Chris Howes explains all
YOU MIGHT ( OR
Chris Howes explains all
Revisiting the Pennine Way at 76 and 71 continued
only if somebody would part the curtain on Kinder Scout and lead him over it . When planning our trip , I offered for Trish and me to oblige . The response came from his gatekeeper a week later – he was sorry but had too many commitments . I hope that he wasn ’ t too disappointed .
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For Trish the Pennine Way was the ful�ilment of a long-standing fascination , while the 2013 experience had actually strengthened my fascination . For both of us , the Pennine Way became a journey : that sense of moving through a landscape of river valleys , �lower meadows , wild moorland , and changing local accents . This is no better exempli�ied than at the Tan Hill Inn where Dales turn abruptly into vast moorland as one moves from Yorkshire into County Durham and the start of a Northeast English accent .
The other place that touches me deeply is 900 + miles away – the Pyrenees . They are as different as chalk and cheese , but between mountain and moor there is a special commonality . Thirteen years ago , Angharad and I halted on a wild stretch of the Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne . Holding our gaze to the South was Sierra upon Sierra , illuminated by the orange glow of a lowering sun , and stretching seemingly to in�inity . We were the only boy and girl in the world at this moment , a moment that I thought could never to be repeated .
But it was . Thirteen years later , on the Northumbrian stretch of the Pennine Way , Trish stopped me . We looked around , witnesses to a profound silence as we gazed at the vast emptiness in every direction .
1 / See Andrew McCloy ’ s The Pennine Way : The Path , the Journey , the People { Cicerone ) for the same motive . I read Andrew ’ s well-researched , informative , and enjoyable account just after I wrote this article , noting several points of congruence between the two .
2 / References to Bert Ward are taken from David Hey ’ s 2011 paper : Kinder Scout and the legend of the Mass Trespass , Agricultural History Review , Vol 59 , No7 pp199- 2016 . The paper also features Tom Stephenson , although I have preferred to go straight to his Daily Herald article of 1935 where he �irst outlined his vision of a Pennine Way .
Starting 9 June at Kirk Yetholm , Gordon and Angharad are literally walking to their home in Hudders�ield , virtually all of it along the Pennine Way . They will be accompanied by various family members for the �irst �ive days , spanning two generations . Fascinations don ' t die , they don ' t even fade away .
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is currently an astonishing 685 km long ( that ’ s over 426 miles ). If you find that unbelievable , don ’ t forget that unlike walking a route on the surface , caves twist and turn and can be mazes on multiple levels , so you don ’ t necessarily have to go that far to reach the furthest point . If you guessed within fifty kilometres , award yourself one point ( and another for the cave name or location ).
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Veryëvkina in Georgia ( the country , not the state ) at 2,212 metres deep . That ’ s another number to wonder at – a cave that descends over two kilometres from the surface , essentially as a series of vertical shafts . The location gains one point , and if you were within 200m of the depth , have an extra point .
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The UK ’ s longest cave at over 86 km is found in northern England : the Three Counties System . Its existence was first suggested in 1968 , since when cavers sought to connect separate caves together , resulting in crossing the county boundaries of Lancashire , Yorkshire and Cumbria to form a giant latticework of passages . This was finally achieved in 2011 , but another ten years elapsed before the first complete traverse from the furthest extremities was completed in 2021 . Two points for location and distance within 5 km .
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We turn to South Wales for the deepest cave in the UK : Ogof Ffynnon Ddu ( the Cave of the Black Spring ) at 312.5 m . Unusually , because the system follows the ‘ slope ’ of the rock , it can be traversed from the highest to lowest points with minimal vertical ropework ( though the lowest point does demand diving ). Two points for location and within 20m of the depth .
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Currently , 182 caves in the UK and Ireland over 1km long have been mapped to produce a total length of 886.5km of passage . One point for guessing C .
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You could gain three points here , if you ticked all three . School teachings traditionally tell pupils that acid rain dissolves limestone to produce caves , and certainly acidic water is involved , but ...
The geology is relevant because most caves
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6 outdoor focus / summer 2023