Day 23: Manchester to Congleton

I am gratefully armed to take on the hustling streets of Manchester with my first lady, my gal Hayley and good friends Robin and Martin. A small and happy band. Thanks beyond measure extends to them all. Behind the scenes at base camp. My man Ben is holding the fort...

Day 22: Huddersfield to Manchester

Tormented weather screams across the long battered surfaces of the Pennines. The undergrowth is haggard and wiry and shrugs the weather with ease. I wish that I could do the same. There is little to see. Rain never rests and hastily shivers and slithers to warmer...

Day 21: Bradford to Huddersfield

I leave the stifling but sadly comforting confines of my box and I am met by a blanket of rain and an onslaught of sounds. The most piercing being the Taaaatttttt aa taaaaaatt!! Taaaatttttt aa taaaaaatt!! Taaaatttttt aa taaaaaatt!! that mercilessly invades my ears....

Day 20: Long Preston to Bradford

  The aches and pains trigger shivers and random nightmares and wanderings to past lives and keep me semi awake all night. In my uncurling and creaking state I laboriously get up like an old bear gnarling at an early wake from hibernation.   An age passes...