Day 45: Hebden Bridge to Marsden
? 24km
?756m
Our camp spot was beautiful, with amazing views of Hebden Bridge and the valley but I didn’t sleep well, the tents next to us and behind were noisy and the pitch was not entirely flat so I kept rolling into Tom. We woke early thinking we would get to Marsden and the pub where we had booked a room with lots of time to enjoy.
The day however was a bit frustrating, an up hill, down dale day, crossing busy roads with not great scenery and required some navigational focus. As we were not following a particular trail but linking lots of footpaths together we had to keep checking that we were going in the correct direction. It was also another hot day which I am reluctant to complain about but the heat does make going under the motorway (M62) feel particularly disgusting.
A highlight of the day was as we were navigating the over grown footpaths out the back of the residential streets of Marsden we got chatting to a gentlemen tending to his garden and had a good old chat that included the old teacake, bap debate between Yorkshire and Lancashire which made me smile. In West Yorkshire, a large plain white or brown bread roll is called a teacake and is used to make very large sandwiches, something the rest of the country call a bap.
We arrived about 15:00 to Marsden and were both shattered. We had to stop ourselves from taking a nap and instead showered, then hit Boots and Co-op, our go to stores at the moment. I needed some more antiseptic wipes for the feet and then we needed food supplies for a few days from the supermarket. We went to the local tap house for a pint before hitting kids tea time at the Italian across the road for pasta and pizza. We were back in our room and practically in bed by 19:30.
Day 46: Marsden to Langsett
? 31km
?791m
We woke about 06:00 after a warm, as we always find sleeping indoors these days, but much better sleep. Heels taped and bags packed up, we ate breakfast in the room and headed out into the drizzle by 07:30. The day started with a steep climb out the back of town passing some derelict mills but then onto a fabulous national trail, Kirklees Way, which was popular with some early dog runners. It was drizzling on and off but really was not that bad. We then turned off the wider track onto a smaller path down into a valley and joined a beautifully straight path which reminded us of the Roman road. It was at this point the heavens really opened and the rain was pouring.
We descended into Holme and undressed in the door way of the Fleece Inn. We started with a coffee and then decided on a breakfast tea cake (we were just still in Yorkshire) as the rain was due to continue all day and night, so there would not exactly be a picnic spot for lunch. As we left the pub it actually had cleared up a bit and we enjoyed about half an hour of rain free walking along Brownhill reservoir. The rain then came down again as we joined a quiet tarmac road at White Gate. The birds by the road in the moor made me smile, so many different breeds almost playing in the rain, different sizes and colours, it was lovely.
The final stretch of the day was along the Trans Pennine way which was just a tarmac cycle path, along a disused railway, which was quick but a bit hard going on the feet. By some miracle the rain had also stopped and we reached camp about 16:30 with a bit of blue sky and some sunshine to put the tent up along with an opportunity to dry off waterproofs at least.
Tom went to get a couple of pints and a pie from the Waggon & Horses down the road and I chilled in the sun, mourning the loss of my little toe nail.
We had a fabulous thunderstorm during the second half of England’s 4-0 victory over Ukraine, it was quite scary as we were up on a hill and there was a lot of rain in a short period of time but we survived ?
Day 47: Langsett to The Fox House
? 34km
?1025m
We knew it was going to be at least a 30km day today and we had a time target for a change, a treat at the end of the day was a shower, a bed & laundry along with an evening with my Mum’s best friend from school Mary and her husband Paul.
We set off down the road and joined a forestry path towards Ladybower & Derwant reservoir noting down that the car park allows overnight stays. We took the main path up and over Mid Hope Moor, meeting a lady who was delighted about our trip, along with a few mountain bikers. I was impressed how many people were up and out so early after a Saturday night England win.
We descended from the moor to the river and the main walk and cycle path around the reservoir where there were plenty of cyclists and lots of running club runners smashing out fast times, undoubtedly on Strava segments. We hung a left off the main path up the very steep National Trust Abbey Bank to get back up high and followed one of the many paths across Derwent Edge which had all its quirky stones. We ate our lunch at The Wheel Stone before cutting cross country towards Stanage Edge.
As we joined the main path from the road the weather started to turn moody and the views back towards Mam Tor and down to Hathersage were incredible.
The thunder rolled and rumbled and Tom was loving life, but I was a bit nervous. The heavens did eventually open and we waterproofed up for the final section at the top before descending down for our cross country route towards the pub.
We got chatting to three young lads as we were going down who asked where we were walking to, and I think I shocked them with our story as they ascended up onto the edge in thier pristine white JD gear. Our cross country route was a bit slower than expected and we just made it to the pub in time for our 16:00 meet up with Mary & Paul.
We had a dreamy evening at their beautiful cottage down the road in Eyam, showered, washed our clothes and had a stunning lasagne with am incredible salad, coleslaw and garlic bread, then a beautiful summer pud and Mackie’s ice cream.
It was a fabulous evening and we even got to make up some sandwiches with home made bread, best packed lunch on trail yet.