Pennine Way Day 12 - Horton-in-Ribblesdale - Malham

July 5, 2008

Journal

Up early, slept OK. But the weather has changed :( Looks OK now but v. windy and may rain later. Not particularly encouraging especially after the promise of yesterday. Ciska is meeting me in Malham tonight so hopefully when I get out of the valley there'll be some signal and I can get hold of her.

Leaving Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

Pen-y-Ghent summit. No view today, but high wind!

Pen-y-Ghent after the descent. Distinctive profile.

1431 Malham
My God it has rained cats and dogs on me today. On Fountains Fell I'd have been drier under an actual fountain! Anyway, I made it to Malham - just got my head down and pressed on - and still no signal so I don't know where I'm meeting Ciska. Oh! and disaster! It was so wet that my little journal is ruined :( :( A lot of the stuff I've written is smudged and illegible now. Hopefully I can reconstruct it later but not sure [some parts I couldn't remember but turned out mostly ok - that's where this write-up comes from after all]. A lot of the statistics I was recording have been erased :( That bloody coat isn't waterproof any more. And my feet are wet. I'm all wet, and now I'm getting cold because I'm not moving any more. Shivering now. Need to find out where we're staying!

Malham Tarn. Low cloud. Wet. Miserable!

Limestone country. On the descent into Malham.

Fabulous limestone pavement atop Malham Cove.

Later
OK turned out Ciska had gone for a run, but now all sorted. We're in the Miresfield B&B. Had dinner in The Lister Arms which was very good. Nice to see someone again. Doing it solo this is probably a good idea - to have stops where you meet friends or family once or twice. Keeps you sane!

The Lister Arms. Nice food and drink to be had here.

Day 12 Statistics

HOR - MAL
15.1 miles
1523m ascent
719m max elev.
time moving:  5h34m
time stopped: 0h26m
overall average: 2.5mph
average while moving: 2.7mph

The spectacular Malham Cove.

Comments

Pen-y-Ghent summit was incredibly windy. I was clinging on to my map! Then you have to go off the front of the hill down a steep stone staircase. With the wind and my big rucksack on, this was quite scary. I could've got blown off easily - the wind was supporting my weight it was that strong.

And it really did rain a lot on me up there on Fountains Fell. Normally I would have taken more pictures and written more in my little book, but it was just too horrible. I could barely see 2 metres ahead of me up there, with the rain and cloud and everything. I saw a couple of people and I almost went the wrong way once, but it worked out fine. If I ever do the PW again, I'd like a clear day on this stretch so that I can see some views! This area really is one of the most beautiful in the country though.

Pennine Way Day 11 - Hawes - Horton-in-Ribblesdale

1028 Ten End 3.4 miles from Hawes
Steep long climb up from Hawes towards the Cam High Road. Windy, but sunny. Should be relatively flat now for some miles.

On the West Cam Road.

Sheep being sheared. West Cam Road.

Cam High Road.

 1118 Cam High Road 5.8 miles
Roman road. I have of course done a bit of this path before, in the midsts of the past when I did the Dales Way with Jonathan Arkell. Looking ahead from here you can see Pen-y-ghent, but that's for tomorrow. Otherwise it's perfect up here at the moment, could be incredibly grim as it was on the Dales Way, but today, lovely.

I've been here before, on the other path (Dales Way), in much poorer weather.

1252 Ling Gill Bridge 9.4 miles
Need a rest!

Fortunately walkers are allowed!

1440 Pen-y-Ghent cafe, Horton 14.3 miles
Arrived Pen-y-ghent cafe, Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Got some badges to glue to my rucksack sometime in the future. Signed the PW book - saw Paul and Colin and Tim's [people I'd met so far on the way] names in it - cool! Loads of school children here probably on a trip? Nice place to come for a school trip if so. Interestingly the man in the cafe knew Stokesley - he has a friend on The Avenue, turns out it's Sarah Chapman's dad. He made a note of my name. Small world isn't it?

The Pen-y-Ghent cafe, Horton. Here you can sign the book!

Later, The Crown, Horton
Been to the campsite: "No vacancies" - a bit odd since the field doesn't look anywhere near full. Maybe they have a maximum number of people. Anyway, I have repared to The Crown for a pint of Old Peculier (on tap) to consider the options: The Golden Lion has a bunk room - or I could wild camp somewhere. Hadn't expected to come unstuck today.... So, I was talking with the barmaid here and she reckons I should just go over and ask at the campsite in spite of the no vacancy signs... seems odd but I guess I'm going to try it :)

No room at the Inn?

There's no network here of course, not necessarily a bad thing. Today's walking was quite straightforward and encouraged a faster pace and not much stop time. It's amazing how the weather plays such a role in all this. Only one minor navigation problem today, on Cam End there's no sign or cairn to tell you you have to turn left off the main track which continues as the Dales Way towards Ribblehead. I also realised today that the hill I've been seeing which I thought was Pen-y-ghent is really Ingleborough. No wonder I was confused. Today has been really good - proper walking - the Pennine Way does not have a lot of it I think. But that's why it's the hardest. And I'm doing it because it's the hardest :)

The weather is glorious today, bodes well for tomorrow, really warm and sunny. Makes such a difference to how difficult this is. Hope it stays like this into tomorrow... Well, better go back to the camp site and see what's what.

Later
Back in The Crown now, food ordered. Camp site all sorted out. When I went back I spoke to the man in the field and he said they "keep some" places back for "people like me", i.e. walkers on PW. That's great, but I didn't get that from the sign on the gate! Anyway, I was there at the same time as a nice young lady on her own seemingly. Wanted to ask her if she'd like to go for a drink but I didn't. After that I noticed she was pitching her tent next to mine. Maybe I'll talk to her later on if she's still there.

Pen-y-Ghent from Horton church. Going up there tomorrow.

1819
Written postcards. Hungry! Just looked back through the pages of this little diary. Good stuff! And guess what? I AM going to do this :)

Later
I did speak to that girl over a bottle of wine. She lives in Yarm! The camp site is busy because there's a charity walk on tomorrow. Anyway, it was a beautiful still night only punctuated by the insane giggling of the two girls pitched right near me - went on until 2am.

Day 11 Statistics

HAW - HOR
14.3 miles
555m ascent
581m max elev.
time moving: 4h45m
time stopped: 0h34m
overall average: 2.7mph

Pennine Way Day 10 - Keld - Hawes

July 3, 2008

Journal

0945 Setting off... see how it goes ;)

Leaving the Keld Lodge, fed and watered.

Later in Thwaite
To get here from Keld there's a circuit of Kisdon Hill which from the map seems unnecessary but actually lets you see views of old Swaledale mines and you get to walk along some of Yorkshire's fabled green lanes. Thwaite is a sleepy little place. After here there's a big long gradual climb onto Great Shunner Fell.

Dropping down into Thwaite, a pretty green lane.

Great Shunner Fell (716m) 6.6 miles from Keld
Fantastic view from up here - with a substantial seat / cairn to have a rest. Also, mobile signal for the first time in days, so (bizarrely) sent some texts and a picture message!

Approaching Great Shunner Fell.

On Great Shunner Fell.

1438 Hardraw 11.45 miles
In the Green Dragon. It was a long descent into Hardraw off Great Shunner Fell - I thought the track would never end! But I feel quite good today. I think I will finish this walk after all :) Perseverance, determination, endurance. I'm learning about myself. The beer I'm drinking here is really nice - Tippell Brewery "Balls Up!" - tasty!

The descent to Hardraw is very long, but a good track.

Later in Hawes
As soon as I left Hardraw it started raining, so a miserable end to the day. Made it into the YHA before it opened, but able to start getting my wet things dry. Alls well, geezer showed up and there's room for me to stay. Going to eat in Hawes because it has a lot of nice looking pubs.

Some of the stiles on the PW are pretty tough to get over
with a big rucksack on. This one was particularly difficult!

2000 The Fountain, Hawes
Had a nice dinner - spicy wings and lasagne. Only one pint of Riggwelter drunk, which since it's on draught here is quite an achievement in itself, but probably for the best. Not sure what to do now... another beer? I think not. Probably should phone the family :)

Day 10 Statistics

KLD - HAW13.22 miles (164 miles from KY; 59.9%)
712m ascent
716m max elev.
overall average: 2.5mph

The Green Dragon, Hardraw.

Pennine Way Day 9 - Tan Hill - Keld

July 2, 2008 

Journal

1005 Tan Hill Inn
Bit of a mad night last night. The landlady here is completely crazy. There are chickens in the pub and sheep trying to get in still. She also has a furry spider attached to a string which is threaded over the beams to a hook behind the bar. Using this she can lower the spider onto the person who is sitting at a certain table in the bar. She scared the living daylights out of the girl who was sitting there this morning! Funny, but if that girl had been scared of spiders, it might not have been! Oh, and the girl was the one from behind the bar last night, who I assumed worked here, but it turns out that her and her boyfriend are guests too! Crazy place.

Morning at the Tan Hill Inn.

When I arrived down for breakfast, she asked me if I wanted tea or coffee - "Coffee, thanks" I said. "Well there's the kettle, get it yourself!" was the reply. When I came back with it, she said "You're a selfish b*****d!" because I hadn't offered everyone a cup. All light-hearted and I found it quite hilarious, but I can imagine it might not go down well with everyone. The bar here is decorated with funny signs like "There's no 'F' in 'parking'".

1204 Tan Hill

Still here. Have chilled out in the bar (no drinking of course). Having another coffee then off.

Looking back north from the moor.

Dropping down off the moor into Keld, some mountain bikers blast past.

1420 Keld Lodge 4.5 miles
I smell bad - need a clean :)

Later @ Keld Lodge
Good day just chatting with Mum and Dad - don't get that too often nowadays. Covered lots of topics, just nice to talk to them. They're great. Apparently Dad is keeping his own diary of my PW adventure! Typical Dad - probably on computer and everything :) Still, I can't talk ;)

My feet are a bit swollen tonight.

In Keld.

Day 9 Statistics

TAN - KLD
4.5 miles (151 miles since KY; 55.1%)
145m ascent
time stopped: 0h39m
time moving: 1h37m
overall average: 2.8mph
average while moving: 2.9mph

Comments

Of course it was Dad's birthday, one of the reasons they met me on this day. It was good to get a proper shower and sort all my stuff out - and I think my body appreciated another short day. Maybe this is the way I can succeed at things like this - by mixing up the distances a lot.

Pennine Way Day 8 - Langdon Beck - Tan Hill

July 1, 2008

Journal

D-Day. I will be really gutted if I have to give up, but it is simply not a good idea to go on over those moors south of Middleton-in-Teesdale with a dodgy knee... Seems like a nice sunny day today though.

The River Tees near Langdon Beck.

Low Force, Teesdale.

1015 High Force 3.6 miles from Langdon Beck
Knee still quite painful, any kind of downhill slope at all and it hurts with every step. Not good.

Sheep. And me.

Middleton-in-Teesdale 8.5 miles
Having a few beers by way of lunch in The Teesdale Hotel. Been to the chemist and they don't have any Compeed in but they're getting a delivery at 1300 so I will wait for that. Tried to phone home, but there's no signal here in town, so I'll have to do that later too. I can send messages though so that's good. Assuming that when I stand up there is no pain, if I can make Baldersdale by 6pm I will push on for Tan Hill, even though that leaves many miles still to go today.

Looking back to Middleton on the way up Harter Fell.

Grassholme Reservoir. Pretty bridge.

Into the Wild. Race Yate Rigg.

1617 Clove Lodge, Baldersdale 15.17 miles
It has turned into a hot day. Almost sunburn hot. A friendly dog here has come to see me while I eat a chocolate bar. I'm ahead of schedule and remarkably the pain in my knee has disappeared! Very strange because it really was very painful until I had that sit down in Middleton. There is a bunk barn here but I will almost certainly push on. A little rest here for a while first though.

On Washfold Rigg towards Tan Hill.

Tan Hill Inn 25.67 miles
Made it!! Really amazed about my knee, because it still hasn't hurt once since Middleton. If anything my neck hurts now! I'm bloody knackered as I sit here in the bar. The last 4 miles along Washfold Rigg is another infamous stretch of the PW, rumoured to be awful bog in true Lyke Wake Walk tradition. Today however it was damp but no difficult stretches, which was just as well because it came at the end of a long day. You can see the Tan Hill Inn, highest pub in England, from about 4 miles away, and it seems to get closer so so slowly, but eventually of course you arrive and then tiredness hits you properly. This pub is a real find though - the bar is cosy and the beer is good. There are sheep sheltering outside the front door of which the pub has two - a kind of airlock system to keep them out!

Sheep want in. Black Sheep especially ;)

Spoke to Mum - they have booked us into the Keld Lodge tomorrow - v. nice. They won't be there until about 4 o'clock which means I can take it really easy tomorrow and of course I'll get a nice feed and clean up courtesy of Mum and Dad. I'm actually tempted to dump my camping stuff as I'm hardly using it. We'll see.

The pub gets closer, very slowly.

I've got a bunk here for tonight so I don't need to pitch the tent which is a good thing as it's already getting late. Paul and his mate are here too - they were surprised to see me as they knew I'd stopped at Langdon Beck yesterday, but they had said to each other that I might show up...

I've rarely seen people allowed to serve themselves a pint in a pub, but you can here!

Day 8 Statistics

LAN - TAN
25.7 miles (147 miles from KY; 53.6%) *Past halfway now*
1257m ascent
time stopped: 2h03m
time moving: 8h58m
overall average: 2.6mph


Comments

Wow! Another big surprise today. To this day I really have no idea how come that pain can just have disappeared. It hurt a lot all morning, then nothing again all day. Quite amazing. 

Crossing the A66 was strange - the tunnel is basically just a corrugated metal tube like a pipe. You can hear the road from a long way away, but the sound disappears quickly on the south side.

Pennine Way Day 7 - Dufton - Langdon Beck

June 30, 2008

Journal

1140 High Cup Nick 4.1 miles from DUF
Spectacular, as advertised ;)

Dufton YHA.

Leaving Dufton.

Panorama from High Cup Nick.
Imagine coming the other way - this would be a spectacular surprise!

1325 nr Birkdale 8.4 miles 

Right knee is now very very sore. Every step is difficult and painful. Stopped for a little rest to see if it improves. Must summon depths of stamina...

On the side of High Cup.

1605 Langdon Beck YHA
Apparently it's closed today but they are letting me stay anyway.

Went for dinner in the Langdon Beck Hotel down the road from the hostel. Must think clearly about the way ahead, given knee situation. Obviously I can't carry on for another 9 days of pain with every step. Misery.

Cow Green Reservoir. This is the source of the River Tees.

Anyway, drank some nice beer in the hotel, stopped contemplating failure as knee pain not there at the moment. "The Plan" is still good - tomorrow Middleton - go to Co-op and chemist for supplies. If successful - push on. Need to call home from there too because not likely to be signal for some miles tomorrow. Crazy fool plan to make for Tan Hill tomorrow - 25 miles. Crazy probably. But the first 8 miles should be reasonably easy going. Success in the whole endeavour is probably going to depend on what happens tomorrow. I don't want to go out from Middleton over those moors in the middle of nowhere if there's any doubt about my knee.

Cauldron Snout.

The highlight of today was definitely High Cup. The footbridge over Maize Beck is substantial - I guess it's new because the books tell of dodgy river crossings here. Cauldron Snout was brilliant too - the scramble down the rocks there wasn't particularly dangerous. Those people in the Dufton YHA were exaggerating. On the other hand they did put their bags into a taxi this morning, so perhaps they have a different outlook to me.

At Langdon Beck.

Langdon Beck YHA.

Day 7 Statistics
DUF - LAN
13.2 miles (121 miles since KY; 44.1%)
809m ascent
604m max elevation
time stopped: 0h42m
time moving: 5h31m

overall average: 2.1mph


Comments

Today was a nasty surprise. Years ago I had my anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed in my right knee. It has never given me much problem since but for some reason today it started hurting like hell. Every step on any kind of downward gradient - even a very slight one - was accompanied with a sharp knife-like stab in my knee. It's possible that I hurt it on the long descent yesterday from Cross Fell - it really is a long way all downhill - and I did it pretty quickly. In any case, this was a major low point morale-wise. I knew I couldn't possibly go another 9 days in this condition. My only hope was that it would correct itself by the morning. Otherwise, the PW adventure would end at Middleton-in-Teesdale. It would be an extremely bad idea to leave Middleton, knowing where the route goes (basically into the wilds), with any kind of physical problem.

View today's photos on a map at Flickr.