Description

After the features and excitement of yesterday (and possibly an eventful night at the Tan Hill Inn!) this is a much less landmark-laden trip, with mile after mile of heather and some impressively-boggy ground! Be aware that if you don't detour to Bowes then there aren't many options for picking up supplies en route, so make sure you've got enough to keep you going. Speaking of Bowes, the town is a logical halfway point on the Pennine Way, so if you're thinking about splitting the trip in 2 then this is where to do it.

There is no train station at Bowes but nearby Kirkby Stephen has one, so if you can organise a ride from where the trail hits the A67 then you can quickly be into the UK's rail network.

If you carry on from the A67 then a long and often soggy trip across Cotherstone Moor beckons.

Whether you enjoy boggy moors is really a question of taste, but you'll have to do it either way so you might as well try to enjoy it! You may get lucky and find yourself here at the end of a prolonged spell of dry weather, but most Pennine Way-ers count this as one of the wetter days on the trail! The final section of the hike (down to Middleton in-Teesdale) can be tricky to micro-navigate in bad weather but the shape of the terrain always pushes you in the right direction, and if you go downhill at just about any stage you'll hit the B6276 road. The village itself is one of the bigger settlements on the Pennine Way so make the most of the amenities and get a good night's rest ahead of a long and spectacular day tomorrow.