Pennine Way at 60 - at 60!

A Wensleydale man has walked the Pennine Way after being inspired by a special exhibition about the National Trail.

Simon Russell from West Witton turned 60 in September last year, making him the same age as the Pennine Way itself, which was England’s first National Trail designated 60 years ago in 1965.

He had long aspired to walk the 268-mile trail from the Peak District through the Yorkshire Dales to Northumberland.

But it was only after visiting "A Trail of Inspiration", a touring exhibition which was hosted by the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes in the spring, that prompted him to go for it.

Simon Russell, a retired software engineer who walked the trail between 10-25 June, said : “At the start of the year I didn’t think I was going to be walking the Pennine Way.  But I visited an exhibition down in Hawes celebrating the Pennine Way being 60 years ago and, seeing the stories of all sorts of people doing it, I thought, I’m not too old to do it.  This was the opportunity to celebrate being 60.

“When I was a teenager me and two friends set off on the Pennine Way but we weren’t very well organised, it was during a heatwave, and we walked over Kinder Scout running out of water and ended up getting lost, and only got as far as Settle.  So ever since then I’ve wanted to walk the whole way.”

Simon said he wanted to share his story to help promote the Pennine Way to others, particularly those seeking solitude and challenge.

He said:  “It’s a really good walk because it takes you through remote places where you are not going to be coming across many other walkers.  For a large part of it you are walking on your own, and that is what interested me as well.  The Pennine Way is not spoilt by crowds.  Although I did enjoy bumping into a few other people and hearing their stories.  There was one chap I met on the second day who was walking as far as Keld, then picking up the Coast to Coast trail. He had in his rucksack the ashes of his brother, and he was on a pilgrimage to carry his brother and scatter the ashes at Robin Hood’s Bay.

“It is also a challenging walk, there’s no two ways about it: it’s a lot of miles, a lot of climbing.”

His support crew was his wife, Gail, who travelled by car, dropping off and picking up at the start and end of the day, and booking the bed and breakfast accommodation along the way.

Simon said:  “She was a key part of the whole expedition.  We tried to stay at places for two nights, and because we live in Wensleydale I was lucky enough to stay in my own bed for three of the nights.  I did some camping at Middleton in Teesdale.  There are lots of ways to do the Pennine Way.  You can choose to camp each night and stay close to route, or you can find B&Bs nearby; the accommodation was easy to find and there’s a guide book.”

The special exhibition on the Pennine Way, “A Trail of Inspiration”, is currently showing at the Bowlees Visitor Centre in the North Pennines National Landscape.  Then from 12 September to 2 November it will be at The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre near Hadrian’s Wall.