Malham to Lothersdale – Wet and Dry

I slept really well but woke up a little achey from previous days’ efforts. The route today is a 14 mile yomp, without a rucksack. Should be ok. Debs is taking down the tent after I push off and taking it to Colden near Hebden Bridge. I’ll meet her in the Hare and Hounds in Lothersdale at 6pm and we’re going to have fish and chips tonight. Get in!

Before setting off we drove down to Gargave and had an English breakfast at a Beefeater type pub and stocked up on fat and protein. The views were less spectacular today. Rolling grassy hills.

I was so pleased not to be carrying a rucksack. Gargrave came sooner than I expected and the Leeds Liverpool canal cuts through it. With more locks carrying canal barges uphill than you can shake a stick at.

And further down by the village green the River Aire pitches down towards Keighley, Bradford and Leeds city centre. 

Out the other side of Gargrave and over the hills I came on the canal again with more traffic evident this time.

And cute canal bridges.

Before dropping down to Lothersdale the Way climbs up to Pinhaw Beacon at 1300 feet, which is nothing by PW standards but, in later afternoon in later life in the rain and strong winds that had returned, it was tough today. The Way signage going southwards was awful and I thought I was lost at one stage. A motorbike rider came out of his farmhouse and was just getting on his bike when I caught his eye. He told me that the Pennine Way went over the moorland away from his farm and I should go back. I said the path I was on was ok and I’d follow it along to a road. He asked if I’d seen his sign warning people away from his house and I admitted that I hadn’t. When he rode off I noticed a bright light in his loft, shining through a small hole under the eaves. You crafty little cannabis cultivator you. And it turned out that I was on the Pennine Way after all. I made it up to the summit of Pinhaw in really grim weather.

Dropping down over the back I made it to Lothersdale by 5pm, looking forward to defrosting in front of a fire with a pint in the Hare and Hounds. 

It was shut for renovation and nowhere else in the village provided shelter. I waited for an hour under a tree for cover from the rain. 

Deb came just before 6pm and we went down into Hebden Bridge for fish and chips and a mug of tea. Finishing off with a couple of pints in the New Delight Inn which we were camping next to. 

A good day all in all. But very tired now.

Night night.