Day 3/20 The Pennine Way 429km - Standedge to Mankinholes - 30 Jul 2009

25km, 464m ascent, took 6.75 hours (no rest)

Breakfast at B&B - chosen spaghetti instead of full English breakfast. Got the bus from Diggle to Standedge where the Pennine Way continued. It was a bad start. Pouring and extremely foggy. The bus driver thought I was mad to be walking in this weather, and even worse - alone!


I set off in the unpleasant weather, and very soon (within an hour), both my boots were soaked! Not good at all! Fortunately, my morale was good despite the weather. I started enthusiastically along Millstone Edge - the 1st of several gritstone edges. Then came the worst part, I followed the path blindly, making a wrong turn onto the Oldham Way which was also a distinct path. The weather was too foul for me to get my guide book out to refer to the map, hence a blunder was made. It was only till about 30min of walk when I started to suspect as the path didn't seem to be heading North any more. I backtracked a bit and did several trial and errors and ended up getting more lost. I got off the main path and was on uneven terrain with high grass. Cows stared innocently at the anxious me, wondering what was wrong with this alien on their land property! It finally occurred to me that I might have made a wrong turn from the beginning. I backtracked all the way to one of the earliest junction, and blamed myself terribly when I saw how I had made a wrong turn! All these had cost me more than an hour of precious time!













The Pennine Way then went through several road crossings, along with the frequent hum of distant traffic and a string of man-made reservoirs. Beyond the M62 highway, the wastes of Redmires which led up to the peak of Blackstone Edge was quite muddy and boggy at several areas. However, my soaking boots made me braver to overcome these obstacles. At the 'trig point', I overlooked Littleborough. The wind had picked up and the sun had finally set in. My first experience of sunny weather since the start of my walk. :)




































Next was the descent to White House pub before an easy yet long track circumventing several reservoirs. Stoodley Pike emerged from afar distinctively. It was a needle-shaped monument standing above the Calder Valley. Simply impressive! That would be where I would pass tomorrow. Looking forward!

























The view from Coldwell Hill, looking down towards the towns in the west direction, was simply wonderful, all thanks to the sunny weather. I took a left turn to make a very steep and long descent to Mankinholes - my destination for today. Checked in at YHA. Had dinner at Top Brink pub - good food, not too expensive. Finally, back to hostel to do all the washing up and make preparation for the following day's long walk.