Blogs from Edale, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

November 6th, 2012: Torside to Diggle (13-ish miles) … Last night, after some appetizing pub grub at The Peel’s Arms in nearby Padfield, we laughed that our routine in a Bed and Breakfast was not like that of most B&B visitors. Most B&B guests read, eat and sip tea(1) and otherwise enjoy slow-moving days. Not us. We hang our dirty socks out to dry; we shower in our clothes; we drape our tent over the curtain rod; we blow-dry wet clothes and our wet boots; we restock our toilet paper reserves. And that’s not even the half of it. Chores are a big part of thru-hiking. The main task is of course walking, and it dominates the day. But there’s also the need to eat, poop, brush teeth, comb through the knots in your hair, navigate, ... read more

November 5th, 2012: Devil’s Dyke to Torside (5-ish miles) … Upon waking, Ruth and I realized that it was November 5th, otherwise known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Day/Night. The day, and more specifically the night, originates from the failed attempt of Guy Fawkes and other terrorist conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. The detonation was to take place on State Opening day, when the King, Lords, and Commons would all be present in the Lords Chamber. The precise motive for the plot is unknown, but it is speculated that it was to unseat the king(1). In the immediate aftermath of the arrest of Mr. Fawkes(2), who’d been caught guarding an accumulation of explosives in the cellar, the king’s council allowed the public to celebrate the ruler’s survival with bonfires, so ... read more

November 3rd, 2012: Harrow to Edale via train; Edale to the top of Kinder Downfall via foot (5-ish miles) … Sleep is not a strong point of mine. Never has been, probably will never be. So it wasn’t too terribly unexpected that I was unable to sleep last night. Usually, it’s emotional turmoil that keeps me lying there awake("Foot"note #1), tossing and turning, but last night it was excitement! Pure, untainted excitement. Like most grown-ups who get to decide for themselves, I had gone to bed late. It was around midnight when I finally hit the hay. This wasn’t too unusual in itself. What was unusual was that as soon as I laid down I remembered ten more things to do. Rarely do I have ten things to do during a given day, let alone ten ... read more

Man invented airplanes so that he could travel vast distances in an instant without seeing a single thing en route. I am seated in one such airplane and all I can see is the back of the seat in front of me. It’s not difficult to see since it’s a mere six inches from my face. The passenger in front of me has reclined that seat so that even if I were Harry Houdini I could not escape. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do much else but suffer. And suffer, I do. While passing the time has always been a favorite pastime of mine, sometimes there are times when that time doesn’t pass quickly enough. To be sure, this is one of those times. It’s an eight-or-so-hour flight from Chicago to London’s Heathrow Airport ... read more

............Well it was FREAK Weather for a British Bank Holiday Weekend......the sun shone for four days, not a bit of rain, hardly any cloud and just a whiff of a breeze......that's pretty freaky for the UK!! We camped in Edale in the Peak District National Park, a lovely little village with a gorgeous church, two pubs, a visitor centre, a National Trust Cafe, a Coffe Shop, Post Office cum Corner Shop and two Camp Sites. The Nags Head Pub at the top of the village marks the official start of The Pennine Way; a footpath that stretches for 267 miles to Kirk Yetholm in Scotland. We walked a small stretch of the footpath (obviously not to Scotland because we only had four days), the views in the area are stunning. Our plan was to stay two ... read more

Sunday 27 April - Due to the sheer thrill of the adventure ahead of us, we awoke prior to our alarm going off at 6.15am. Breakfast was not until 8am - so this gave ample opportunity to read 'again' about our first exciting day on the Pennine Way. We had contemplated carrying 'everything' ourselves for the three weeks, but after our experiences of doing this on long distance hikes in New Zealand and Chile, we decided to let 'car' power take our bags up the Pennine Way...so that we could use all of our 'leg' power to take ourselves up to Scotland. Breakfast was very good - we particularly enjoyed the Derbyshire oatcakes - they went down an absolute treat! After a satisfying breakfast, we most definitely had the fuel we needed to drive us the ... read more