Day 35 Malham to Hawes

All on my own again. A family staying at the Youth Hostel where really interested in my exploits at breakfast and donated £40 as they were leaving. I saw the Earby YH couple walk past my window and probably going to be meeting up with them a lot over the next few days. Picked up the Pennine Way again which went directly to Malham Cove a massive 80m high natural amphitheatre of limestone after seeing the worm eye view from the bottom walked up the zillion steps to the water eroded limestone pavements across the top. The trail then followed a dry stone wall before emerging on open grassland at Malham Tarn. Stopped for a bit of bird watching in a conveniently placed hide before setting out again towards Fountain Fell. I waited by a style whilst six blind or partially sighted hikers and their sighted guides negotiated the ladder. That was impressive and I had total respect for what they were doing and showed the totals trust they had in their helpers. It was now a long long drawn out climb over Fountains Fell - no more the green grass of farmland but instead the darker green of moor grass and interspersed with boggy becks and gills (little streams) - new shoes got a slight christening in one of the bogs. Once I reached the top although it was misty I could just make out the top of Pen -y-Ghent, one of Yorkshires "three peaks" at 694 m. It was a lovely downhill run, sometimes steep and sometime a bit rubbly, to the "main" road where I made the decision to stop for lunch. Out came cheese roll and pain au chocolate that I had doggy bagged from breakfast (stole)! I thought I was all alone but I suddenly heard voices and there huddled behind a wall was the Earby YH couple! They were having trouble getting their gas stove to work for a brew of tea - luxury indeed. This was where I was to leave the Pennine Way as although that went on to Horton - in - Ribblesdale I had made the decision to head straight to Hawes which would make this a long day but would give me the benefit of a day off tomorrow. So I then followed the road for a couple of miles to a small hamlet of Halton Gill (strangly enough whilst probably wanting to live in the middle of nowhere every single house was equipped with a satellite dish) to then follow a track and then a footpath very steeply uphill. At times it was boggy and I had to put in little gazelle leaps to ensure clearance of the mire. Once reaching the top it was a well worn path through more bog fields (I'm beginning to learn which plants you can stand on in boggy situations and which ones will just sink). Unfortunately the pain has come back in my leg so I'm guessing its down to the pounding up and down hill so I'll have to continue to pill pop. In the valley more very noisy motor bikes were burning up the lanes ruining the silence. Back on the lanes it was then a mixture of slow run and walk all the way back uphill to the viewpoint at the top although when I got there I couldnt see what the viewpoint was for other than for a bit of moorland, and I've seen plenty of that. What goes up must come down and the down was a 1:4 road that went on and on for the next mile and a half straight into Hawes. Too tired to go out afterwards and had a massive three course meal at the Youth Hostel which was excellent and then straight to bed - such a party animal!

Millage 22.99 Time 5.57

Total mileage 580.63