Ice cream treat for a dark walk

On Bank Holiday Monday this week I decided to go for a decent walk - somewhere. After taking an absolute age to make a decision as to where I would go, I headed off for toward the eastern Pennines (east of Manchester). I ended up walking along a stretch of the Pennine Way, a 300-mile trail that goes from the Peak District in the south to near Hexham in the north east of England. Funnily enough, I've always cherished a quiet ambition to walk the whole of the Pennine Way - it takes about 21 days and local folklore is that if you can manage the first three days - you'll get to the end! This is because the first three days takes you over the highest and remotest moors of the so-called Dark Peak. It's so-called because it's composed of the dark-coloured local Coal Measures Gritstone and gives rise to enormous plateaux of deep, dark peat. The appearance of this upland moorland country is bleak and somehow threatening - but nevertheless impressive and spectacular. I would still love to walk the whole trail someday - I'd just have to find three weeks off work......

Well anyway, on Monday, I found myself walking along a section of the Pennine Way that would normally be met on about day three if you were doing the whole walk. I took in the peak of Black Hill (an ominous name, eh?), standing at 580m in the midst of a broad, windswept, dark plateau (see photo). The path began as a pleasant amble across open grassland but quickly ascended up to, and along, an exposed gritstone edge overlooking a stream valley, Crowden Brook. This was quite pleasant until the rain started to fall more heavily. Later, the route opened out onto the plateau top where the wind mercilessly ripped through my supposed windproof clothing. I met a man at the summit who was looking for a group of girls doing the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme - but at that point I hadn't seen them.

After a hastily eaten 'lunch' (at about 2.30pm!) of cold sardines and some salad (!) I bid a hasty retreat down to the more sheltered route back along the stream valley. The rain was falling hard now and the wind just as vigorous so there was no realistic possibility of being able to sit down anywhere to eat. Consequently, I only ate half my lunch. This is not unusual when I am out on a walk - I tend to get much more thirsty than hungry and I often don't eat my lunch until I get back to the car! I still haven't really managed to design an ideal 'walking lunch' though. I posted a couple of months ago about some dismal failures of lunches taken out onto the mountains with me - I still don't seem to be able to get it right. I suppose I am looking for a lunch that satisfies all the restrictions and requirements of being a bandit, while at the same time providing plenty of energy for high energy-output activity. I guess I'll keep experimenting......

I met the 'missing' group of girls on the way back and had a little conversation with them - they looked as though they needed a bit of encouragement - they were wet through, carring heavy ruksaks and looking very tired! As was I after a couple more hours of walking! I returned to the car at about 6pm, after 5 hours of solid walking. I was rather damp but not seriously wet. I was quite tired - I think walking in wind and rain is more tiring than walking in fine weather. I ate the remainder of my lunch in the car before setting off back to the warmth and dryness of home. I'd walked about 14km, ascended about 500m and clocked up 22,000 steps on my pedometer - burning about 1800 calories!!!

That evening I decided to treat myself - we went to the cinema to see "State of Play" and I ate a huge ice cream sundae! Before going to bed I did my usual calculations to see how many calories I'd burned, how many I'd eaten and the totally calorie deficit etc for the day. Even with the ice cream, I had a total calorie deficit for the day of 1900 - more than half a pound!!! Perhaps if I'd known that I could have had two ice creams.....

.....only joking!!

The photograph (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/616922 ) is copyrighted but also licensed for further reuse (under the Creative Commons Licence). Copyright owned by George Tod.