Treks

This was the middle stretch of the Pennine Way, picked up at Malham and walked north to Dufton over seven days in the summer of 2026. Ninety-three miles through the backbone of England — limestone pavements, peat moorland, and long, open ridges with nothing ahead but sky.

The conditions were near perfect. Temperatures held between 17 and 27 degrees throughout, and not a drop of rain. For the Pennines, that's almost unheard of. The light was extraordinary — long evenings, clear horizons, the kind of walking weather you plan for and rarely get.

Malham Cove sets the tone early — a vast curved limestone cliff with a pavement of cracked rock on top that feels ancient and strange underfoot. From there the route climbs onto the high moors above Horton-in-Ribblesdale, crosses the wild plateau of Kingsdale, and eventually drops into the Eden Valley at Dufton with the Cross Fell massif waiting on the horizon.

This was not a waymarked trail. The route started in Alvarado, on the lower slopes of Turrialba, and dropped east over eight days through a succession of river valleys and forest reserves that see almost no through-traffic. I met three other walkers in the entire week.

The rain was constant. Not occasional showers — sustained, heavy, tropical rain that started most mornings before dawn and rarely stopped before dark. Everything was wet within the first hour of day one and stayed wet until the finish. River crossings that looked straightforward on the map were thigh-deep and fast by afternoon. The trail surface, where there was one, turned to deep mud within the first day and never recovered.

By the time the Caribbean appeared through the tree line on day eight — flat, grey, enormous — the relief was physical. The coast at Cahuita is low and warm and smells of salt and rotting fruit. I sat on the beach for a long time before doing anything else. Eight days of jungle, rain, and almost no other people. It was exactly what I came for.