Great Mountain Days in the Pennines. Terry Marsh

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      The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the north-west of England from the north-east. Often described as the ‘backbone of England’, they form a somewhat disjointed range stretching from Derbyshire to the Scottish border. To speak of them as a ‘chain’ merely serves to draw attention to the weak links, the places where the central spinal mass has been eroded to leave behind distinct groups of hills and moors separated by wide valleys. Geographers would tell you that the Pennines are neither a chain nor a range of mountains, but simply a broad uplift. Moreover, what many would regard as ‘Pennine’ country means different things in different places. First and foremost, the Pennines are a major water catchment area, with numerous reservoirs in the head-streams of the river valleys. Couple this man-made endeavour with that of Nature, and the result is a region widely considered to be one of the most scenic in Britain.

      Although the Pennine Way ends among the Cheviot Hills, they are not part of the Pennines, being separated from them by the Tyne Gap and the Whin Sill, along which runs Hadrian’s Wall. Conversely, although the southern end of the Pennines is commonly accepted as somewhere in the High Peak of Derbyshire, often Edale (the start of the Pennine Way), they actually extend further south to the true southern end of the Pennines in the Stoke-on-Trent area, many miles south of Edale.

      So, the exact area of the Pennines is difficult to define. In terms of this book they extend no further south than Mam Tor above Edale, and not much further north than Cross Fell, the highest summit of the Pennines, lying on the eastern edge of Cumbria. Within this area is an amazing, and often frustrating, succession of landscapes fashioned from river valleys, moorlands and upland peat bogs, and penned in by a host of cities, towns and villages to form an area that weaves a rich and interesting story of industrial development together with a strong cultural and industrial heritage.

      The Pennine Way is often regarded as a strenuous high-level route through predominantly wild country, intended for walkers of some experience, and involving a fair element of physical exertion and a willingness to endure rough going. Those characteristics sum up the Pennines perfectly. But the region is far from the wholly boggy, unremitting, uncompromising, windswept upland desert some might have you believe. The Pennines are not desolate and forlorn, but infinitely varied, rich in wildlife and opportunities for striding out in solitude.

      I first explored the Pennines in their entirety more than 20 years ago. I’ve just done it again with a joyous spring in every step... Well, almost every one!

      The view across from Rowlee Pasture to the Kinder plateau (Walk 48)

About this guide

      The walks in this guide are grouped into five regions – the North Pennines, the North West Dales, the Yorkshire Dales, the South Pennines and the Dark Peak. At the start of each walk is a box containing key information – distance, height gain, time, grade, start point and maps required, as well as details of where to obtain after-walk refreshments. To compare the walks, refer to Appendix 1, which summarises the route information for every route.

      The original intention of including at least one mountain in every route was thwarted, partially by the nature of the terrain, but mainly by a desire to ensure that worthwhile lower-level routes were not pushed out by the need to tick off even the dullest of summits. In any case, the Pennines boast remarkably few ‘mountains’, with barely 80 summits higher than 600m. The walks in this book do, however, visit 19 of the 32 Marilyns – summits with a relative height of 150m (492ft) in relation to its surroundings, regardless of actual height – in the area covered by this book. There are just two Marilyns in the Dark Peak, two in the Howgills, three in the Southern Pennines, five in the Northern Pennines and 20 in the Yorkshire Dales. Embracing mountain summits in every route in this guide was always going to be difficult but among the moors and valleys of the Pennines there has been no shortage of terrain with a mountainous feel to explore.

      In choosing the walks, the defining criteria was the Pennine watershed. The watershed, if defined literally, is a fine imaginary line that would divide in two a drop of rain falling on it, sending half to the North Sea in the east and the other half to the Irish Sea in the west. The nature of the watershed, which turns out to be nothing like as fine as that dividing line, is admirably described in Andrew Bibby’s book The Backbone of England (see Appendix 2).

      However, since walking the watershed is on many stretches neither enthralling nor inspirational, some sections of the watershed were shunned in favour of other defining criteria, namely the Pennine Way, the Pennine Bridleway and (of equal if not more importance at times) ‘clear characteristics of a Pennine landscape’. The Pennine Way is well known and runs from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm just across the Scottish border, following a route that was teased from the landscape under the guidance of Tom Stephenson. The Pennine Bridleway is a relatively new creation, a 320km (200 mile) adventure for walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers, following old packhorse routes, drovers’ roads and newly created bridleways.

      Ravenstonedale pastures (Walk 12)

      Looking down on Dove Stone Reservoir (Walk 45)

      What makes this approach rather tenuous is the very nature and characteristics of ‘Pennine’ landscape and ‘Pennine’ qualities. The gritstone that predominates in the Peak is scarcely evident in the limestone Yorkshire Dales, although it is there. Likewise, the peat bogs and groughs that are hallmarks of the South Pennines are almost nowhere to be found in the Howgills and the Dales. So, it becomes all the more evident that what must, geographically, define the Pennine landscape is whatever happens to flank the Pennine watershed. (It’s an argument that would never withstand close scrutiny, but in the context of a book about Pennine walks, it’s as useful as anything else.)

      Most walks therefore include one of these ‘Pennine’ criteria, while no walk is more than 16km (10 miles) from the watershed itself. But the author has had no qualms about including a few excellent walks that don’t comply with this constraint, such as Rombalds and Ilkley Moor (Walk 31), for example, Pendle Hill (Walk 32) and Ingleborough (Walk 21), in the belief that few would argue that they lacked Pennine qualities.

      Walk grades

      The grading of walks is a very subjective issue; what is ‘easy’ for one walker can be a scary experience for someone less experienced. In reality, nothing in the Pennines can safely be regarded as easy; the terrain is often bouldery and complex, marshy and trackless, or, more usually, a mix of all of these conditions. But, in order to convey some notion of the effort and walking skill involved in each route, four grades have been employed to categorise the walks.

       Moderate: shorter walks without significant height gain; some occasional issues with route finding or terrain, but generally straightforward

       Moderately demanding: devoid of serious hazard in good conditions, but requiring map-reading and compass skills; mainly, but not always, on clear paths

       Demanding: similar to ‘strenuous’, but usually shorter or with less height gain, but still rugged, remote and energetic walks

       Strenuous: lengthy, over rough and/or high ground, sometimes in remote locations; there may be long, rugged and/or trackless sections

      These grades are СКАЧАТЬ