Thanks each for your interest!
Slogger,I never got to meet you as I went down with illness at Keld on Saturday afternoon (the stomach diarrhoaa and sickness bug that has hit a number of other people on the PW recently).
Despite the extremely waterlogged ground conditions of some sections,it had been going pretty well up until then, and I was still on schedule.
As I was expecting some pretty wet conditions,I'd amended the schedule by using the one spare day I had,to make it a sub-8 day trip,rather than a sub-7 day,as I originally thought may be possible.
Saturday afternoon was a nice sunny day,but I began to lose body heat coming from Tan Hill down to Keld. I was wrapped up in cag and thermal, whilst others were walking in T-shirts.I felt more and more exhausted, so stopped in the cafe at Keld for food and drink.Felt worse, so decided to camp there the night. By the time I was putting the tent up, I was shivering uncontrollably,so it was straight in the sleeping bag by 6pm.The next day,Sunday I spent most of the day in bed in the tent (the ground got very hard by then), and struggling to walk (frequently) to the toilet.Monday I was still very weak, so just a few hundred yards were tiring me out,but packed up and got the bus to Hawes,as I was incapable of doing any more miles, and the schedule was lost anyway.I camped at Hawes then came home Wednesday after doing a few tourist bits in the Dales.
Very disappointed to have had to give up when on schedule, and 150 miles already on the clock.I know some of the other northbound PW'ers having the same bug, have had to rest up for a couple of days.
If any of the mere 9 or so PW'ers that passed me northbound from the 17th to the 22nd are reading this, you certainly deserve medals for completing and wading through 10 plus days of rain that you had.
I'll write up some more detail soon of the first 5 days.
Alan

I know of a number of people who have suffered from a D+V bug after staying at Tan Hill. The ducks and geese in the pub may seem quaint, but it is also a health hazard.

Do you think it could be connected to Tan Hill?

I had'nt had any other close human contact for the previous 60 hours.I had camped on Thursday night by the river at Garrigill, and at Middleton on Friday night,and did'nt stop at Tan Hill. Both had extreme swarms of midges/mosquitos buzzing around,presumably after the waterlogged conditions. These never normally bite me at all (must have bad blood!), but I have been covered in bite scars all over my lower arms and legs like never before.So, that's number one potential cause from my viewpoint.

Sorry to hear of your problems. I stayed at Tan Hill inn during my walk in June, no problems with D&V so don't believe anyone should be blaming Tan Hill.

Tough luck Alan, after such a good start too. Would you attempt it again?
Dave.

Hi Alan,
So sorry to hear that your walk ended like that, I know from personal experience what its like to get those symptoms and have to call it a day. Very frustrating for you I'm sure.
Two years ago I got I'll in Dufton and had to stop in Twice Brewed as I was so weak, turned out to be a nasty bug called campylobactor and needed antibiotics to clear it.
BTW...Not saying you had the same but it normally takes 2-5 days to get really ill after ingesting that bug !
Les

I reckon it was a bug that was passed from person to person and as walkers are such a friendly lot the N-Sers stop and chat to the S-Ners and so it passes up and down then back again.It has been very bad this year loads of people have been using taxi`s to go to the next night`s B&B as they haven`t had the energy even for the busses. We have been asking people where they got ill and it has varied hugely so it`s not any one location it is just people staying in 16 locations chatting and socialising and because the weather has been so bad they are generally exhaused anyway so they have less chance of fighting off a bug that probably wouldn`t bother them normally. It sems to have run it`s course(touch wood) as no-one has mentioned it for the last 3 or 4 days.

I stand corrected on the Tan Hill comment then.

I gave up on the Southern Upland Way in March due to heat exhaustion - I wasn't expecting that!

So sorry to hear about your illness on your recent Pennine Way jaunt, but what is it about the Pennine Way and the sickness and diarrohea bug, when I done it in 2007 one of my companions went down with the same bug between Keld and Bowes and had to miss the next two days walking to Langdon Beck, he tried the section between Langdon Beck and Dufton but was struggling towards the end of the day as he felt so weak and had to miss the next four days walking before rejoining us at Bellingham to finish the walk.

Just a few notes on my abortive trip.
I set off somewhat apprehensively from Kirk Yetholm at 1.00pm on Tuesday 17th, and with a forecast of 4 days rain ahead,after the wettest early summer in history, it looked like a survival course to start with.
Briilint first 4 hours along the Cheviots ridge (one of the the best long high level ridge routes in England),weather staying dry with fine views over the Southern Uplands and the North Sea coast,and the ground conditions were reasonable.After Windy Gyle at 5.00pm,the flagstones disappeared,the rain and mist started to set in and most of the path was a soggy four inch deep mush.I'm a great lover of porridge,but for breakfast,rather than walkng through it for hours.Four times I carried on jogging,but one of my shoes did'nt! In the rain and mist I missed the right fork off the hill before Byrness, so added a bit more distance, coming in off the military road,and arriving at Forest View at 20.50, for a warm welcome from Joyce and Colin,and a great evening meal. 27 miles 7hr35min 3.55mph

Wed 18th July. Heavy overnight rain,drizzle morning,dry,then
rain turning torrential by early evening and all night.
A late start at 9.00am after an excellent Forest View breakfast, and drying out my camping gear.Fast journey through the forest, bypassing the Padon Hill section after bad reports,but Whitley Pikeand Deer Play no better,flagstones under 9 inches of water,and much wading. Got into Bellingham at 1.30pm for a food restock,then the whole section all the way to Hadrians Wall in the afternoon and evening was just horrendous,open moorland mostly 6 inch deep mush,and frequent wading up to a foot deep,where even flagstones were so deep down they were hard to see,and made harder still when the rain set in.Slightly better along the wall, and arrived at the Once Brewed camp site at 7.50pm.Got the tent up, and was intending to go to the pub, but the rain just got heavier and heavier,so never left the tent. 31.5 miles 9hour 55min 3.17mph

Thurs 19th July.Cloudy Showery,Heavy rain showers in evening
Woke up to see the camp field looking like a paddy field. Luckily they have a drying room on site here,which I used whilst I had some extra breakfast in their site cafe,so left at 9.00am.All ground along the wall pretty mushy.I was expecting it to be appalling south of Greenhead and it was.Continually walking through 4 inch deep mush, with frequent wading to a foot deep.By Slaggyford I defaulted to the old railway track, but that was flooded for a good half mile-more wading! A good feed up at the Alston Chip shop,and food restock. then a soggy walk up the flooded Tyne river bank before wild camping by the river half a mile short of Garrigill. 28.5 miles 10hrs 20min 2.76mph
Friday 20th July Dry Cloudy,some showers(better than forecast!).Off at 7.10am and a dry start on a dry path up Cross Fell,for great clear views today from the top.Cross Fell to Knock Fell very mushy and wet,more wading needed! I cut across above Dufton to save some reascent,but not a good idea as very slow, boggy and had to negociate a couple of steep cross valleys,so not adviseable in retrospect.Stopped for a late lunch on High Cup Nick with its great views.Cauldron Snout,High Force and Low Force impressive as they were all in spate.Falcon Clints prove to be an interesting flooded obstacle course. Finished up with a jog down Teesdale and into Middleton camp site at 20.50,then off to the Co-op there for a restock. The Co-op's at Bellingham,Alston,Middleton,and Gargrave are all open until 10pm weekdays. 35 miles 12hour 50min 2.77mph.
Saturday 21st July.Dry Sunny.Windy,a nice day at last
Off at 07.15am,path over Harter Fell a bit soggy,but then it deteriorated badly,and Lunedale all the way to Tan Hill was just a boggy,flooded mess.Like the stretch to the Wall,I just gave up trying to circuit around the worst parts, and just waded in a straight line for hours on end.After Gods Bridge, I saw what looked like a coach party ahead, which turned out to be the Pennine Way Association Chairman leading a group on a day walk.I could'nt think of a worse part of the route as an introduction! As written up before, after passing Tan Hill at 2.20pm,I just fell ill and stopped at Keld after 21 miles 8 hour 15min,just 2.5mph.
Looking back to my 2010 walk north (after a long dry spell),one can see the effect the waterlogged route has on times:
2010 Tan Hill-Baldersdale (Dry conditions) 3 hours 30min
2012 Baldersdale - Tan Hill (Waterlogged state) 4 hours 35min.
Will I try again after this failure? As at last Tuesday, I never wanted to see the PW again, but that's altered now to a view of unfinished business. So,yes,I will try again,but I will only do it all after a long dry spell, where you can skip over the peat quickly and easily,and also try for something a fair bit quicker. The days get too short after late August, so it will have to wait until early summer next year.
For all those that have completed over the last two weeks, a big well done,not only for getting through a real tough challenge,but where the path conditions are actually the major problem rather than the daily weather.