At the Border Hotel, you get a free half pint and a certificate when you complefe the Pennine Way

Well It's all over. Officially, 268 miles along the backbone of England. 4382 km (Monique) 36,825ft of ascent. (11225m). Certainly a challenge but one we were equal to. Here's to the next one.

And I've made it too. Rain on the lens causes some distortion.

Richard's made it. Celebrating in the rain outside the Border Hotel. The official end of the Pennine Way.

Today's lunch venue. Hen Hole Hut.

Visibility wasn't good today. Richard's about 30 yards ahead and about to disappear

Day 17. Thur 28th June 2012. Russell's Cairn to Kirk Yetholm.14 miles. Weather. As forecast, dry but cloudy to start, light rain showers from lunchtime then heavy rain showers from 2.00. Resumed our walk having been dropped off at yesterday's pickup point and ascended the two miles back up to the PW. Virtually the whole day was spent following the border fence on the English side. Ups and downs over boggy moorland. Some very welcome stretches of flagstones and duckboards and some unwelcome sections of gunge. Met a lovely family from Southampton with whom we shared the Hen Hole Hut bothy as shelter for lunch.80 year old grandad was completing his final section of the PW ably supported by Son, daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. Carried on after lunch over The Schil then eventually down into Kirk Yetholm and the end of our challenge. The final hour was spent in quite a violent thunderstorm. It was as if the Pennine Way was "showing us off the premises"
and saying "don't bother to come back." Don't worry, PW, we won't be.

Our lunchtime destination, Yearning Saddle Hut.

Some sun on nearby fells

Richard gaining access to Scotland. No border guards this side of the referendum

Day !6. Wed 27th June 2012. Byrness to Russell's Cairn.15 miles. Weather. Overcast to start. A few spits and spots of rain at 11.00. Nothing to require waterproofs. Brightening up and by 2.00 the sun deigned to make a brief appearance. Quite warm with good visibility. Well we've done the walk and landed up exactly where we started. We set off with quite a steep climb out of Byrness, initially through forest. Gained considerable height then walked up and down over several grass or heather covered hills. The path followed a fence which marks the boundary between England and Scotland and on occason, we ventured across into Salmond's territory. He didn't seem to mind. Had Lunch in a strategically placed bothy. Going today was very similar to previous days, boggy in places, firm in others and some over flagstones. When we reached Russell's Cairn, we diverted off the PW to Trows Farm, where our landlady from yesterday was waiting, in a 4X4, to take us back to
Byrness. She will deliver
us back to the farm in the morning when we can complete our expedition at Kirk Yetholm. Byrness to KY is 28 miles so we decided to split it into 2 days and the people at Byrness offer this pickup service. It meant that today's rucksacks were extraordinarily light, just containing waterproofs and our lunch.

After a struggle through some nasty boggy ground, excellent progress was made along a firm forest track.

Yes, it's true. Richard's applying sun cream. He only applied to the back of his legs as he reckons that as we're walking northwards, the sun will never get to the fronts.

Typical scenery of the first half of the day. Open moorland.

Day 15. Tues 26th June 2012. Bellingham to Byrness.16 miles. Weather. Dry with prolonged sunny intervals until lunchtime when it became overcast. The forecasted rain came at exactly the point when we'd finished walking, 3.10 pm. Left Bellingham at 9.15 having stocked up with provisions at the coey. Steady uphill walking took us back to high ground, mainly heather-clad moorland. Fairly featureless but with good visibility, quite attractive. Underfoot was a mixture of firm ground interspersed with the bog to which we've become accustomed of late. We eventually arrived at a section of Keilder Forest where we stopped for lunch. Once we'd gained the forest track, rapid progress was made towards our destination, arriving just as the rain started. That's three days where we've finished with dry feet and boots.

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The river North Tyne on our approach to Bellingham

The acorn on the sign indicates the National Trail is pointing us to our destination of the delightful town of Bellingham.

Remains of milecastle no 37. There used to one every Roman mile, 1620yds.

Day 14. Mon 25th June 2012. Housesteads to Bellingham. (Pronounced Bellingjum) 15.5 miles. Weather. Glory be. Fine all day, albeit overcast but mild. Rejoined path at Hadrian's Wall and continued eastward for a while. Lots of walkers doing the HW walk, only met one other doing the PW today. Soon we turned left to head northwards. The walk was fairly low level and easy. Some forest walking but mainly through fields and moorland. Still plenty of gloop to negotiate but less than on recent days. Arrived at the B & B at 4.00. With the prospect of another fine day tomorrow, and just 3 more days to go, the mood in the camp is good, no thanks to that feeble attempt by our boys to beat Italy.

a decent stretch of Hadrian's Wall

The Romans were good at building walls, law and order, roads, viniculture, irrigation, education.......and they win penalty shoot outs

The Natural Whin Sill. Enough in its self to repel boarders.

Leaving the Greenhead Hotel. Good digs.

Day 13. Sunday, 24th June 2012. Greenhead to Housesteads.6.00 miles. Weather. On the walk, a little sun but mostly cloudy with the occasional light shower. After the walk, a series of very severe downpours. The schedule dictated a very short day today so Richard had a lay in till 9.00 and we got going at 10.30. The walk was almost entirely over some of the course of Hadrian's Wall with quite severe undulations over the natural Whin Sill. Underfoot was a delight, compared with yesterday, walking over closely mown grass courtesy of the local Northumberland sheep. We were all done by 2.00 when we arrived at the Twice Brewed Inn in plenty of time to prepare for tonight's big match. There's five hand pumps in the bar so it's gonna be tough.

Oh Dear

Day 12. Saturday, 23rd June 2012. Alston to Greenhead.17 miles. Weather. Heavy rain to start until 11.30 when it dried up and the sun made brief appearances. Very windy all day. Although this was a low level walk, only 1770 ft of ascent, this was an appallingly awful day. As a result of all the recent rain, everywhere was sodden and virtually the entire day was spent trying to find the least wet places to plant one's feet. All the streams and rivers were angry and some of the footpaths became streams. Sorry, no pictures today, not in the mood. There was nothing in particular to photograph. Have I seen enough of the Pennines?

Richard eating his lunch, standing up. He reckoned he'd get too cold if he sat down

The highlight of the day was finding Greg's Hut. A bothy just after the summit of Cross Fell and the only shelter for 20 miles. We used it to eat our lunch and it was also being used by 4 lads who were doing the P W north to south and had spent the night there and a couple from the Netherlands.

Richard at the summit of Cross Fell, looking west. Can you see the Lake District? No chance.

Making our way into the cloud.

Day 11. Fri 22nd June 2012. Dufton to Alston.20 miles. Weather. Heavy rain to start, followed by more heavy rain and finally, more heavy rain. Cold and windy. The walk today incorporated the most amount of ascent, 3410ft over Cross Fell, at 2930ft, the highest point of the P W, and its near neighbours. We were soon climbing into the low cloud where we stayed for about 6 hours. Visibility was down to about 50 yards in places. It was just a question of getting from A to B without getting lost. Not for us, the fine views of the Lake District that the guide book suggested. We just trudged on thinking of a nice dry and warm Youth Hostel. Today was a day of abject misery.

Almost a view in the rain of High Cap Nick

One of several waterfalls along the River Tees

Concrete sheep to compete with the MK cows

Day 10. Thurs 21st June 2012. Middleton in Teesdale to Dufton.22 miles. Weather. Dry but overcast until 11.30 then continuous and sometimes heavy rain for the remainder of the walk. The early part of the walk along the bank of the Tees was quite stunning, passing two waterfalls. Later, when the rain started it became a tiresome slog. Sections were clambers of endless boulders, a nasty climb over wet rocks along side Cauldron Spout and a long moorland walk over wet grass. Arrived at the Youth Hostel and made full use of its drying room.

Hay meadows

Signs were repeatedly asking us to keep to single file across hay meadows. The grass takes longer to grow up north before cutting. This gives the wild flowers longer to grow and seed thus allowing a variety to thrive.

The Highest Pub In GB. The Tan Hill Inn

Day 9. Wed 20th June 2012. Tan Hill Inn to Middleton in Teesdale.18 miles. Weather. Warm sunny periods AM, more cloudy but dry PM. Walked over Sleightholme Moor, quite featureless then on to God's Bridge. Crossed the A66 by an underpass and had lunch near Blackton Reservoir. We then crossed Hannah's Meadows. Hannah Hauxwell became famous on TV in the 1980s as the lady who lived in a farmhouse with no electricity or running water. When she retired, her land was bought by a trust and the meadows are now an SSI.

Stop Press

No. We haven't given up and gone home or been washed away in floods or fallen down an old mineshaft. We've been in a Vodafone Desert, to be known forthwith as VD which reflects the kind of service I've been getting, for the past 3 days. Further updates to come but we're just off to the pub for dinner and to watch Greece whip Germany.

Britain's Highest boozer

Superb walking in Swaledale

England's highest waterfall, Hardraw force.

Day 8. Tues 19th June 2012. Hawes to Tan Hill Inn.17 miles. weather. Fine all day. Morning mostly overcast and cool on tops, afternoon warm sunshine all the way. Having spent the night in Hawes, we set of in fine fettle. We soon arrived at Hardraw where I took a short diversion to visit England's highest single drop waterfall at 98ft. We then scaled Great Shunner Fell which then became the highest point so far. It was a somewhat tedious slog before reaching Thwaite where we stopped for lunch. The next tihree miles, at high level to Keld were a delight. For me, the best section thus far. We then had a four mile uphill walk to the Tan Hill Inn, famously known as Britain's Highest Pub where we're about to watch England v Ukraine.

A typical Yorkshire Dales Barn, surrounded by buttercups.

The nearest we could get to the Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle Railway line.

The famous Pen y Ghent Cafe

Day 7. Horton in Ribblesdale to Hawes.15 miles. Weather. Deep joy. Warm sunny periods all day.21 degrees. Got a packed lunch from the Pen y Ghent Cafe then off on a wide track up to Birkwith Moor. On to Cam End and down into Hawes. Only 1610ft of ascent today and the going was firm underfoot. All done by 3.15. The guide book reckons we've now done 111.5 miles with 15260 ft of ascent or for any French readers (hi Monique) that's 179 km and 4650 m.

The distinctive profile of Pen y Ghent, our last challenge of the day. We were obliged to climb it on the sheer side. It's now the view from our bedroom window.

Near Malham Tarn we witnessed a procession of lots of tractors. Was it the ITFC supporters on tour?

Always a tourist honeypot. Malham Cove was a popular weekend attraction including parties of school kids on Geography field trips

Day 6. Sunday, 17th June 2012. Malham to Horton in Ribblesdale.15 miles. Weather. Dry but overcast all day. Cold on tops, 11C in strong winds. Left Malham with the day trippers en route to Malham Cove. From the base, we climbed the steps
to the top, some 230 feet above. Continued to Malham Tarn then on to Fountains Fell, at 2135ft the highest point so far. We dropped 800ft then scaled Pen y Ghent at 2277ft. it became the highest point. A three mile descent into Horton finished the day.

Even in the rain the colours show up

A nice building on the Aire at Airton. No sign of Senna.

Rain imminent

Day 5.16th June 2012. Cowling to Malham 19 miles. Weather. Well, let's say sometimes it was raining less than others. It was persistent. Walked up over Cowling Hill to Lothersdale then onto Gargrave. Finished in Malham having followed the River Aire for several miles.

Yet another reservoir. This one more attractive than most

Dual language signs

We passed a ruined house known as Top Withins. It may or may not be associated with Emily Bronte's Withering Heights. The jury's out apparently. Nevertheless, tourists continue to trek up from Haworth, many of whom are Japanese and the signposts are there to guide them.

No hose pipe bans round these parts. Last night's overnight rain has swolen the rivers.

Day 4.15th June 2012. Blackshaw Head to Cowling.15 miles. Weather. Early visibility very poor. Dry and cloudy to start. Sunny periods till noon then moderate showers and sunshine for rest of walk. Spent most of the day on the bog again. Lots of peaty paths and reservoirs everywhere, some connected by Madeira-style levadas. Path is shared with the Bronte Way in the afternoon as Haworth is nearby and they were big around there. We were drinking last night with 3 Naarwich supporters and we've just found out they've booked into our digs. Breakfast could be interesting.

Lovely blue sky. All this technology but still no service from Vodafone.

Rochdale in the distance

We could see Rochdale in the distance, birthplace of Gracie Fields.2 weeks ago I was on Capri. I can see why she moved!

Can you see a face?

Day 3. Standedge to Blackshaw Head.17 miles. Weather. Low mist to start. Sun soon appeared and stayed untl last 30 minutes. spitting rain ended the walk. Quite windy in the afternoon. An easy yet long moorland walk. Crossed the M62 early on and industrial Lancashire towns in view in the distance. Finished about 5 pm now watching Croatia v Italy.

I do like a nice waterfall

Typical scene. Plenty of reservoirs, this one with some added colour.

Found these early on day 2. Not sure if the owner continued on bare feet

Day 2. Crowden to Standedge.12.5 miles. Weather. Cool and cloudy at start. A little drizzle over lunch then much brighter later. Another day of upland moorland walking. Quite easy going but short on interest. Much work has been done to improve the walking over wet boggy peat, thank goodness. Good digs at The Carriage House.

At The Start Of The Jacob's Ladder

Ready For The Off

Day 1, Edale to Crowden.16 miles. Left Edale at 9.35 from the Old Nag's Head. Who in their right mind designed a footpath that walked AWAY from a pub? Weather was dry, overcast and cool.11 degrees at one point. Path took us over Kinder Scout, down to the Snake Pass then on to Crowden. Now in The Peels Arms having a well-deserved meal and some Theakstons.