Over the Pennines

It promises to be a glorious day. Today I will cross the Pennines, the range of hills that form the central spine of the north of england and into southern scotland. The tops are wild moorland, below this stone walled fields. Often sheep farms.

I have a lot of climbing to do today, with several really steep parts. First is to cross the pennines from west to east. After that I will head north following the moor edge where I can. This avoids the busy roads in the valleys but requires a lot of climbing.

The scenery and landscape is devastatingly beautiful in the sunshine. Of course I am biased. But still, after all those trips to far places, this one strikes home in a deep way.

The M62 is the motorway that crosses the Pennines from Leeds to Manchester. It is a motorway like no other passing high across the moors. At one point the two sides of the motorway separate, with a sheep farm in between. There is a cycle route that passes under the motorway on the moor. It requires cycling along the reservoir dam wall, sandwiched between the water and the motorway.

The last few miles, I am really feeling the climbs. The sun has now gone and the campsite is at the top of the hill. I take the final left, encouragingly labelled as “steep lane” and crawl into the campsite as the rain starts.En savoir plus