At the start of the Pennine Way

The first time I arrived at Edale to walk the Pennine Way, I didn’t really notice anything special on which to set you off on your walk. No big obelisk, no information boards, nothing. Just a sign attached to the side of the Old Nags Head with a letter missing meaning that it proclaimed it was the official start of the “Pennine Wa”. None of that’s to say that there wasn’t anything there; just that I didn’t notice it.

That was many years ago, but on a recent return to Edale, I did notice that things had changed.

The first thing you notice is that there’s signs pointing you to the start of the trail all over the village.

Some are clearly a little worn.

Whilst others look quite shiny.

And then there are those that look more official than others.

They all point you to the same place though. And when you get there, there’s a nice plaque telling you how long you’ll be walking for.

And a nice gate to go through too. Step through that gate and your journey will have begun.

Not that you actually have to go through the gate that is. There’s a path that just goes round. It’s easy to go round, and whilst we were there, almost everyone else did. And that meant few seemed to notice the lovely representation of the Pennine Way that was on the gate. Which seemed rather a shame really.

But anyway, it’s nice to see – and indeed notice – that there’s a bit of a celebration of the start of the Pennine Way in Edale. After all, every epic journey needs a good beginning.