I’ve always dreamed of doing that…
People have said this to me about walking the Pennine Way. It’s not an easy route. I know this first hand because I’ve set out in the past to walk it and failed.
Today as I write this, folk musician Johnny Campbell is taking the first steps of walking the Pennine Way, in part as a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the route. Last night he played a gig at the Old Nag’s Head in Edale, the starting point of the trail. It’s no accident that Edale lies just below Kinder Scout where the famous mass trespass took place in 1932, in part leading to the Peak District becoming our first national park. This is the first of 17 shows that he’ll play as he carries his guitar on all 268 miles of this most iconic of long distance paths in the UK.
When you read this on Sunday I will have walked with him, seen a couple of his shows and had him to stay in our home. At the moment the room he will sleep in is a building site. I need to get stuff done and kick myself into action and fully out of my winter shell. Painting still to be finished, radiator back on. I’m thinking of these jobs as part of the general preparations of spring. Johnny will have a place to rest and I’ll be one step nearer being ready for the adventurous times of the year.
Issue 5 of BOTHER our print magazine will launch in May. I have a feature on the Pennine Way to write. This path, the places along it and what it stands for are a thread that connects my lifetime. I was born on, have been shaped and continue to be inspired in the work that I do at HebTroCo by the landscape of the Pennines. I live, walk to work and test out our clothes on the Pennine Way.
People have said that they’ve always dreamt of doing some of the things that I’ve written about in BOTHER. You might be dead this time next year so crack on. Just remember that the hardest thing of all is starting.
Here is where you can see Johnny play a show. You might not expect it but there are some lovely places to experience a bit of culture along this remote route.
Ed Oxley
THE PENNINE WAY 60th ANNIVERSARY TOUR
19.03 Old Nag’s Head EDALE
20.03 Labour Club GLOSSOP with Matt Hill
21.03 Darkwoods Coffee SLAITHWAITE with Brown Wimpenny
22.03 Fox & Goose HEBDEN BRIDGE
23.03 Community Centre WADSWORTH with Lucy and Hazel
24.03 Methodist Chapel MALHAM with Robbie Cowen
25.03 St Oswald’s HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE with Amy Jane Beer & Jack Roscoe
26.03 Green Dragon HARDRAW
27.03 Tan Hill SWALEDALE
28.03 Tees’pot MIDDLETON-IN-TEESDALE
SOLD OUT
29.03 Village Hall DUFTON
30.03 Saddlers Bakery ALSTON
01.04 The Threshing Barn GREENHEAD
02.04 VINDOLANDA Roman Fort
03.04 First and Last BELLINGHAM
04.04 Forest View Walkers Inn BYRNESS
06.04 Border Hotel KIRK YETHOLM