Pounding the Pennines: Day 21 Byrness to Cocklaw Foot 17 miles

Day 21 Byrness to Cocklaw Foot 17 miles in 9.5 hours

The pennultinate day of the Pennine Way challenge. We put our sore feet into our worn boots for another tough day, comforted by the knowledge that there were only two days left until this amazing adventure is complete.

The weather was pretty similar to the previous day, cold but sunshine with the odd heavy down pour (usually timed around tea breaks and lunch). The day started with a very steep muddy climb up Byrness Hill and it was only by some small mercy we did not end up sliding back down on our bums! We continued our climb above Kielder Forest towards Ravens Knowe and into the Cheviots. Neither of us have walked in this part of the world and we have been enormously impressed. The terrain is wild and remote - so much so the army uses this area for training..much to our surprise when 3 squadies came running towards us down the path with guns!

The ground was thick bog in parts which most of us took a swim in during the course of the day. Nothing like 17 miles in a wet boot (or two!). The path took us in and out of the Scottish border over the course of the day, with two significant climbs up Lamb Hill 511m and Windy Gyle 620m. Unfortunatey as this place is so remote, there is no accommodation on the route so we had to walk 2 miles down a big hill for a pick up to Kirk Yetholm. This means that tomorrow we need to walk an additional two miles up hill, and we are effectively already at the end, a day before arrival!! The great part of this - is we have been reunited with Ray who we walked with for the first 8 days (until our rest day). Over the 3 weeks we have only met 3 other people doing the full Pennine Way!

Tomorrow is the grand finale, we have had an amazing time but very ready for it to end!

Apologies in advance if celebrating tomorrow gets in the way of blogging!! Thank you for sharing this journey with us and giving all of your support!