Total miles: 18.5
Elevation gain: 2,481
Time walking: 10:15am – 7:15pm
Miles to date: 693.7
Today was long mileage wise but Mike (one half of my friends Mike and Anneliese who I stayed with the last two nights) joined me today and company always makes the miles go faster! It wasn’t so tough in terms of terrain or hills today either, and although my bag is heavier after yesterday’s restocking I felt well rested and managed the day fairly well.
The first third of the walk was hilly, with a climb up Cowling Hill and then another climb up over a stretch of moorland to Pinhaw Beacon. Halfway up to the beacon we pass a group of men fixing a drystone wall. One of them takes one look at Mike and I and jovially calls out to Mike (who has a small daysack) “you pick your women well – getting her to be your Sherpa!” We laughed about that for the rest of the day. Jen the Sherpa! He was a friendly chap and he told us, in a thick Yorkshire accent, “ah, you’ll be headed to Malham then. All downhill from here to Malham.” Excellent news! Confirmed (sort of) by the next man we saw – “ah it’s a nice flat walk to Malham.” I’m liking the sound of this!
Just before reaching the top we stopped to chat to a woman in her 70s out walking on her own. It turned out she was walking from John O’Groats to Land’s End! That makes two people now! She is definitely the oldest though – apparently she is 74! Some people amaze me. She is Australian and travelling the world, so this is only part of her adventure! I guess the Pennine Way is the most likely place for me to cross paths with other end-to-enders – it’s the most obvious route down the spine of England whereas there are lots of alternatives at different parts of the country. I wonder how many more I’ll meet!
The wind was fierce at the top and my arms were getting chilly in my t-shirt but I didn’t want to stop to get my jacket out – we had already stopped a few times for waterproofs on or off – so I stuck it out until we got a bit further down and the wind showed no signs of relenting. Mike had a good routine though – every time we stopped to add or remove jackets we got to eat a couple of jelly babies. I like this man!
The paths were boggy today after lots of rain the past couple of nights/days and we got very muddy. My nice clean waterproof trousers didn’t stay clean very long! The re-waterproofing does seem to have worked though which is good news. After squelching our way down off the moor we entered farmland, which we would be walking through for the rest of the day. As we came to cross a bridge over a ditch into a field of cows we came face to face with a massive bull standing on the path, right by the bridge, facing us. Ah, ok…. I walked towards him, within the safety of the narrow bridge. He stared back at me from his heavy face, nose ring glinting in the light. I take another couple of steps. He takes a couple backwards. A few more from me and he swings away slowly, turning to look at me as I venture a step off the bridge. He really is massive. I wouldn’t fancy that bowling down the hill towards me! Thankfully with a few more steps he gets the idea and moves further away, apparently more interested in grass and an easy life than chasing wary hikers.
After squelching our way through some deep cow-churned mud and (up!) a couple of small hills we reached Thornton-in-Craven, a pretty village but nothing there, so quickly headed on through more fields for a couple of miles to join a short section of the Leeds and Liverpool canal which took us into the tiny village of East Marston. As we came up off the canal a man called out to me/us – “ah, you’ll be a little mildew-y by now”…! Well, I’ve not heard that one before! Second favourite comment of the day! Just off the canal there was a quaint little tea shop/restaurant where stopped for a quick break. Ahhh that cup of tea and tea cake tasted so good, after 9 squelchy miles! We were making good time and the rest of the walk should be fairly flat…
Two miles (and a couple of small ‘undulations’) later we arrived into Gargrave, a pretty village with several options for lunch (and some public toilets, for future reference). We went to the White Cottage Tea Room, a fantastic choice! After a delicious triple decker ham, Wensleydale cheese and chutney sandwich with a generous garnish of salad, coleslaw and crisps we felt fuelled up for the last 6 easy miles to Malham.
Well, I’m not sure I’d call them ‘easy’..! As we climbed up the seemingly rather large hill out of Gargrave we kept chuckling at the “all downhill to Malham”…wondering when this downhill would appear… We did finally seem to reach the last major downhill and could just make out the limestone outcrops above Malham Cove in the ridge in front of us, with just a small hill obscuring the cove itself. Then we dropped down to the river Aire which we followed, squelching, into Airton where we met up with Anneliese and Daisy who had walked to meet us from Malham.
Apart from one climb up away from the river at Hanlith and then a drop back down, it was finally pretty flat, but with the soggy ground it wasn’t particularly speedy walking. It was pretty though, following the fast-flowing river, spotting herons and ducks and cute baby cows along the way. We eventually arrived in Malham about 7pm and Annie and Mike headed to the pub to find a table while I headed up the last half mile to the campsite to get my tent up before dinner. I was sorely tempted to stop at the pub, but thankfully they encouraged me to do my tent first, sensible people! The camping field was very soggy and windy but I found a flat-ish spot and pitched quickly before shedding my boots and heading back down to the pub, staaaarving!
At the pub I met up with the lovely Cheryl who had driven over an hour to meet me for dinner and to bring me some supplies and the four of us ate together. Lamb shank and potato rosti followed by fruit crumble and custard. Yum! Cheryl gave me a lift back to my campsite to save me the walk in the drizzle and I dove into my tent and shut out the weather as quickly as I could! Thankfully it’s not terribly chilly tonight, but the wind is strong and I’m hoping my tent stays firmly grounded! The river is quite loud here and I have a feeling it is going to make me want the loo all through the night…
Tomorrow; Malham Cove, Malham Tarn, Fountains Fell and Pen-Y-Ghent – should be a good (if tiring!) day 🙂