Pennine Way - Abort! Abort! Abort!

There’s a whole story as to how I found myself setting out on the Pennine Way yesterday with the intention of trying to walk its distance in a week, but it’s too long, and probably not overly relevant, to relate that here. Suffice to say that after putting a significant amount of time and effort into a level of planning and preparation that I’ve not engaged in for years, we set the alarm clocks for silly-o’clock yesterday morning to drive up to Edale and at just gone 7am I headed off up the road towards the Nag’s Head, as Mick (driving support for me) set off to jump ahead to Crowden. 

It’s now Tuesday evening and I’m writing this post from home, having travelled today from Ma-in-Law’s house, where we spent yesterday afternoon and last night. From that snippet of information you may gather that things didn’t go to plan.

I made no secret of the fact that I was highly pessimistic as to the chance of me succeeding in my goal, but equally I knew that unless I started I had absolutely no chance of finishing, so set out I did. What I hadn’t anticipated, in my expectations of failure, was that my mission would end so soon after it started.

I was still on my way up onto Kinder Scout when I felt a pull behind my left knee, in the same place as the niggle I’d felt in the Lakes a couple of weeks ago. Should I have anticipated this recurrence? Perhaps, but given that the niggle had disappeared the moment I stopped walking two weeks ago, and that in the following week and a half I’d been for a walk on Cannock Chase, a flat run and done a hill-reps session, all without any hint of an ongoing issue, it hadn’t entered my head that it would be a problem. Even when it did make its presence felt, I was optimistic that it would soon settle down.

By the time I reached Mill Hill on the far side of Kinder Scout I was in no doubt that I was going to have to abort, and for a short while I thought I was going to have to call Mick to pick me up from Snake Road. Then, between Mill Hill and the Snake Road, I ascertained that I could walk downhill without any hint of an issue and that I could run without a problem too, so I thought I may as well continue over Bleaklow. The uphill bits of that  extra 10km confirmed, without doubt, that stopping was the only sensible option. 

Disappointing to have such an early end to an endeavour like this, particularly given how much effort I put into the preparation (moreover, considering the good weather forecast was for this week!). Pulling out later, after a couple of days say, would have been a harder decision to make, but would no doubt have left me with some ‘lessons learnt’ and a better view as to my capabilities (both mental and physical). On the positive side, I did have a lovely morning’s walk, even with the fog and rain. 

I reckon I’ve got five more weeks this year before the available hours of daylight dictate that a rerun has to be postponed until next year. Five weeks is also the timeframe to another endeavour I had pencilled into the calendar. In the unlikely event that I’m confident in my ability to walk pain-free uphill again by then, I’ll have the challenge of deciding which one to pursue.

Obligatory Nag’s Head selfie

A long way to go!
 (or so I thought when I took this snap)

View back along Hope Valley, not long after I’d passed a chap just setting out to backpack half of the Way.

Heading for the foot of Jacob’s Ladder (note the cloud is now down over Kinder Scout)

Kinder Low trig point. The cloud, into which I’d ascended after Jacob’s Ladder, finally lifted just before I got to Bleaklow. It also started raining on me just after Kinder Downfall (which I could hear but not see) and continued for far longer than was reasonable on a day when rain wasn’t forecast.

Glorious surroundings, with the heather coming into bloom. I met Mick, who’d walked out to meet me, further down Torside Clough.