Day 2

Today we walked 24km with a 800m climb from Crowden to Diggle at an average speed of 4.5km/h according to Strava.

We headed off this morning at 9am as quickly as possible to over take the other walkers following the same path due to Will pretending it’s an Olympic race.

An hour or so in to the walk we were met by a large mountain with a path that was very slippery and unstable causing the pace of our walking to slow down. Due to Will’s competitive nature, at the beginning of the walk we had to race up the hill without taking a break to keep our lead with the walkers behind. It was like the hare and the tortoise but we had no other option but to keep going.

At around Midday we were at the highest point of our walk on Black Hill when all of the sudden the clouds closed in and there were sounds of thunder and flashes of lightning. This was a little disconcerting so we kept walking as quickly as possible down the hill. We were told that there would be a food truck called Snoopy Dog at the next road crossing, but unfortunately when we got there was no sign of it.

After we had our sandwiches for lunch we went passed some reservoirs which we thought about swimming in. We eventually decided against it, due to the weather but mainly just in case we had any readers in Manchester, as it provide their drinking water.

Due to the limited accommodation options we are currently at a wedding hotel that prides it’s self on being the ‘hight of luxury’ judging by the furnishings and of course not to mention the Rolls Royce and sport cars on the drive. The receptionist was a little taken aback when she saw us walking through the door as we didn’t quite meet the usual dress code, nevertheless she was very polite and welcoming.

We finish the day in the bar playing snooker along with a few games of cards.

Best wishes,

Ned and Will Battersby