Day 1: Stockport to Broadbottom

Leaving Stockport

Isaac and Megan

Josh and Megan

After heading out into horrendous rain, but armed with waterproofs, we walked off towards the urban horizon of Manchester. After about an hour we began to enjoy a bit of greenery in our surroundings. A further hour and we were well on the Trans Pennine Trail. At this point the weather was playing with us, the sun coming out just long enough to entice us out of our waterproofs before ducking behind a nice, big raincloud again. Eventually, however, the sky stopped leaking on us and we managed to zip our trousers down to shorts and stayed warm and dry for the rest of the day. About one third of way into today's walk we came across a plum tree from which we retrieved several tasty plums. After scoffing them down we headed off again ...sort of. Using my expert navigation skills, (that, may I point out, with the assistance of my dad, never failed me last year), I managed to get us a bit lost. After speaking to a lovely man, who sold us some nice, cold cans of Coke, we decided on our best route from there. A few miles later and we arrived in a small village called Broadbottom. By this point we felt as if our legs were made of rock and that our 30 kg bags had doubled in weight so we set up camp in a perfect, little campsite just outside of the village. After setting up our tents and tending to our very sore feet and muscles we tucked into our warmed meals. Our weary spirits raised by the warmth, food and luck, (with the change in the weather), we called it a night. Now, relaxed in our beds, we aim to rest our bodies for the walk tomorrow.

Distance covered today: Approx. 14.5 miles (including backtracking).
Weather: Poor to start but turning dry and warm later.