Pounding the Pennines: Day 22 Cocklaw Foot to Kirk Yetholm 14 miles

Day 22 Cocklaw Foot to Kirk Yetholm 14 miles 6.5 hours

The long awaited, final day of Pounding the Pennines had arrived. Although we have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure, it would be fair to say that we were ready for it to end. We have escaped blisters, major injuries despite falls, drops into bogs and nealy 300 miles of England's toughest terrain covered.

We set off again from The Farmhouse back to our pickup point from the day before. We had to rewalk the 2.5 mile track that had led us down off the desolate Cheviots, however this time it was a climb! I don't know whether it was the mental boost of it being the final day or some thing in the eggs, but we flew up that hill in an hour..turbo hiking!

My boots that had lasted me so well, were now absorbing water, so the prospect of the final bogs and dripping socks did not fill me with much excitement. Fortunately, unlike the previous day, there were expanses of slabs and duckboards over the really boggy bits which meant mostly dry feet and a big uplift in my mood! As they say, God giveth and God taketh away, and in exchange for dry feet we received the tail end of the US hurricane Nadine. The wind was up and the cloud was down, which of course only gets worse the further up you go. We had originally planned to add the Cheviot, the highest point in Northumberland, to our final day but given the conditions we agreed that there was no need to take unnecessary risks at this late stage of the game. Instead when Dad and I are ready to put our boots on again, we could come back and enjoy it in fine weather!

We ploughed on to the Mountain Refuge Hut for an early lunch and to get out of the wind. I can't tell you how good it is to step out of the wind and sit down to have a cup of tea when the weather is tough! We consumed our lunches, added some extra layers of clothes and set off again to summit the Schil.

The path from the refuge hut drops steeply from 2445 feet to 1639 feet which was a little tricky, I remember 'surfing' down a big rock, thinking this could end one of two ways! Not before long we were climbing steeply again for the final ascent of the Pennine Way, the Schill stands at 1972ft. Given the weather we couldnt see a thing but we knew it was all down hill from there!

The final miles of the Pennine Way are quite dramatic as you quite literally walk out of the Pennines..(or Cheviots!). Leaving the rolling hills behind you, the Scottish village or Kirk Yetholm awaits ahead and you are left with a cocktail of bitter sweet emotions.

Like many who have walked before us, we entered the Border Inn 'the official end of the Pennine Way' and celebrated with our free ale, received our certificates and signed the book "Starting this journey on 24 August, we have walked miles, met new friends, and made memories to last a lifetime. Congratulations to all those who complete this long and challenging road."

I'm sure we will have some final comments and certainly have big thank yous to make, so Ill do one more blog post soon. We are at a very special wedding today and I have some serious scrubbing up to do!!!

Cheviots