Sixty Years of the Pennine Way

On April 24^th 1965 the Pennine Way, the first long-distance path in the UK, was officially opened at Malham Moor. The idea for it came from journalist, walker, and campaigner Tom Stephenson who wrote a newspaper article in 1935 calling for a ‘long green trail’ in England. Thirty years later he was at the opening as secretary of the Ramblers’ Association.

The idea of a long foot path over mountains and moors was a challenging proposal back then as much of the countryside was closed to walkers. It took much campaigning and the passing of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 before the Pennine Way became possible. We have much to thank those who worked for its creation.

The battered copy of Wainwright's guide to the Pennine Way I carried in 1976

The Pennine Way is special to me even though it’s many years since I walked any of it as it was my first ever long-distance walk. This was in April 1976, eleven years after it opened. I encountered bogs, rain, storms, mist, and snow and I relished it all. This what I wanted to do. After I finished I wrote in my journal “this is not the end, this is just the beginning …” and so it has proved.

At the time I was a student, studying for a postgraduate certificate in education. I got the certificate but never used it. The Pennine Way had changed the direction of my life. I didn’t yet know I would make a living writing about the outdoors but I knew I needed to find some way to do many more long-distance walks. Two years later I walked most of the Pennine Way again as part of a Land’s End to John O’Groats walk that became the subject of my first magazine article. I was on my way, on foot and on the page.

Camp below Rakes Rocks, April 7, 1976

When I walked the Pennine Way I was not a photographer and had no thoughts of becoming one. I did want some snaps of my walk though so I took a Kodak Instamatic point-and-shoot camera which used the now long gone 126 film. This produced 26mm square images and I took several rolls on the walk. To describe the results as poor is an understatement! Neither the operator or the camera was up to the dull, dark weather conditions I encountered. But I’m glad I have some pictures from the walk, even if I have to grit my teeth at the quality!

Camp at Top Withens, April 9, 1976

Information on the sixtieth celebrations of the Pennine Way can be found here.