Middleton-in-Teesdale to Keld

The owner of last night’s B&B insisted on providing a particularly early breakfast, remembering how long other weary Pennine Way followers had taken for today’s stretch. This was a nice change from the usual haggling required in order to spend my walking hours in daylight. So morning had barely broken when I left the empty streets of a mist shrouded town and headed back onto the moors.

After spending some time navigating through a maze of small and odd shaped fields enclosed by crumbling stone walls, I found myself crossing Grassholme Reservoir and passing between Blackton and Balderdale Reservoirs. These are small bodies of water in a gently rolling patchwork of fields, and while pleasant could not compete with the dramatic scenery of past days. I kept on walking.

High moorland beckoned and soon I was striding along a thin path across a brown landscape. With few features or landmarks, I was happy to trust this path, even through it could be leading me almost anywhere. In the end it took me to the A66, the halfway point for those doing the Pennine Way properly. A fell runner jogged by, possibly the only fellow human I met today, since none of the day's miles passed through villages or towns.

I dropped down to the handy limestone slab of God's Bridge, and then picked a way down the impressive grassy slopes of Sleightholme Beck to cross a more modern wooden footbridge. At the end of a long track was a section with a reputation for being a boggy morass, Wainwright describing it as a 'penance for sins'. But with the cold and dry weather it turned out to be a pleasant stroll along a slowly disappearing bubbling stream. Winter appears to be a great time to tackle the Way.

At Tan Hill I found I was making good time and could take it easy on the slopes of Stonesdale as I gently lost height to reach the small village of Keld. Finally returning home to Yorkshire, I found a warm welcome over a foaming pint and some much needed company after a lonely day.