Pennine Way - June 2005

(Alan) said:

Planning to walk Pennine Way in June. Experienced hiker - got all the
kit, etc. - so no worries on that score.

The question mark in my mind is on accommodation. I'm planning to use
youth hostels where possible. How important is it to book ahead and
by how long? Obviously in an ideal world I'd book everything in
advance, but I'm conscious that I may make faster or slower progress
than anticipated, have the odd rest day, etc. Is finding a hostel bed
along the Pennine Way at short notice likely to be a problem in June?

Grateful for any advice,
KF.

I reckon weekdays in June will be fairly quiet - most schools won't
yet have broken up. Weekends could be a problem though.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

(Alan) said:

Planning to walk Pennine Way in June. Experienced hiker - got all the
kit, etc. - so no worries on that score.

The question mark in my mind is on accommodation. I'm planning to use
youth hostels where possible. How important is it to book ahead and
by how long? Obviously in an ideal world I'd book everything in
advance, but I'm conscious that I may make faster or slower progress
than anticipated, have the odd rest day, etc. Is finding a hostel bed
along the Pennine Way at short notice likely to be a problem in June?

Grateful for any advice,

Hi there,

I can't say about June, but last August/September I found that it
wasn't normally a problem to book them at the last minute on the PW
route. I stayed at YHs in Keld, Baldersdale, Langdon Beck, Greenhead,
Once Brewed and Byrness, and they were all booked on the day.

Incidentally, Baldersdale was the best - great warden, very friendly -
and Langdon Beck was the one I enjoyed least - quite the opposite of
Baldersdale, I thought. The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Have a great time!

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
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On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:17:53 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>
wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Um... I meant nut roast, not meat loaf. I've never had it before, but
it confounded all my worst fears 🙂

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

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In article <[email hidden]>, Peewiglet
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:17:53 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>
wrote:

[...]

Quoted message said:

The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Um...

I couldn't decide if you were talking about a pub by that name or if you
had fallen off your trolley.

Quoted message said:

I meant nut roast, not meat loaf.

Ah, off your trolley, but not how I'd imagined ;-)

Talking of PW on the PW when you coming over for the Black Hill run? I
need to sharpen my axe :-)

--

Dominic Sexton

"Alan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Planning to walk Pennine Way in June. Experienced hiker - got all the
kit, etc. - so no worries on that score.

The question mark in my mind is on accommodation. I'm planning to use
youth hostels where possible. How important is it to book ahead and
by how long? Obviously in an ideal world I'd book everything in
advance, but I'm conscious that I may make faster or slower progress
than anticipated, have the odd rest day, etc. Is finding a hostel bed
along the Pennine Way at short notice likely to be a problem in June?

Grateful for any advice,
KF.

I have never done the PW, but a friend of mine did a few years ago. She had
a rest day about halfway there and regretted it. She did the walk in summer
and there were a number of different individuals and groups groups who all
independently started the walk in Edale on the Saturday. Even though they
were not together, they kept meeting up unintenionally at various points
either in hostels, cafes, pubs or when having picnic stops. This resulted
in a cameraderie developing which she missed out on during the 2nd week
because she was then was a day behind. I don't know if this is normal, but
it is what she experienced.

Regards

Bernard

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:23:05 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Eeeek! Organic, Fairtrade, Free-range meatloaf, I hope?

Quoted message said:

Um... I meant nut roast,

Phew!

Quoted message said:

not meat loaf. I've never had it before, but
it confounded all my worst fears 🙂

Judith said:

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 22:23:05 +0000, Peewiglet <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Eeeek! Organic, Fairtrade, Free-range meatloaf, I hope?

Heh... with chips, naturally.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Um... I meant nut roast,

Phew!

:-)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

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Dominic Sexton said:

Quoted message said:

[...]

Quoted message said:

The meat loaf at Keld was outstanding!

Um...

I couldn't decide if you were talking about a pub by that name or if you
had fallen off your trolley.

Well the latter option is fairly intuitive, istm ;-)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I meant nut roast, not meat loaf.

Ah, off your trolley, but not how I'd imagined ;-)

Talking of PW on the PW when you coming over for the Black Hill run? I
need to sharpen my axe :-)

Oooh, Black Hill run eh? I must get fitter.... running in the morning
:-)

(Axe? Uh-oh...)

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \

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..

Quoted message said:

I have never done the PW, but a friend of mine did a few years ago. She had
a rest day about halfway there and regretted it. She did the walk in summer
and there were a number of different individuals and groups groups who all
independently started the walk in Edale on the Saturday. Even though they
were not together, they kept meeting up unintenionally at various points
either in hostels, cafes, pubs or when having picnic stops. This resulted
in a cameraderie developing which she missed out on during the 2nd week
because she was then was a day behind. I don't know if this is normal, but
it is what she experienced.

That was very much my experience too.. Meeting folk along the way was
a great part of the PW

Richard Webb

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I reckon weekdays in June will be fairly quiet - most schools won't
yet have broken up. Weekends could be a problem though.

It's weekdays during term time that ARE a problem. Residential visits
from school groups are big business for YHA. Last time I was up there,
YHA Greenhead was full with a school group. And even when they don't
take all the beds, they get sole occupancy.

Best thing to do is make YHA bookings where there is scarce alternative
accommodation. Crowden & Keld for certain. And wing the rest.

Ian.

--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

Ian Dainty said:

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I reckon weekdays in June will be fairly quiet - most schools won't
yet have broken up. Weekends could be a problem though.

It's weekdays during term time that ARE a problem. Residential visits
from school groups are big business for YHA. Last time I was up there,
YHA Greenhead was full with a school group. And even when they don't
take all the beds, they get sole occupancy.

Barstewards! Don't they have exams to do?

Quoted message said:

Best thing to do is make YHA bookings where there is scarce alternative
accommodation. Crowden & Keld for certain. And wing the rest.

I guess so.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

"Ian Dainty" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I reckon weekdays in June will be fairly quiet - most schools won't
yet have broken up. Weekends could be a problem though.

It's weekdays during term time that ARE a problem. Residential visits
from school groups are big business for YHA. Last time I was up there,
YHA Greenhead was full with a school group. And even when they don't
take all the beds, they get sole occupancy.

Best thing to do is make YHA bookings where there is scarce alternative
accommodation. Crowden & Keld for certain. And wing the rest.

Ian.

That's my experience from when I did it a couple of years ago as well. We
were doing the walk in early September and tried to book all our hostels in
about March. Even that early, Langdon Beck was already completely full (I
guess a school group). Fortunately it doens't make much difference to stay
in Middleton-in-Teesdale instead but it would have been bad news had it been
any of the more remote hostels. So I'd suggest the same as Ian and if you
don't want to book them all now, at least think about booking the more
remote ones.

Dave

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's weekdays during term time that ARE a problem. Residential visits
from school groups are big business for YHA. Last time I was up there,
YHA Greenhead was full with a school group. And even when they don't
take all the beds, they get sole occupancy.

Barstewards! Don't they have exams to do?

Of course they do - but not all children every week of every
year. Let's not get to the point of complaining about schools
using YHAs - this year's children on school visits are next
year's youngsters going off on their own or with small groups
of friends. My 15 year old daughter is a case in point: last
year she was finally old enough for National Express and the
YHA to accept her on her own, so off she went to Stratford
Upon Avon where she bought herself a theatre ticket and
indulged her liking of drama and all things Shakespeare.
She'll probably decide to go somewhere else this year and as
her mother I'd far sooner she went to a YHA hostel than
a.n.other B&B.

Oh, and just in case anyone's wondering, I've just killed the
recent thread I started. I CBA any more.
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.

"RJ Webb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

.

Quoted message said:

I have never done the PW, but a friend of mine did a few years ago. She
had
a rest day about halfway there and regretted it. She did the walk in
summer
and there were a number of different individuals and groups groups who all
independently started the walk in Edale on the Saturday. Even though they
were not together, they kept meeting up unintenionally at various points
either in hostels, cafes, pubs or when having picnic stops. This resulted
in a cameraderie developing which she missed out on during the 2nd week
because she was then was a day behind. I don't know if this is normal,
but
it is what she experienced.

That was very much my experience too.. Meeting folk along the way was
a great part of the PW

Richard Webb

Agreed, the best thing about doing a long distance walk like that and
staying in hostels is meeting up with other people doing it and swapping
story etc. When I did the PW, we did it North to South so didn't have as
many of the same people to meet up with every night but it was quite useful
to get info on what was to come!

From my experience and the people I talked to in the hostels, not many
people do the whole walk in one go without rest days, so I don't think you
need to be worried about losing people like that. You might end up taking
rest days at different times but that just means you'll meet up again in a
couple of days. And I would definitely suggest at least a couple of those
days as they break it up nicely and will help you enjoy it much more!

Dave

Fran said:

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's weekdays during term time that ARE a problem. Residential visits
from school groups are big business for YHA. Last time I was up there,
YHA Greenhead was full with a school group. And even when they don't
take all the beds, they get sole occupancy.

Barstewards! Don't they have exams to do?

Of course they do - but not all children every week of every
year. Let's not get to the point of complaining about schools
using YHAs - this year's children on school visits are next
year's youngsters going off on their own or with small groups
of friends. My 15 year old daughter is a case in point: last
year she was finally old enough for National Express and the
YHA to accept her on her own, so off she went to Stratford
Upon Avon where she bought herself a theatre ticket and
indulged her liking of drama and all things Shakespeare.
She'll probably decide to go somewhere else this year and as
her mother I'd far sooner she went to a YHA hostel than
a.n.other B&B.

Oh, and just in case anyone's wondering, I've just killed the
recent thread I started. I CBA any more.

Actually I'm all for it - most of them are in ideal places for
schoolkids to get away and do something different.

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Actually I'm all for it - most of them are in ideal places for
schoolkids to get away and do something different.

So am I, but I'll freely admit I got extremely annoyed when a
certain YH took a block booking and wouldn't even let us camp
in the grounds the other year - in the middle of the holiday
season. We only wanted to pitch the tents and use the
plumbing and the members' kitchen, but no, we weren't allowed
to because of the block booking. It's put me off going there
again, which is a pity because that particular hostel is
ideally placed for one my children's favourite places to spend
a day - Oakwood Park (think Alton Towers, but not as big and
not as expensive).
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.