The Pennine Bridleway is a two hundred mile route using ancient packhorse routes and drove roads wherever possible to take you from Middleton Top in the Peak District to Street, near Ravenstonedale, in Cumbria and its final section was completed last month, seven years after the project began.

The final section is a fifty mile long route through the Yorkshire Dales National Park from Long Preston to the border with Cumbria. After so many years and thousands of hours of work including planning, meetings with farmers and landowners and all the other interested organisations the project is now complete. There probably seemed times when those involved thought it would never be finished but they should be congratulated on a job well done. All I need to do is to organize a trip, so I’d better see what Craghoppers Jacket would suit me best to add to my kit list.

However, the trail, open to walkers, horse riders and cyclists could yet be extended further. There are talks currently being undertaken to extend it into Northumberland which would see an additional one hundred and forty one miles added to its length. It has been approved by the Secretary of State, but depends on funding being secured. So the job might not be finished after all, well it good to see another national trial added to the ever growing list, its just that my legs aren’t getting any younger and there are more walks to do now, then when I started.