Final day on the #LadyAnnesWay. Wasn’t great if I’m honest. Part of it was the route itself, which involved a ton of road walking, including one 4km-long (?) stretch with lots of fast moving vehicles which was no fun at all.
Then there was the fact I kept getting lost. Signage on the LAW was never great, but between my gps, guidebook, and the trail on the ground, I could usually figure things out. Not today. All three failed me, three times. 1/..
Highlights from today’s penultimate section of the #LadyAnnesWay. #KirkbyStephen to #Appleby. A difficult day, but not for the reasons expected. Left foot started giving me problems an hour into the walk. Really sharp pain. Took some painkillers and kept walking. Worked, but conscious of the fact this was only a stopgap solution. Will have to monitor.
Best views of the walk are behind me at this point. Impetus to plan for my next one I guess.
Second half of the day was an absolute misery. The pictures are deceptive. As soon as I got to the valley floor I found the ground wet, muddy, saturated in sheep and cow poo. The signage was lacking. The trail vanished from view half the time. At some point I gave up and walked along a road running parallel to the trail, then realised I didn’t want to do this all the rest of the Way, and decided to grin and bear it, which I did.
Today was some of the best hiking this trip, but also some of the worst. Let’s start with the best. Right out of Hawes I had a climb up to 550m, which was exhausting, but first thing in the morning is when you want to do these things, when you have energy. Weather stayed clear and actually improved as the day progressed. Some stunning views down and across the valley.
Highlights from today’s walk on the #LadyAnnesWay from #Buckden to #Hawes in the #YorkshireDales. Another misty morning, and as a result missed out on some supposedly impressive views coming down from Stake Moss outside Buckden, but there you go. Weather remained overcast all the rest of the day, which at least made for cooler walking.
Highlights from yesterday’s walk on the #LadyAnnesWay from #Grassington to #Buckden in the #YorkshireDales. Really misty as I began my climb just outside Grassington. Might have been a little intimidating if I hadn’t done Ben Nevis back in 2022 in worse.
Some highlights from today’s walk on the #LadyAnnesWay from #Skipton to #Grassington.
Woke up to blue skies for the first time in a week. I was warned by the man who made my breakfast (who was very friendly but apparently a realist) that the coming days are expected to be overcast, so I should enjoy the weather while it lasted.
25km on paper, 28.5km on the ground, with 570m total elevation gain.
wzhkevin