Wild Boar Fell and Mallerstang, a favourite on Andrew Bibby's route

An outdoors writer who walked the Pennine Watershed was the subject of a BBC radio programme today.

Andrew Bibby’s The Backbone of England was a study of the high moorland and fells that separate the east-flowing and west-flowing waters of the country, from Derbyshire to the Scottish Borders.

Andrew was interviewed by John McCarthy for Radio 4’s Excess Baggage, recounting the germ of the idea behind the book, the journey and the people he met on the route, which covered more than 400km (250 miles).

He recounted how he quickly realised his maxim in attempting to follow northern England’s watershed: ‘Never cross running water’. Mallerstang in the North of the Yorkshire Dales national park, and the North Pennines came out favourites on the route.

The programme can be heard for seven days and also included a piece on Syria.