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Planning a trip on the Pennine Way

Published 29 November 2011. Last updated 28 April 2012

So you're thinking of walking the Pennine Way, eh? Well good for you. It's certainly an experience and as long as you don't end up up to your waist in bog, you'll probably have a good time.

At 267 miles long it is, however, quite an undertaking to do, especially all in one go, and planning a trip can be hard work so here's some help and advice.

In this Guide

1. An important point
2. In sections or all in one go?
3. Planning an itinerary
4. Itinerary Options
   1. The Bowes Loop
   2. Options for breaking up Byrness to Kirk Yetholm
   3. The hostel based itinerary
   4. Rest Days
5. Finding and booking accommodation
6. Getting to/from the Pennine Way
7. Guide books and maps
8. Know how to use a map and compass
9. And finally, and any questions

An important point

You may know this already as, after all, the Pennine Way has quite a reputation, but we'll mention it anyway. Fact is that the Pennine Way can be a difficult walk. There's lots of hills, some long distances and the weather can be awful. And as for the mud and bog...

It is enjoyable and there's no doubt that the sense of achievement when you do it is enormous, however it is probably the toughest and most difficult of the National Trails. If you're an absolute walking novice, you may wish to try walking a different route first for practise. But then again, you might just want to leap in the deep-end. Just be warned - a walk in the park this is not.

In sections or all in one go?

The first decision is how are you going to walk it? Are you going to aim to do all of it in one go, or try and split it up in to chunks (or even day walks.)

If you want to do it all in one go you're going to need about three weeks (and don't forget to include rest days in your planning!) however if you're not able to dedicate that amount of time it is possible to split it up in to several sections.

Public transport connections are better in the southern section of the route meaning you can chunk things up more easily, and the following are some suggestions where good public transport is available - more information on public transport is detailed below.

• Edale to Hebden Bridge - 42 miles
• Hebden Bridge to Gargrave - 26½ miles
• Gargrave to Horton-in-Ribblesdale - 20¼miles
• Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Dufton - 70¾miles
• Dufton to Kirk Yetholm - 97¼miles

Planning an itinerary

The Pennine Way generally takes just under three weeks to complete.

There are a number of options on the route so it's not easy to offer a set itinerary. As such, what is listed below is a number of "sections". Some are obvious day walks, whilst the shorter sections can be either combined in various ways.

Each of the locations listed below has accommodation and a pub unless otherwise noted. Many stops are listed as having limited accommodation however there will be B&Bs/pubs in nearby villages which will be able to pick you up and return you to your walk.

Locations with a railway station are marked with a ^*.

1. Only accommodation is the YHA Crowdon.
2. Limited accommodation at Ponden House and the Old Silent Inn. Alternative accommodation can be found two miles away in the village of Haworth.
3. Keld is also on the Coast to Coast and accommodation in the village can often be very short supply. However Thwaite also has some B&Bs and a hotel and is still on the Pennine Way. Alternatively you may wish to push on to the Tan Hill Inn.
4. For a totally amazing and one off experience, stay in the most remote pub in Britain. It's amazing. Just make sure you book in advance.
5. Penrith station is 16 miles from Dufton and accessible by taxi.
6. Limited accommodation and no shop. There is also no pub in Slaggyford village, however the Kirkstyle Inn is a mile away.
7. Although a short section, this goes along Hadrians Wall and it is well worth spending a day on this section and taking in the museums and sights.
8. Limited accommodation, no pub and no shop. YHA Bryness have some supplies for sale.

Itinerary Options

As well as the main itinerary, there are two options to the Pennine Way to consider

The Bowes Loop

Options for breaking up Byrness to Kirk Yetholm

The final section of the Pennine Way is the most difficult to sort accommodation for. The final 25 mile (bit more if you go to the Cheviot) stretch goes past no B&Bs and certainly no pubs.

However the Pennine Way walker does have a number of options:

• stay two nights at Kirk Yetholm - most people seem to do this, partly because the local B&Bs are very good at promoting this service. The B&B will pick you up at an arranged location and time and they'll drive you to the village and you can pop to the lovely Border Inn. The next day they'll drive you back and you can continue on to Kirk Yetholm. Note that the pick up points will be a couple of miles off route.
• stay two nights at Byrness - naturally this works in the same way as staying in a Kirk Yetholm B&B. Both the Byrness Hotel and Forest View Walkers Accommodation (YHA) offer this service. Again, the pick up points will be a couple of miles off route.
• stay at Barrowburn Farm - less well known is this farmhouse B&B about two and a half miles off route, turning off at Windy Gyle (about 15 miles from Byrness). It's extremely remote, rather basic and very isolated however it's a great experience and you'll get an evening meal and packed lunch as well as a substantial breakfast. The farm also has a self catering cottage, a camping barn and facilities for campers.
• stay at Mounthooley bunkhouse - the turn off for this YHA affiliated bunkhouse is a short way after the Cheviot and a couple of miles off route. If you're prepared for a long first day and a shorter second day, Mounthooley is a possible option. Note that like Barrowburn, Mounthooley is remote and there are no nearby pubs or shops.
• stop at a bothy - the National Park operates two shelters. The first is at Yearning Saddle, about eight miles from Byrness. The second is Auchope, about seven miles from Kirk Yetholm. Both are basic shelters so if you plan to stay overnight you'll need food and a sleeping bag.
• do it all in one day - if you're a glutton for punishment, this is an option. However you'll need to be very fit to manage it.

Note: on some older web pages you may see mention of Uswayford Farm which was a popular stop-over point and slightly closer to the Pennine Way than Barrowburn. However the B&B closed in 2010 when owner Nancy left. An attempt was made to re-open it however this did not happen and as such there is no accommodation at Uswayford Farm.

The hostel based itinerary

There was a time when you could do the entire Pennine Way spending pretty much every night under the roof of the YHA, however hostel closures and sell-offs means that's no longer possible. The sole SYHA hostel on the route, at Kirk Yetholm, was closed in 2011.

Stepping into the gap have been a number of independent bunk barns, many associated with local pubs.

It's probably wise to try and book each hostel a few days in advance - or at least book it on the morning you intend to arrive there. Don't forget that YHA hostels can book beds for you anywhere in the YHA network.

Most hostels and bunk barns are very often (but not always) well spaced for a days walking and an itinerary is listed below. Note some are self-catering only, however bedding is always provided.

All distances shown below are approximate and are the distance travelled along the Pennine Way.

1. To break up in to two days, stop overnight in a B&B near Standedge.
2. Alternatively Keld Bunkhouse is available four miles earlier, however it only has only nine beds and is liable to be full of people walking the Coast to Coast. The Tan Hill Inn does have more room and is a more reliable option for the Pennine Way walker. Advance booking of either is highly advisable.
3. For more sensible walking distances, break at the town of Middleton in Teesdale
4. Small YHA affiliated bunkhouse. Booking highly recommended.
5. This YHA affiliated hostel is also known as Forest View Walkers Accommodation
6. Until 2011 there was an SYHA hostel in Kirk Yetholm however now you'll either have to stay in a B&B or hotel, or get the bus out. Staying is recommended - the Border Hotel does excellent food.

Note: you may still see references to YHA hostels in Keld and Blackton, and an SYHA hostel at Kirk Yetholm. Keld is now a hotel and Blackton is only available for group hire. Maps may also show other bunkhouses however many have closed, be camping barns or available for group hire only.

Kirk Yetholm closed in 2011. A local business was rumoured to be purchasing the hostel and re-opening it, however at the time of writing [April 2012] the hostel is still on the market.

The information above is correct April 2012. Corrections, additions and clarifications welcome.

Rest Days

If you're planning on doing the Pennine Way all in one go you'll probably want to factor in a rest day or two. The main recommendations are:

• Hebden Bridge - a bit early on but this Yorkshire market town has a seriously quirky reputation due to an influx of writers, painters and new age activists in the 1970s and 1980s. There's plenty to explore and enjoy, as well as having regular rail services to Manchester and Leeds
• Malham - a popular place for walkers Malham is a lovely place and has a range of walking routes to enjoy.
• Horton-in-Ribblesdale - with the three peaks of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-y-ghent Horton is a mecca for walkers. The Pennine Way goes over Pen-y-ghent however a rest day can easily be spent exploring the other two peaks or spending some time on the stunning Settle to Carlisle railway line which passes through the village.
• Hawes - this small market town has the Dales Countryside Museum, waterfalls, walking routes and the Wensleydale Creamery.
• Bowes - on the Bowes Loop you can spend the day visiting Bowes Castle and other nearby attractions.
• Greenhead/Once Brewed - the Pennine Way runs along part of Hadrian's Wall and highly recommended is to do the short distance between Greenhead and Once Brewed in one day and spend the rest exploring the Roman ruins, museums and visitor centres.

Finding and booking accommodation

The Pennine Way is well served by accommodation providers of all kinds and you should have no trouble in finding somewhere if booking in advance.

There are two main accommodation guides, one published on the official Pennine Way website and the other published by the The Pennine Way Association. The latter only includes accommodation providers who are a member of the Association and so is smaller.

Due to the limited amount of accommodation in some areas it's advisable to book, however if you don't want to spend three weeks with a rigid itinerary many people report having few problems just turning up and finding a bed. The Pennine Way is also well served with campsites and camping barns if you prefer to do things that way.

There are plenty of hostels, as can be seen in the Hostel Itinerary above.

Getting to/from the Pennine Way

Given the fact that this is a walk between Derbyshire and the Scottish Borders chances are that you're not going to arrive in Edale or Kirk Yetholm by car unless you have some very tolerant friends or family. You'll want to get there by public transport instead.

Useful services are available at or near the following locations:

• Edale - on the lovely Hope Valley line roughly half way between Sheffield and and Manchester. Trains usually run every two hours, with an hourly service on Saturdays.
• Hebden Bridge - several services an hour mostly running between Leeds and Manchester, plus hourly services to Blackpool and York.
• Gargrave - a short journey from Leeds, trains also run to Carlisle and Morcombe. Services are sporadic.
• Horton-in-Ribblesdale - on the Settle to Carlisle line, trains run through to Carlisle or Leeds roughly every two hours or so.
• Dufton - there's no station at Dufton however Appleby on the Settle to Carlisle line is a few miles away. More useful however is 13 miles away at Penrith which sits on the West Coast mainline and has regular services to London, Crewe, Carlisle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. There is no public transport from Dufton, which means you'll want a taxi.
• Byrness - the tiny village is connected to Newcastle by one bus a day (except Sundays), and also by a daily National Express service which runs from Wrexham to Perth via Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
• Kirk Yetholm - buses to Kelso run at various intervals from just outside the Border Inn. From Kelso there is a two hourly bus service to Berwick-upon-Tweed where railway services regularly run to London, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh amongst other destinations.

Many other locations on the Pennine Way have bus services although they may not be particularly useful to the walker, nor frequent.

Guide Books and Maps

Guidebooks and maps are a must on the Pennine Way. Whilst there are plenty of signs, there are plenty of opportunities to lose your way on the route.

The official Pennine Way guidebooks include both maps and text to help you on your way. Published by Aurum Press, the route is split in to two books: the Pennine Way South covers from Edale to Bowes, whilst the Pennine Way North goes from Bowes to Kirk Yetholm.

Both books contain historical information, and (more importantly) Ordnance Survey maps at the 1:25,000 scale. The maps show plenty of the area surrounding the route. We used them throughout our journey and found we needed little else.

Whilst not ideal for navigation, Wainwright's Pictorial Guide to the Pennine Way offers Wainwright's own particular take on the walk as well as plenty of history and information.

Due to its length the Pennine Way would need about 10 different Ordnance Survey maps so if you'd rather take less maps then you may prefer to take a look at the Harvey maps for the route.

There are three: one for the south, one for the central section and one for the north.

Finally, the Pennine Way's fame means that there have been more than a few books written about it.

My favourite is Pennine Walkies, Mark Wallington's hysterical account of walking the trail after deciding his dog, Boogie, needed the exercise.

Barry Pilton's One Man and His Bog must surely win the award for best name. Quite why Barry decides to walk the Pennine Way, the reader is never quite sure, but if he hadn't, the world would have one less funny book.

Oh and don't forget the cartoon based Laughs Along the Pennine Way. It's by Pete Bog so it must be good.

Know how to use a map and a compass

Whilst the route is sign posted, there are several parts of the Pennine Way that are difficult to navigate and you'll need to know how to use a map and compass.

There are several online guides like How To Use A Compass and Getting to Know Map and Compass, and you may also find training courses in your area - many YHA hostels host them for example.

Knowing how to use a map and compass together will really help you and will (hopefully!) stop you getting lost - guide books can only tell you so much in text form.

And finally, and any questions

The Pennine Way is a great challenge to do and I hope the above have given you some useful information to help plan your trip.

So all that is left to do is to get your boots on and get walking! Have fun, and if you have any questions or comments, just leave a comment below.

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