled down the hillside, not following any paths, until I found a stone wall that I followed until it had a gap leading up to Todmorden, with me arriving at the hostel just after 7 p.m.  I had thought the hostel served food, but it didn’t.  Luckily there was a pub a short stroll away across a paddock or two.

I had thought I had the hostel room to myself, but someone else came in during the night.

Day 3