A typical section of the Pennine Way in the northern Peak District

The Pennine Way is a designated UK National Trail in the United Kingdom running for 429 km (268 miles) from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders. On its way, the route passes through parts of the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park.

Understand

The path was the idea of the journalist and rambler Tom Stephenson, inspired by similar trails in the United States of America, particularly the Appalachian Trail. Stephenson proposed the concept in an article for the Daily Herald in 1935, and later lobbied Parliament for the creation of an official trail. The walk was originally planned to end at Wooler, but eventually it was decided that Kirk Yetholm would be the finishing point. The final section of the path was declared open in a ceremony held on Malham Moor on 24 April 1965.

Although not the longest of the UK's long-distance paths, it is probably the best known and one of the more demanding routes. It generally follows the higher parts of the Pennines, a chain of moors and hills running north–south along the watershed of northern England. The Pennine Way can be walked in either direction, but is more commonly followed from south to north. This way you tend to have the wind at your back, and most travel guides (including this one) are written in this direction.

Prepare

Although it is waymarked and requires no specialist mountaineering skills, walking the Pennine Way requires a good level of fitness, appropriate equipment and adequate navigation skills. Accommodation is limited along some sections so if you are not camping, you might consider booking accommodation in advance. In particular, the last day normally involves a high-level 25-mile walk across the Cheviots from Byrness to Kirk Yetholm, though off-route accommodation can be used to split the long walk in two.

OS Landranger Maps (1:50,000) are the best series to use, covering the entire Pennine Way.

Get in

The trail officially starts at The Nags Head pub in Edale. Edale is best accessed by train. Sheffield and Manchester are both around a 45-minute train journey away. Bus services to Edale are very limited.

Walk

South Pennines

Map: Use OS Landranger 110 from Edale through Marsden onto Standedge.

• 1 Edale (mile 0) has hourly trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield, and the official start of the trail is The Nag's Head half a mile north of the railway station. Edale is in the limestone scenery of the Peak District, but the trail turns its back on this at the outset, to traverse the bleak soggy gritstone plateaux of South and West Yorkshire.

• There are two initial routes, which can combine into a circular walk for a day-trip. The traditional route is to ascend Kinder Scout immediately up Grind's Brook, then head northwest across the plateau. The alternative, more scenic and less boggy, is west across the fields to ascend by Jacob's Ladder, then north along the scarp edge. The two routes meet at Kinder Downfall, from where you trudge north gradually descending. The plateau is crossed by A57 but with no nearby facilities, so you continue north over Bleaklow before the last descent into Longdendale, with a zigzag around the reservoir to reach Crowden. The route is well marked and has boardwalks over the worst bogs. 16 miles done, only 254 to go. You can look forward to similar terrain all the way to Gargrave in North Yorkshire, where the route re-enters limestone scenery in the Yorkshire Dales.

• 2 Crowden (mile 16) has a couple of B&Bs. It's on A628 but has virtually no public transport. The route continues north up a steep side valley onto Sliddens Moss. At the top of Black Hill (582 m) you leave Derbyshire for West Yorkshire. Descend Wessenden Head Moor to A635, where there's nothing but bleak plateau, so persevere down the valley ahead. The scenery improves approaching Marsden past the reservoirs, where the route turns west towards Standedge.

• 3 Marsden (14 miles from Crowden) is a couple of miles off the Pennine Way but it has accommodation and other amenities, to break up a very long stage. It has trains and buses between Manchester and Huddersfield. Return to the route either by retracing your steps past the reservoirs, or follow the lane west to reach Standedge. Somewhere beneath these moors is a busy railway tunnel and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

• Standedge is a long escarpment, the edge of the gritstone plateau, trending northwest and marking the boundary with Greater Manchester. The route follows it, with views down into Oldham and Rochdale until the drizzle thickens.

Map: use OS Landranger 109 from crossing A640 to Cowpe Moss approaching Todmorden.

From A640 descend Saddleworth Moor to A672 and M62. A footbridge soars over the cutting of the motorway hurrying down to Manchester. This bleak expanse was the favoured dumping ground of the 1960s "Moors murderers" Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. They sexually assaulted children then cut their throats: two of the bodies were never found.

• Blackstone Edge is the northern continuation of the escarpment. Follow it to the Aigin Stone then bear slightly west to reach A58. Nothing here, you could head downhill 2 miles west for accommodation at Littleborough, but you may as well trudge onward into Calderdale. The route here follows a reservoir catchment channel. Stoodley Pike Monument is the 121 ft / 37 m stone tower ahead, commemorating victory over Napoleon in 1815. You could branch north here to descend steeply into Todmorden, though the standard route stays on the escarpment above the valley to reach Hebden Bridge.

• 4 Todmorden (14 miles from Marsden) is a former mill town, now in West Yorkshire though it has been back-and-forth with Lancashire. It has accommodation, and public transport between Manchester, Burnley and Halifax. You could rejoin the route by taking the canal towpath northeast.

Map: use OS Landranger 103 from Todmorden to Airton.

• 5 Hebden Bridge (5 miles from Todmorden) was originally bypassed by the Pennine Way, but in 2015 a loop was added to take it in. It's another former mill town with accommodation and public transport. Heptonstall is an attractive village just north, with cottages and steep cobbled streets like a Hovis advert.

The Calder is one of several east-flowing rivers that here dissect the gritstone plateau. These created transport routes and fast-descending streams to power mills, so the post-industrial valley floor is in sharp contrast to the moors above. The Pennine Way becomes busier and is criss-crossed by other routes, as it's close to large cities and suitable for weekend strolls with children and muddy dogs in tow. The route onward is via Heptonstall onto the moor, descending at Widdop then along Walshaw Dean Reservoir northeast to ascend the next moor.

• Brontë Country is the area associated with those literary sisters, who lived at Haworth, and Brontë Way is a 43 mile east-west trail across it. The ruin of Top Withens Farm shortly after the 450 m crest of this section brings two surprises: that anyone should see any resemblance to Wuthering Heights, which it supposedly inspired, and that these windy expanses are within the city limits of Bradford. The route descends steeply to the foot of Ponden Reservoir (mile 59 in total) but most walkers will branch east for 3 miles to reach Haworth.

• 6 Haworth is very touristy with its Brontë connections. It's a large village with accommodation and good transport - a steam train runs regularly from Keighley. Return to the reservoir and strike northwest over Oakworth Moor to enter the district of Craven in North Yorkshire.

• 7 Cowling is a straggling village with accommodation along A6068. The route continues northwest over the tail end of the south Pennines, through Lothersdale, Thornton-in-Craven and East Marton. Few facilities there, so press on towards Gargrave through pastoral country, a welcome change from moors and peat bogs.

Aire Gap divides the south and north Pennines, a low-level corridor between the Aire and Ribble valleys. The Leeds-Liverpool canal takes advantage of this gap, navigable throughout with a good towpath for walking or cycling, and you could join it at East Marton for a more higgledy-piggledy route into Gargrave.

Bleaklow

Stoodley Pike monument

North Pennines

• 8 Gargrave would be a pleasant village if only it had a bypass, but it's pounding with traffic on A65. Buses run to Skipton if you can't find accommodation here. The main sight is the ladder of locks carrying the canal towards its summit. The Way heads northwest, cutting over Eshton Moor and back into the Aire valley at Airton, thence north towards Malham.

Map: use OS Landranger 98 from Kirkby Malham to Thwaite and Keld.

9 Malham village (mile 83).  , Malham Cove and Malham Tarn

• Fountains Fell
• Pen-y-Ghent

Tan Hill Inn

10 Horton-in-Ribblesdale (mile 97).   The next leg is mostly on farm lanes, reasonably firm and obvious to navigate. Follow the lane out of Horton for a mile along the east flank of the valley then bear left at the fork. It's co-signed as "Ribble Way" for another mile, diverging at Birkwith. Skirt Cam Fell to come onto the long flank of Dodd Fell. At its north end, the trail short-cuts over the nose of the ridge to descend into Gayle. In poor viz or wet conditions, stay on the farm lane to come into Hawes.

• 11 Hawes (mile 111) is a large village with accommodation and a museum. Gayle is its extension southwest, with a creamery making Wensleydale cheese, and a restored 18th century mill. Infrequent buses run from Leyburn and from Garsdale (on the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle railway) to Hawes and Gayle.

Take the public road to Hardraw, pausing to see the waterfall. A farm lane then ascends northwest up the long ridge of Great Shunner, with the scars of old mine workings. The route beyond the lane has flagstones to curb erosion. Great Shunner summit at 716 m (2349 ft) would command views of Wensleydale, Ribblesdale, Swaledale and beyond, if only you'd come on a fine day. The descent trends northeast to come into Thwaite.

Map: use OS Landranger 91 from Keld through Middleton and Dufton to Cross Fell.

12 Keld (mile 124).  

1 Tan Hill Inn. Britain’s highest public house 1,732 ft (528 m) feet  

1 God's Bridge. near Bowes   * Baldersdale

High Cup Nick

13 Middleton-in-Teesdale (mile 143).  

• Low Force and 2 High Force.   (waterfalls)
• Forest-in-Teesdale
• Cauldron Snout (waterfall)
• High Cup Nick

Hadrian's Wall

14 Dufton (mile 164).  

• Knock Fell
• Great Dun Fell
• Little Dun Fell

Boardwalk

• Cross Fell (highest point in the Pennines)

Map: use OS Landranger 86 from Garrigill to Hadrian's Wall and Bellingham.

15 Garrigill Alston (mile 180).  

• Slaggyford

Northumberland

• 16 Greenhead (mile 199) has accommodation but there's more in nearby Haltwhistle, linked by bus and on the Carlisle-Newcastle railway. At Greenhead the Pennine Way turns east to follow Hadrian's Wall. This is the best section of the wall, with the Roman Army Museum, Vindolanda, the scarp above Crag Lough, and Housesteads. There's a coast-to-coast path along the entire wall but the other sections are not as scenic or preserved. From Housesteads the Pennine Way strikes northeast along forestry tracks in conifer plantations towards Bellingham.

• 17 Bellingham is a village with accommodation, a museum and remains of an ironworks. An occasional bus winds up the valley from Hexham.

Map: use OS Landranger 80 from Bellingham to the Cheviot summit then down to The Schil.

• 18 Byrness (mile 241) is a tiny settlement in the Cheviot Hills, which mark the border with Scotland. There's no accommodation within 7 miles, and although it's on A68 there's only one bus a day, plying between Jedburgh and Newcastle. This is a problem, because coming up is the long final stage.
• The northernmost stage from Byrness is 27 miles along the ridge of the Cheviots, with no habitation or road access along the way. It can be done in one long day, or you can bivvy at the two refuge huts (bothies), or you can break it into three there-and-back walks from the valleys. The path climbs steeply from Byrness through forest then heads north along an open ridge to enter Scotland near Ogre Hill. It then follows the border fence, switching between England and Scotland, past the Roman fort at Chew Green and Roman "Dere Street". It comes onto the exposed ridge climbing to the well-named Windy Gyle (619 m, 2031 ft) and Cairn Hill (743 m, 2438 ft). A side path branches east to the summit of The Cheviot (815 m, 2674 ft), adding two miles there and back to the 27, with a flagstone path across the boggy plateau. But the main path descends northwest, following the border fence past a refuge hut, climbing The Schil (601 m, 1972 ft) then coming down into gentler countryside, to end at the Border Hotel in Kirk Yetholm.

Map: OS Landranger 74 covers the last couple of miles, but the way is obvious with journey's end in sight.

• 19 Kirk Yetholm (mile 268) is end of the trail. It has accommodation and a sporadic bus from Kelso. It stands on St Cuthbert's Way, a 62-mile trail from Melrose Abbey east via St Boswells and Maxton to Kirk Yetholm, then east to the coast and by tidal footpath to Lindisfarne. These trails are all lowland in nature.

Stay safe

Many parts of the Pennine Way are remote, exposed and prone to sudden changes in the weather. You should be familiar with moorland navigation and be suitably experienced and equipped for mountain walking.

Go next

The trail officially ends at The Border Inn in Kirk Yetholm. From here, a bus service links to Jedburgh via Kelso where further connections can be taken to Newcastle upon Tyne (total travel time approx. 2 hours) and Edinburgh (total travel time approx. 1 hour 45 minutes).

Routes through Pennine Way

Edale ←

S  N

→ Kirk Yetholm