The Pennine Way. Paddy Dillon

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      Leaving the route at Windy Gyle allows for a descent to Trows (Day 19)

      Following the ‘acorn’ symbols is fairly fool-proof, but bear in mind that the Pennine Way intersects with the Pennine Bridleway on a handful of occasions, and also runs concurrent with a considerable stretch of the Hadrian’s Wall Path. As all these routes are National Trails, they all bear the ‘acorn’ symbols, and some walkers do find themselves following the wrong trails!

      Note that there are some very long stretches that have no signposts or markers, and this is the policy for what is after all a tough and often remote long-distance trail. In clear weather, providing careful note is taken of route directions, rudimentary map-reading skills will be enough. However, on some bleak and exposed moors, especially in mist, an ability to use a map and a compass is a distinct advantage. GPS users can download GPX tracks for each daily stage from the Cicerone website.

Weather forecasts

      Walking for hours across bleak moorlands on an almost daily basis is fine, so long as the weather is good. There is little anyone can do about the weather, except to be prepared. Get into the habit of checking the forecast as often as possible, and keep an eye on the days ahead, so that if bad weather is predicted on a particularly tricky stretch, at least that can be included in planning. Forecasts on radio or television might be too general, but online forecasts provided by the Met Office, www.metoffice.gov.uk, can be tailored to more specific locations. For example, a detailed forecast is always available for the summit of Great Dun Fell! Numerous weather forecasts are available on smartphone apps.

Phones and Wi-Fi

      Mobile phones don’t always get a signal along the Pennine Way, and coverage varies depending on your service provider. All of the towns along the Pennine Way have coverage, but some villages don’t, and rural telephone kiosks are gradually being removed. For internet access, Wi-Fi is offered by most accommodation providers, but there are a few who don’t offer it. If Wi-Fi is important, then be sure to ask about provision when bookings are made. Rural post offices keep disappearing along the route, but the remaining ones are mentioned.

Emergencies

      The Pennines and Cheviot Hills are not particularly dangerous, and the biggest problem unwary walkers are likely to face is the prospect of losing their way on a featureless moorland. However, accidents and injuries could occur almost anywhere on the route and the intervention of the emergency services might be required. To contact the police, ambulance, fire service or mountain rescue, telephone 999 (or the European emergency number 112), and state clearly the nature of the emergency. Give them your telephone number and, most importantly, keep in touch while a response is mounted.

ALL ABOUT THE PENNINES

Pennine geology

      As a teenager and a student of geology, I was not content simply to admire the Pennines. I wielded a hammer and chisel so that I could take great chunks of them home with me!

      Pennine geology is relatively easy to understand, although in a few places it becomes very complex. The oldest bedrock is seldom seen on the Pennine Way, revealing itself only around Malham and Dufton. Ancient Silurian slate at Malham Tarn, along with Ordovician mudstone and volcanic rock above Dufton, date back 450 million years. These rocks are revealed only where fault lines bring them to the surface. The Weardale Granite, which underlies the North Pennines, outcrops nowhere and was only ‘proved’ by a borehole sunk at Rookhope in 1961.

      In the Devonian period, around 395 million years ago, violent volcanic activity laid the foundations of the Cheviot Hills, at the northern end of the Pennine Way. All the lower hills are made of andesite lavas, while the central parts are formed of a massive dome of granite, pushed into the Earth’s crust some 360 million years ago and only recently exposed to the elements.

      During the Carboniferous period, around 350 to 300 million years ago, a warm, shallow tropical sea covered the whole region. Countless billions of hard-shelled, soft-bodied creatures lived and died in this sea. Coral reefs grew, and even microscopic organisms often had hard external or internal structures. Over the aeons, these creatures left their hard parts in heaps on the seabed, and these deposits became the massive grey limestones seen to best effect today in the Yorkshire Dales.