Traveling west from Leeds, a rail line crosses the Pennine Range in a region of broad, low hills. I got off the train at the great old station that serves the town of Hebden Bridge, and hiked up through a patchwork of deciduous and conifer forest, stone-walled sheep pastures, and the open, uncultivated high country called the 'moor'. I picked my way through the landscape, heading for the clear spike of a ridge-top tower on my way out, and for the outline of a church spire on my return. Much of the hike ran along the Pennine Way, a 250-mile hiking route along the spine of northern England.
The fine network of legally accessible routes through private land enables a walker to get almost anywhere, but makes for exceedingly difficult navigation without a map. There were some amazing mucky bogs through which the trail ran. Builds character! Reaching the valley floor at a different location, I followed the canal towpath back to Hebden Bridge, where I bought a map. I enjoyed a pint of bitter and a hot fire at the pub, then rode the train back to Leeds.
