For many months I have looked forward to this stage: I will be crossing the Penine Hills, part of the Peak District national park. As the possibilities for overnight stay are very limited I have scheduled to make one of those long days, some 50+ km’s.

I start in the morning at 02:30. The trail leads me through the city center of Stockport. At this hour of the night every three minutes there is an airplane coming over on its way to the landing strip at Manchester Airport. The trail start ascending in a gentle way, it crosses some parks for many kilometers, continuously going uphill. After dawn I have some nice views to the west/north.

view over the lower lands

The weather is very comfortable for hiking; some 15 degrees and cloudy. The trail goes up and down the slopes gently, for not too big swings. Although I am still close to the big city of Manchester, which is confirmed by all the air traffic, the surrounding is lovely.

countryside

After some 20 km’s I feel that I have difficulty in maintaining a moderate pace, I don’t feel well. I take some extra breaks, but that don’t change much. When I reach the village of Hadfield, the last village before the, sort of, remote Penine Hills, I decide that this is not one of those days and I call it quit for the day at 10:00 in the morning.

The rest of the day I use to get a medical confirmation of physical condition. At 16:30 the doctor confirms that there is no objection to continue with what I am doing, carefully.