The Clarence. 4 Pints.

This is where ‘Neil Dovestone’ had his last documented conversation before he set off to the ‘top of the mountain’. It has a friendly cat, does good pubby food and the bar manager has been great about recharging my travel charger after I found out my adapter was knackered. He’s using his own phone adapter. It’ll take a couple of hours to charge enough to get me through the rest of the trip. I could see the spot where Neil Dovestone was found yesterday as I was madly dashing to beat the sunset. It’s an odd spot to just stop… It’s not quite at the top of the reservoir road, but far enough up that you’d think someone who had a sense of wanting to get ‘somewhere’ would’ve ploughed on for the extra feet.

So I’m here with a pint feeling a bit of a cheat for not doing the whole 100 miles in one slog. But I needed to recover after walking pretty much solidly for 15 hours yesterday. When my alarm went off at 7 I pressed ‘infinite snooze’.

My neighbours in the campsite are all here for months. The couple to the left are here till October ‘living the dream’ – this is their home now – and the guy to my right is pitched up while his house is done up. He’s taken six weeks off work and seems to spend his days at another Greenfield pub, charging his phone and getting mildly addled – like I’m doing now. I want to know more about the circumstances behind these lenghthy campings, but I’m a bit shy of prying.

I’m going to eat and then set off back to the campsite with hopefully a full charger. Up at 4am tomorrow so I can set off at 6 and get some miles behind me while it’s still cool.

Alphin Pike at sunset was so beautiful, but the walk to the campsite was a trial. At first, before I took the wrong turn, I was walking down quiet moonlit lanes being buzzed by bats, enjoying knowing I was close to the site. The misnavigation was at the route planning stage. I’d planned this bit on Google Earth and not spotted I was taking myself back up a steep hill again. Arsehole. I could’ve just gone down to the main road and followed that up here. Instead I was clambering over field boundaries in the dark and skidding down steep narrow twitches. I guess I’d expected to be doing that in daylight. Still moments of real beauty though.

A problem with this walk so far is that it’s been too… fraught. It’s been HIKE PITCH EAT SLEEP EAT PACK HIKE without any time to take stock and enjoy where I’ve got to. After walking for such a long time yesterday I’ve decided to reset things and make things a touch more lesiurely. If I can find a plug socket and a meal in Greenfield today I can stay another night without depleting any of my rations. Then I can set off tomorrow SUPER EARLY and pitch up at my next wild camping spot with a few spare hours before I need to sleep. I’ll also avoid some of the roaring sun, if it keeps up as threatened.