Follow the Acorns

The sun is sinking into the everlastingly green knolls of the English countryside, covering the valley in a glow that makes this picturesque landscape almost seem unreal. A trail winds through the scene, a thin line of worn land in some places and nothing more than an indentation in the grass in others.
As Audrey Edholm, a BYU student from Orem, Utah, follows this trail over hills, through sheep pastures, and alongside stone walls, she cant shake the feeling that she is in a movie. Alongside the trail is a wooden post stuck in the ground with the gure of an acorn and the words Pennine Way carved into its surface. Seeing this, she smiles because she knows that no matter where it is, an acorn is always a good signit means shes on the right path. Acorns, the symbol of Britains National Trails, can be seen all along the Pennine Way. Its like getting little Valentines, says Bess Hayes, a BYU graduate student from Salt Lake City, Utah, who has hiked portions of the Pennine Way multiple times on study abroad programs. Carved into the wood of a gate or painted onto a small sign, these symbols point the direction you should go. The Pennine Way is a 268-mile walking trail that extends from Edale in Derbyshire, England, all the way to Kirk Yetholm, a village near the Scottish border. This is one of Britains most acclaimed national trails and was the rst one to be built. It takes the average hiker 16 to 19 days to travel the entire length. But the long, winding nature of the trail makes it suitable for both long hikes and short walks, depending on what youre up for. The Pennine winds through miles of uninterrupted countryside, passes the occasional small town, and sometimes follows meandering farm roads. I love that the Pennine is well-trafficked enough that you can encounter other ramblers along the way, but its also long enough that there are long stretches where you never see anyone, Hayes explains. Whether its the Haworth moors, the brain-like Malham Cove, or the strange garlic fairyland of Janets Foss, it makes me feel like Ive been sucked into a nineteenth-century novel: its all magical. see the ruins of an old farmhouse, called Top Withins, nestled within blankets of heather. The house is believed to have been Emily Bronts inspiration for the Earnshaw familys home in Wuthering Heights. The moors ebb and ow with rolling hills dotted in dark browns, dusty tans, and muted purples. It has an austere beauty, says Edholm, who hiked over 13 miles through the moors. Its kind of a love-hate relationship. The occasional stream can be seen meandering through the moorlands, creating hidden bogs that you must run through quickly unlessyou want your boots to be sucked into the mud, the moors claiming your footwear as their own. And you need to be prepared for strong winds and unpredictable rains, regular moorland weather patterns that only add to the gothic drama of the landscape.

The Infamous Moors

If you begin your hike in Haworth, England, you can traverse the both famous and infamous moors that inspired the Bront sisters to write their classic gothic novels Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. You can even

Malham Cove

Once you pass through the moors, youll enter a greener landscape full of a dierent kind of wonderMalham Cove, a massive natural limestone

20 fall 2014

getaways

formation that will impress you with its sheer enormity. This formation was once a prehistoric waterfall, but now the only water that can be seen comes spouting from below the clis after traveling through a system of caves that lie under the cli. If youre up for it, you can explore these caves through scuba diving. But if you prefer to keep your head above water, you can climb the 400 stone steps to the top of Malham Cove and gaze over miles of pure English countryside. But look down, too, because the irregular cracked surface is breathtaking in itselfmagical enough to be used in the lming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

a certain mist in the air that seems full of secrets, and a soft roar can be heard through the foliage. If you continue down the trail, youll see a waterfall spilling into a small pool of water. This is Janets Foss. You wouldnt know it unless someone told you, but behind those falls there is a secret cave where the fairy queen Janet herself is rumored to dwell. The trees surrounding Janets Foss are mossy, and the fallen trunks next to the trail are covered in British coins, weathered and bent after being hammered into the wooden surface for good luck. If youre smart, youll hammer one in, too.

walking the Pennine, Hayes says.

Janets Foss in Fairyland

Sheep, Sheep Everywhere

If the smell of fresh garlic is hanging in the air, wafting over your senses in waves, then its likely youve arrived in fairyland. The garlic smell comes from the abundance of wild garlic plants growing in the area. There is

As you walk through these magical landscapes, you are certain to see sheep. Large portions of the trail go through pastures and farmland, so you are bound to eventually follow the Pennine over rock walls and through sheep pastures. Sheep are inextricable from the experience of

Besides seeing the acorn signs, youll also see signs for local Youth Hostel Association (YHA) hostels posted periodically along the way. There are YHA hostels in Haworth, Earby (a town between Haworth and Malham), and Malham, where you can stay along the way. They oer cheap rates; clean, quality rooms and community spaces; and kitchen facilities. At the hostels in Earby and Malham, you can literally walk straight from the trail into the door of the hostel to rest your tired feet. And when the morning breaks over the English hills, the acorns will be there to guide you back to the Pennine. But book your nights in advance because these places ll up quickly. You wouldnt want to be left spending the night curled up with a sheep, would you?

Harboring in Hostels

nationaltrail.co.uk/pennine-way

Cara Gillespie

Photography by Cara Gillespie

Opposite: There is an image caption that will go here. Left: Bring along a British coin and hammer it into this fallen tree trunk near Janets Foss for good luck. Middle: Sights like this mother sheep and her two lambs are common occurrences along the Pennine Way. Right: One of the many signposts inscribed with the iconic acorn, indicating the traveler is still on the right path.

www.stowawaymag.com 21