Читать книгу The Pennine Way - the Path, the People, the Journey онлайн

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In the end, I must say I warmed to Miss B. I learnt that she had been providing bed and breakfast for Pennine Way walkers on and off for over 30 years (‘but I only open in the summer months – you shouldn’t be walking it at other times’); and despite her stern manner, delivered in the style of a short-tempered maths teacher, I think she may have developed a soft spot for walkers. We chatted over breakfast and she told me she had had a serious operation at the beginning of the year and wasn’t going to do B&B this season. ‘But then Pennine Way walkers began ringing up to book for the summer and I just couldn’t turn them down.’

Half an hour later I said goodbye and, armed with her hand-drawn map showing me the best way to regain the trail above the town, I left the home of a complete stranger to walk 16 miles to that of another.

Miss B is just one of many Pennine Way accommodation providers who have developed a special bond with the walkers who periodically stagger through their doors. The Pennine Way Association’s indispensable accommodation guide first appeared in 1971 and ran for over four decades, edited by the late John Needham. In an article he wrote for the spring 1989 issue of the association’s newsletter, he recalled that in the first edition there were 75 establishments listed and the average price of an overnight B&B stay on the Pennine Way was £1.25 (by 1989 it had hit the heady heights of £8!). John also observed how accommodation provision had shifted to meet demand over the years, so that in 1972 there was only one listing for the Hebden Bridge area but by 1989 there were seven. Pennine Way walkers also made it clear what they thought of the generous hospitality they were shown. ‘It is pleasant to report that we get few complaints; most of the writers have nothing but praise for the ladies who took them in, fed them, and dried them out.’