The Pennine Way

After that brutal hike across the moors, our group was informed that the next day's hike would also be across the moors, and I briefly contemplated intentionally breaking my own leg. But after talking it over with my fellow-wanderer, Audrey, we decided that we would do the whole hike "no ifs, ands, or buts", and we vowed to do the whole thing together.

The next morning, it felt as if our group had been split in half, and the few who felt well and able set off to hike the dozen-or-more miles across something Pat called, "The Pennine Way". I prayed that whatever this way was, that there was infinitely less mud than the night previous. The first ten minutes were not promising as it involved a great deal of slipping through mud and sheep droppings. But as minutes turned to miles, and miles to hours, I found that I was hiking the best spot of land throughout all of England. There was no set path as we traipsed through landscape that was endlessly green, the hills were of the rolling category, and I loved every minute of it.

I also made my best friend of the trip on this hike. Audrey and I stuck together for the full six hours and we talked about everything under the sun {it was also a splendidly sunny day}. I think it's a good sign of friendship if you can be with a person for a whole day and never tire of their company. Needless to say, I didn't allow Audrey to leave my side for the remainder of our time in England.

And if I could go back and hike just one hike, I would do The Pennine Way over and over again.

-KB