Hi All,
I'm new to this board as I used previously for general research. My friend Ian and I are walking the Pennine Way starting 6th June. We both live in Spain and walk as often as possible with wives and friends.
Being retired in our 60's we decided to use the Sherpa service as this will be our first long trail taking 15 days.
We have the Cicerone guide and ask what other maps should we take? Full set or what?
Any help appreciated noting we are using the pleasure of being able to walk to raise funds for St Oswalds Hospice.

When it comes to a choice between guide books and maps I always say take the maps.

The maps help you to know what you're looking at, where alternative routes might be attractive, and in the event of getting lost you will be able to use them to get out of trouble. The guide books don't do any of those things.

You obviously can take both, as pack weight is not a constraint for you. You could cut out each day's pages from the guidebook and carry them in your day pack.

You already know where you'll be staying, so accommodation lists in guide books are superfluous. I guess your question really boils down to whether the expense of maps is justified.....Over to you!

What I did was to read the Cicerone Guide the evening before each stage, to get the information about the areas I would be passing through. during the walking I used the three Harvey strip maps for the Southern, Central and Northern parts of the route. These were ideal and lightweight, although not as muich detail as OS maps, they contain all that is necesary.
www.harveymaps.co.uk
Dave.

Thanks guys thinking more of bad weather etc re maps. My navigation skills are a bit rusty, but will bone up during the next weeks.
Is the route well marked? I did a bit of the coast to coast around Richmond and must say had to keep my eyes wide open as easily missed.
In your opinions which were the best and worst parts of the walk? I guess weather conditions has much to do with my question.
Take care.
Bill.

Re your questions:
The Pennine Way is not idiot-proof, and you will have to keep your eyes open again. It is a National Trail and therefore is supposed to be be maintained to the (unnecessarily?) high standards of those responsible. That doesn't mean that every signpost and waymark will be present - some people nick them.
Weather conditions have a lot to do with the immense range of answers to your second question!!

I walked the Pennine Way in 2007 and used Sherpa baggage transfer and used the full set of OS maps along with the Edward de la Billiere guide book which I found easier to follow than the Cicerone book.
I enjoyed all the walk but if I had to pick out highlights of the walk I would say I enjoyed the southern half of the walk to Bowes better than the northern half. The highlights of the northern half were Low & High Force, Cauldron Snout, High Cup Nick, and the remote Cheviots. The part I did not enjoy on the walk was the day from Slaggyford to Twice Brewed in pouring rain and getting lost on the same day going over remote moorland between Round Hill And Black Hill which was more or less pathless and boggy, and the last six miles of the day over the Roman wall which was hard going in the rain with all the ascent and descent on that part of the route.

Thank you for your valued input which is appreciated. We are now off to do a Sunday stroll up behind Mijas on a beautiful sunny day.

Bill.

I would not rely AT ALL for signposting on the Pennine Way. In many parts signposting is completely non-existent. I remember some "PW" signs in the peat groughs after Bleaklow (I was doing North to South) and thinking that they had been left by someone for a mate with PW initials. It was only after that I realised that they were for the Pennine Way. I'm not sure that there would be any day on the Pennine Way that you could do solely relying on waymarking.

I personally like having proper OS maps - but as Pete says - for you, its down to whether you can justify the not inconsiderable expenses of buying a full set.

In terms of the best and worst parts of the walk - if you mean navigationally - as I say above - you'd need something (the Cicerone Guide might do it - but personally I wouldn't rely on that) on every day other than just waymarking. The worst parts navigationally perhaps would be .a. coming down from Bleaklow to Torside reservoir .b. going over Cross Fell .c. I got lost in fields near Lambley Viaduct in the South Tyne Valley and .d. the Cheviots probably wouldn't be that easy navigationally without a map.

Having said all of this, if you can read a map and use a compass (and before Mr Lizard pops in and says you don't need on - you might if the weather comes down - particularly coming off Cross Fell) - you should be alright.

In terms of best and worst parts of the walk for enjoyment - I'd say its all pretty good and I enjoyed it all. But the bits I really liked were actually most of the Northern Section - the Cheviots, Hadrians Wall (my view is that its a good idea not to tack the Wall onto another day - whilst its not a long distance, it is really hard walking because you are constantly up and down), the South Tyne Valley (I cheated a little here and didn't follow the official path the whole way because I really wanted to go under Lambley Viaduct which is really amazing - and then the railway walk from there on is quite fun), Cross Fell (if the weathers OK), High Cup Nick (which must be the real highlight for me - you'll want to leave some time there to be suitably awestruck), the walk along the Tees, Sleightholme Moor to Tan Hill, Keld & Thwaite, Great Shunner, the three peaks, Malham etc etc. This is getting a little crazy because I'm just saying everywhere - but then that was it for me - it was all good.

The Hopkins guides (2 books, South and North) have all the OS 1:25,000 maps in. Apart from one day where the books changed over, we carried one book in the map case, with the other in the carry-on hold-alls being moved by the baggage courier.

At no point did I feel the need to have the mapping for the miles either side of the trail, and although I did manage to stray off route a couple of times, it was never so far as to need a wider mapping to navigate back.

One exception was our accommodation stop at Uswayford Farm in the Cheviots. This is off the strip map in the guidebook. I simply penciled the route into the guidebook before setting off.

For simplcity, it would be the books for me. It was also much easier to turn the pages than to refold maps, especially in poorer weather. A waterproof mapcase is a must though.

Now don't laugh....I used a map on one side of my case, a guide book on the other side and then I had a cut out page from another guide book which was a bit more detailed ( a bit like Wainwright's)but I can't remember the name of it. It had strip maps and came in quite useful. I cut out the day's pages and inserted them in the case where I could see it if necessary. My map case was clear on both sides.

As regards the highlights..I loved the bleakness of the Peak District and Lancashire Moors, The beautiful Yorkshire Dales were familiar stomping ground so didn't need to route find, the walk to High Cup Nick was amazing, Northumberland was gorgeous and the Cheviots were brilliant. I didn't particularly like the more cultivated and civilised areas as sometimes I found route finding more difficult.