On Wednesday I finally made it to Holne. A charming little village, which once again like many communities, has suffered the closure of the local pub and so the heart of the community had naturally graduated to the tea rooms.
Which although open at completely different hours, obviously serves as a community centre, for information, a small shop which allows you to top up with local produce, lots of tea and lovely cake, but most important of all, village gossip.
It was here that I finally managed to meet up with Cicerone Press Two Moors Way author Sue Viccars. I say finally, because I didn’t pay attention to the guide book correctly and as I walked into Holne following ‘my nose’ (ie wrong route) after what felt like a very long day, Sue had walked ‘out’ of Holne to meet me on the her ‘route’. Thankfully after several cups of tea and cake, normality was restored and Sue arrived just as coherent speech had returned to my body.
This podcast is the full interview with Sue and she shares with us her explanation of the route, her thoughts of which direction is best and how each season effects the experience and pleasure you might have is you undertake it.
She has done it herself several times and is aware of the many pitfalls walkers can make, as well as the differences weather will have on the experience.
However the biggest challenge would appear to be accommodation. They are currently trying to engage all the service providers on, or near, the route to get involved and display their services on a new website. This is growing all the time as more and more pubs and B&B’s get involved. But camping locations are still thin on the ground.
The realisation dawned on me that my initial intention to wild camp was in fact the biggest challenge of the trip and so as a result, I began to scour the book for more information, and the internet whenever 3/4G popped up for assistance. There’s so many opportunities for anyone with space such as farmers or small holders, to offer a simple pitch or two. I can only hope this grows over time.