Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

Yorkshire Water seem to very keen on encouraging people to enjoy the land around their reservoirs. After all, they do have a website containing useful ideas for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and so on. Unsurprisingly, I took a look from the walker’s perspective and there are route ideas with full descriptions and the same seems to be on offer to cyclists.

It’s all a far cry from the way that things were once upon a time. Before the advent of water treatment plants and their like, reservoirs and the land round about them were out of bounds for the general public lest the supplies got contaminated. That mindset certain applied in Longdendale and also was behind the building of the Mourne Wall among the mountains of the same name in Northern Ireland. Aren’t we lucky that we live in more enlightened times? And yes, I know that they are far from perfect…

In public transport terms, the day didn’t start too well but I did get to do some hillwalking last Sunday. The first bus service from Macclesfield to Manchester didn’t happen for me, either through its not running or my missing the thing by a mere minute. It doesn’t matter what actually happened because the result was the same anyway. The alternative plot of catching the 10:29 train to Manchester Piccadilly was set into action. Once in Piccadilly, the next step was to make my way to Manchester Victoria so as to catch the 11:08 departure to Hebden Bridge as I had originally planned. Things were looking hopeful until Stockport but it went downhill after that. The result was that I ended up on the 12:09 to Hebden Bridge. The final leg of the journey was a ride on Transdev Keighley and District service 500 to Oxenhope.

Those obstacles overcome, I began my walk a good hour later than I had intended but the day continued to be as sunny as it had started. If it had done otherwise, I would have had grounds for irritation. After finding my bearings, I started to make my way out of Oxenhope and took advantage of roadside footways all of the way until I made it onto a minor road that I was soon to leave for the moorland public footpath network. I climbed steadily but not too steeply with views of Leeshaw reservoir to my left. Looking down gained me views of pleasant farmland with the moors overhead. I made my way around Haworth Moor and Harbour Hill to pick up the Brontë Way before it joined the Pennine Way and headed for Top Withins. I was to join the Pennine Way myself but I had another footpath in mind. However, there was no sign of it in the heather so I made my own crossing with a navigationally useful wall to my left.

The idea that I had in my mind was to knock off another section of the Pennine Way but reality was that I took a mere nibble of the portion between Haworth and Gargrave that I have yet to do. I did get as far as Ponden Reservoir and pondered going further but the time that I had was limited. Launching further into remote country means that you have to return afterwards and all of that was likely cost a lot of a commodity of which I didn’t have a lot: time. Getting back to Macclesfield was actually a bigger consideration than when sun was due to go down. So I decided to head onto Stanbury via Ponden Mill and then onto Haworth for the last bus to Hebden Bridge so that I could retrace my way home. Otherwise, I would have had to get a bus to Keighley and then take a longer journey from there. As it turned out, I was home by a very timely 19:30; getting to the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is easily an hour shorter than going round by Keighley.

What had started out as an opportunity to bag another part of the Pennine Way turned into an enjoyable reconnaissance ramble in rustic moorland on a sunny October day. Naturally, my thoughts turned to how I might advance the PW cause in this area so here goes. Getting into the Worth Valley via Hebden Bridge is a practical public transport option and a quicker one that the obvious alternative. Trying on a Saturday would get me there earlier in the day and would also have the added advantage of there being a bus service to the pleasant village of Stanbury, assuming that the times worked out. A good supply of off-road walking would get me to Ponden Reservoir and the PW again. It’s a plan but who knows if or when I’ll put into action?

The weekend forecast got me returning to Yorkshire for the continuation of my Pennine Way quest, this time for a day trip on Saturday. The fact that I had no driving lesson to do allowed me to head off. It was an over and back trip with no overnight stays involved. My target was to head from Malham Tarn to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, crossing Fountains Fell and Pen-y-Ghent along the way. To get there, I caught the first train from Macclesfield to Manchester at 07:10 and onward connections via Leeds got me to Settle in time for the 11:30 minibus to Malham.

That got me to Malham Tarn around 10:45 and the prospect was much, much better than it was on Easter Monday. The spring sunshine, however hazy, lit up the scene more fully than I had ever seen it before; my 2002 visit was a cloud-bound affair. I retraced my steps around the tarn and made my way to Tennant Gill, from where the ascent of Fountains Fell began. That ascent is a long drawn out affair but with the prevailing conditions, it was a delight though the day was beginning to heat up. With my now well worn OS OL2 map duly changed over to the correct side (the breeze and the bone dry conditions underfoot meant that it was placed on the ground to do this), I trooped over the fell only to lose a lot of the height that I had gained.

The bulk of Pen-y-Ghent was temptingly close though some miles were to be trodden before I was to reach it; the Pennine Way never goes at anything directly… After a spot of road walking to Dale Head, the ascent began again. Strangely, it didn’t seem to take a lot out of me until I encountered that testing step near the top of Pen-y-ghent. Maybe, it was my taking it nice and easy so that explains it. Nevertheless, I always find it strange that the Pennine Way goes up and over Pen-y-ghent when it could easily go around it. That would avoid the piece of clambering over limestone slabs that nearly caused me to bottle it. Nevertheless, I did conquer myself and go to the top of Pen-y-ghent for the second time. Nevertheless, I did feel a little queasy after the clambering and I don’t know whether it was the vertigo or something else that caused it.

My first trip up Pen-y-ghent followed the Pennine Way from Horton but an inspection of the map convinced me, rightly in my view, not to come down the southern slopes of the hill; that was where I ascended on my second visit. Instead, I walked over Plover Hill and came off that way. The way down was still steep but I managed it and I then followed a bridleway from Foxup Moor until I rejoined the Pennine Way to return to Horton. That was in April 2004 when the wall on the top of Pen-y-ghent was a standard affair with two stiles over it. Then, I got myself told off for descending from one of those in the wrong fashion as I was heading for the hill’s trig point; I had been facing away from the wall rather towards it. Later that year, a spot of refurbishment was carried out and this added wind shelters and more manageable stiles than the traditional wooden ones that did the job previously. Apparently, it was done to celebrate 50 years of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Returning to Pen-y-ghent encounter number two, the seats in the wind shelters allowed me to rest a while in an attempt to settle myself down before the descent to Horton. That descent is known territory to me from my previous outing so I took it easy and enjoyed the way down as much as possible; without walking poles this is a knee-jarring stretch so my full attention was required. It is also a stretch where you should not be rushing to catch a train so I discarded any thoughts of using the 17:44 departure which proved to be just as well; I would have been more than 15 minutes late. The evening was glorious and I rediscovered views that I first encountered three years previously. Awaiting the 19:29 train allowed me to fully settle down after the day’s exertions. Though that train was late, I still got home as I had planned and the day out had been as good as I had hoped.

I spent my Easter Monday journeying between Malham Tarn and Gargrave. Apart from the absence of platform information on the departure screens in Leeds train station, travelling to Settle was an uneventful affair; a quick word with station staff set the world to rights as to what platform to use. Once in Settle, I awaited the minibus service to Malham Tarn.

In Settle, the weather was cloudy but Malham Tarn was shrouded in dense fog. Even so, I took a stroll around the tarn before breaking from the Pennine Way to take the road down towards Malham. As I followed the road, the fog turned to rain and my Rab Latok jacket got its first true wet weather test and it performed well. Eventually, I was to leave the road on a public footpath that reunited me with the Pennine Way and I continued until the top of Malham Cove. By that time, I had got the sense that wet limestone was too slippery for my liking. Also, given that a walk from Hebden to Malham in July 2002 had proceeded along the Pennine Way between Malham Tarn and Malham, I decided that a diversion would not be a shameful act and had allowed me more pragmatism during the prior bout of road walking. Therefore, I picked up the footpath to another road that dropped me into Malham where I indulged myself with an ice cream and a bottle of Lucozade Sport from the shop at the bridge.

By then, the rain had cleared though dampness still pervaded the air. So, it was with resting waterproofs that I again picked up the Pennine Way on my southbound itinerary. The mist still pervaded the heights and dark skies prevailed but my walk was enjoyable nonetheless. Even with that atmosphere, Malham was still the honey trap that it always is but I was soon to escape the throng, if that’s the right expression. Flat riverbank walking was to be my lot following a spot of up and down at Hanlith; for the next few miles, bell ringing from the church at Kirkby Malham was to enliven the air. As I got beyond Airton, I begin to see signs of what proved to be an improvement in the weather and this improvement began to make itself know as I crossed the Aire to begin an ascent of Eshton Moor.

That ascent was to precede a bout of rather disgraceful field navigation but I found my feet. Navigating my way across fields has never been a strong point of mine and having multi-cornered examples did little to help me. Nevertheless, some calm thought and map reading proved up to task of reorienting myself and enjoy what had by now become a very pleasant view in the sunshine; it made the whole day and my camera(s) were set to work. Though lacking in height, Flasby Fell proved a wonderful muse. I eventually made my way onto the road into Gargrave, which had lost the sun by the time of my arrival. Again crossing the Aire, I continued to the train station where an approaching train took me to Skipton from where I continued my onward journey.

Easter Sunday saw me tackle the section of the Pennine Way between Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Hawes. It is mostly on good tracks through open country with big skies. That the day itself was sun drenched added to the enjoyment.

Transport to Horton didn’t work to plan and could have derailed the proceedings. Rail engineering works between Leeds and Shipley meant that trains were replaced by coaches and we ended up with a coach driver who didn’t know where he was going. That he turned up late as well didn’t help matters either. The result was that those on the coach wanting to proceed to stations on the Settle-Carlisle railway missed our connection. As you can imagine, there was a spot of confusion before we ended up on a train to Skipton from where taxis got us to our destinations; information screens didn’t aid our cause either.

The Sunday morning laggardness with transport made my start from Horton an hour later than planned but that wasn’t to make much of a difference to my enjoyment of the day at all. From the YDNP car park, I made my way onto the track that was to carry me on towards Birkwith Moor and there were ample views of glorious Three Peaks country. In its vicinity, the Pennine Way leaves the track to pick up another near Old-ing. Between tracks, a very nice reconstructed path performs the honours with suitable deterrents for those wanting to take wheeled transport over it. From Old-ing, another track drops you into Ling Gill – I took a spot of lunch between these points with a view of the Ribblehead Viaduct in the distance and the rest was welcome too – nature reserve before you are hauled out again to join the rutted High Cam Road at Cam End. I very soon encountered the reason for the ruts: green lane enthusiasts with their off road vehicles. While I was unsure as to the legality of their enterprise, I left them be rather than starting a futile one man protest against it. Between Seeing people driving vehicles at little more than walking speed does make me wonder at what they get out of their pursuit when walking would be more carefree. Eventually, my wandering took me on to a tarmac road before I left that for yet another track, one without ruts this time. However, while I should have been enjoying the delights of the sights below, a strong wind began to harry me. With the shelter of a stone wall, things weren’t too bad but it didn’t last. Care was required so that I didn’t get blown over and this was at 500-600 metres above sea level. I’d hate to think what things would have been like higher up. It was with some relief that I left that track to continue on the Pennine Way as it descended to the Hawes on the floor of Wensleydale; the breeze was then at my back until the hills started to offer some shelter. Eventually, I encountered Gayle and wound my way on to Hawes.

I reached Hawes at around 17:30 after a ca. 11:00 departure from Horton, so good progress was made. If things had gone to plan with the trip to Horton, I might even have caught a bus taking me all of the way back to Leeds. Instead, I had an hour to kill in a pleasant Yorkshire town until a bus took me to Northallerton for an onward train journey; sadly too short for a meal in a pub or even for a fish supper at the chippy. The slow service of the latter and its vibrant trade ensured that I didn’t succumb to any temptations. It was a matter of finding a quiet corner and relaxing in the sunshine after a wonderful day; finding the right bus stop in the town’s market place was also a priority but that wasn’t to prove too painful. The next phase of my Pennine Way adventures from here might allow me to sample more of Hawes’ delights but that’s for the future.