Our rest day yesterday was certainly nothing to write home about, with just a wander into town for some supplies and resting all afternoon. Lee headed home on a bus at about 4 and we had some delicious Thai food with the rest of the group for dinner!

At 8:30 this morning we hopped in an Uber and headed back to Standedge cutting, where we’d finished Monday’s walk. We followed the trail up a gentle ascent which led to a ridge, which the path just followed with a beautiful view. It was an easy enough trail and meant that we could chat as we walked, rather than puffing along like other points in the last two days. Peter, Ros and I were wandering along a little way behind Bryan and Paul when the sun came out a little bit and we had a beautiful view out over the valley. After taking a couple of photos, Peter paused and after saying some lovely things, pulled me over to a spot on the edge and got down on one knee! He explained that he didn’t have the ring because it’s in Canada (one of the reasons why he’s going back for a trip!) but substituted with a blade of grass around my finger as Ros took some photos of us. 

After a bit of a pause while Paul and Bryan came over and congratulated us, we continued the walk. The path following a similar landscape for much of the first half, with views to the west and south-west as far as Manchester at some points. We crossed an enormous bridge over the M62 motorway, shouting to be heard over the noise of the traffic. The flagstone path then gently ascended another hill, leading to a fantastic view over another valley and a summit marker. From that point it was downhill to the pub, although with a bit of a windy route after the Roman Road that was marked with a 600-year old stone. 

This is one of the few days that there’s actually a pub on the route so we stopped for lunch at The White House, an old white building perched on the top of the hill looking down over the valley. Most of us had a shandy and I ordered a chicken breast to be safe, and just as the food came out so did a bottle of champagne! We all had a glass of champagne as the waitress joked about the Pennine Way being a brave spot to propose as there’d be a long silent walk if I said no! 

Once we’d finished our lunch, we headed up the road and found the trail again, winding between hills and along the edge of a huge reservoir. At this point the weather was starting to look a little cloudy and ominous again so we were trying to keep up the pace so we could hopefully beat the rain to Hebden Bridge. As we passed into fields of low heather, we spotted Stoodley Pike in the distance, the monument that had been described as ‘dominating the skyline for much of the walk’ on the accounts we’d read of today’s walk. It was only as we kept going and it didn’t change in size that we realised how huge it must be, as it was still a very long way off! 

As we ascended a climb and the trail followed yet another ridge with a steep drop-off, the drizzle set in and we all zipped up our waterproofs. The trail was quite muddy and we had to dodge plenty of puddles and stones, which slowed down all of us but particularly Paul and Bryan, who both had sore knees and blisters. Eventually we climbed a last ascent and reached the enormous monument of Stoodley Pike, which loomed above the valley below – apparently erected in 1846 to replace a previous monument commemorating the defeat of Napoleon. There were some people filming something there so after a bit of a loop we headed onwards down the hill.

The last stretch of the walk cut across fields and eventually down a road through woodlands that led to the canal towpath outside Hebden Bridge. At this point Paul was sick of walking and headed to the road to catch a bus into town, while the other four of us followed the towpath up the last 1.6 miles. It was a gorgeous finish to the walk, with the canal running parallel to the river with the towpath down the middle for much of the distance. There were lots of canal boats with little gardens on the side, and even the houses and apartments seemed to be surrounded by flowers and vegetable gardens. The extra towpath walk made this our longest day of walking, finishing at an impressive 27km. Once we reached the town, we found our Airbnb, which was a really nice apartment, and had a little rest and showers before our booking for dinner at Vocation Brewing. 

We ordered burgers for dinner at Vocation, and tried a few of their beers – being conscious that we had to be sensible with another walking day tomorrow. Once again just as our food arrived, so did a bottle of champagne, courtesy of Lee! He was sad that he’d gone back to London one night too early but wanted to be involved, which was very sweet. During dinner, Paul and Bryan were juggling the idea of taking an extra rest day tomorrow as they’ve got 4 more days of walking than us and need their knees to be in good shape. Ultimately they did decide to do that and Aurelia came and picked Paul up to take him back to Huddersfield after dinner. This meant an upgrade to the bedroom for Peter and I, so we headed to bed nice and early ready for another day of walking tomorrow.