The Great Pennine Way Adventure – Day 10 – Thursday 13 August 2009 – Tan Hill to Middleton - 16 miles

Streams fallen in: 1
Midge bites: 519

Andy was driving back to Warrington today so I left my car at our lovely campsite in Middleton and Andy dropped me at Tan Hill to walk back to the tent.

The guidebook told me that in bad weather, Sleightholme Moor can be a dangerous place. It’s been a scorcher of a day so I decided to stick with the moor path and not take the bad weather alternative route. However, there have been so many people – grouse beaters mainly – walking the moor the last couple of days that the true path was impossible to find. I wasted half an hour trying to find it before heading back up to the road and track down to the A66. I had no interest in following the Bowes Loop extension of the Pennine Way – although if I was B and B’ing, it would be an ideal place to stop.

I met a John O’Groats to Lands Ender today with his Tibetan terrier dog – he’s taken four weeks so far and is halfway. He expressed some surprise that he even got out of Scotland as he ended up drinking every night with the locals! He was a bit bored today as he’d already done the Pennine Way once – in 1976 – so was trying to cheat a bit and find an alternative route.

The path has been quite indistinct and boggy today – and there were so many flies around. That and the heat have made today quite uncomfortable. I was really glad to see Blackton reservoir – the halfway point of the Pennine Way – swiftly followed by Grassholme and Selset reservoirs as I knew I was on the home stretch to my tent!

After tea, I popped into town to the bus garage – my plan tomorrow includes getting a bus from my campsite – well, less a bus, more of a transit van that connects with the bus – to Langdon Beck youth hostel and I needed to book my place. I’m aiming to walk backwards – not literally obviously! – from Langdon Beck to Middleton – passing High Force and Low Force waterfalls. I’m usually quite precious about the direction I walk – everything sequential, etc – but the buses work to some pretty odd scheduling up here!

I also visited the Teesdale pub for a drink and while in there got talking to some grouse beaters, who were chatting about the midges today. Apparently they’ve never seen so many flies up on the moors and the dogs were even jumping into the streams to try and get cool. Poor things.

So, another good day – some pretty tough bleak walking but great to be up in the hills.