Pennine Way (North to South) 2024 – Day 12

19th August 2024: Hawes to Horton – 14 miles

Technically, I arrived at the Crown in Horton just a moment before the rain started! The fact that it was locked up, and dark inside, and when I rang to enquire when it was expected to open, I was told not for at least another hour, is beside the point I guess. There is nowhere else in the village to go and sit while I wait, no cafe, no shop, nothing. This, despite the fact that it marks the start and finish of one of the most popular walks in the whole country! I guess the participants of the Yorkshire Three Peaks obviously haven’t been prepared to spend enough in the past to justify even the one remaining pub opening at lunch time. The PYG cafe closed many years ago, even though it offered a stamped card attesting to your completion, and offering some great food. Although I think it was red tape and bureaucracy that had more to do with the café’s demise than the lack of clientele. The fact that customers had to walk 200 yards down the road to use the toilets in the public car park probably spelled it’s death knell in these times of petty rules and regulations.

Any way, it started to rain as I spoke to the lady on the phone, who told me to come back at 3pm. My partly sarcastic, partly honest question of ‘come back from where?’ didn’t receive an answer. She suggested the porch, but that was locked. I walked over the bridge and up the road, heading for the train station, where I hoped I’d be able to take shelter in the waiting room. The rain came down harder as I urged my poor legs back into a rhythm, despite them having just knocked off for the day. There’s a load of work going on at the station and the pessimist in me said the waiting rooms would be closed. Thankfully they weren’t, and I sit here now, trying to kill an hour by making a start on the journal. It’s warm in the little room, which is actually more of a porch for the Horton station cafe, which unfortunately is only open on a Saturday and Sunday. It has a motion activated light, so I have to wave my hands every few minutes, or sit in the dark. The rain seems to have abated for the moment, but no doubt it will come lashing down again as soon as I need to head back to the pub (say that last bit in the voice of Eeyore – the donkey from Winnie the Pooh – ‘cos that’s how I feel right now).

Right, I’m in my room now. Although I stand by all the words above, maybe read them through the lens of someone who’d just walked 14 miles with only a single short break, through weather more suitable to March than August, who’s knee was hurting, and who’s feet and legs had already been told subconsciously that they’d done their duty for the day, only to be spurred on to more steps.

Let’s wind backbthe clock to 6am and cover off the day’s walking, before I come back to moan a bit more about the Crown. Yeah, you’ve got that to look forward to yet!

The massive diesel engine on the delivery lorry for the Spar across the road, grumbled loudly for about 15 minutes, from 5.45 onwards, and the noise then became the relentless rumble of trollies being unloaded from the back and the whine of the tail lift dropping them to street level. I knew all this without looking out of the window, or even opening my eyes, in fact I’d sort of expected it. It didn’t really wake me up, I was only hovering on the verge of sleep by that time. I’d dropped off about 9pm I think, in what was a surpringly comfortable single bed, and I’d slept all through the night without any disturbances.

After finishing and posting yesterday’s journal I went across to the Spar, at about 7.35, to stock up on provisions for today and tomorrow. It was chaos, there must have been 6 people in the small shop, just stacking shelves from the huge trolley cage things that had been dropped off earlier. I managed to grab what I needed, in fact I’ve probably picked up too much, considering I have to carry it all, but I’d rather have too much and not need it, than vice versa. I got a couple of bananas, sausage rolls, flapjacks and kitkat chunkies and a treat for my room later.

I was down for breakfast at 8am. It was just me and another solo guest and we both got served promptly and efficiently. The breakfast was OK, all cooked well and enough of it, and plenty of extra hot water for the small tea pot, which is always welcome. I was back in my room, everything packed and put away, and signing out at reception by 8.45.

The town was quiet as I walked back through it to the church and the tiny ginnel beside it that takes the Pennine Way to Gayle. It was chilly this morning and although I was only in baselayer and Dart shirt I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be long before I was adding something else. The surrounding tops were all covered in low cloud and the air felt heavy with the threat of rain. I was a bit peeved to find huge piles of horse shit on the paved path through the field between Hawes and Gayle, I must have dodged half a dozen piles, it was as if a party of riders had come through. When I got to the gate at the far end, however, the source became clear. A lady was trying to get past a horse or pony maybe that was stuck between two gates. I guess the horse gets free roam across the field, but it somehow managed get stuck here. The gap between the gates was only marginally wider than the horse was long and she couldn’t get the gate to swing inwards, past the horse that was blocking it. I tried to help, but the animal was not being very cooperative, it tried to bite my hand when I reached for its bridle, to try and move its head out of the way of the gate. After a couple of minutes he moved enough and the gate swung inwards. We both moved into the gap, with the horse, and again I tried to encourage it to move through the now open gate. It wasn’t having a bar of it though and I was reluctant to get bitten or kicked so I squeezed past as best I could and forced the other gate (leading onto the road) open and stepped out. The lady was obviously more conscientious than me, and I left her trying to get the stupid animal to move into the field with the path.

I knew the early part of the day was going to be spent gaining height, but it wasn’t especially steep and I made good progress. The first few fields were easy on the feet, but once I joined Gaudy Lane it all got a bit hard and stoney and my feet were feeling quite sore after a while. I was glad to leave it and get back onto the open fell. Rottenstone Hill sounds dreadful, but it’s quite lovely, even with an increasingly strong headwind. I looked back at one point and saw a lone walker a good way behind, following me up the path.

As I crested the top, approaching Ten End, I became fully exposed to the wind and the temperature immediately dropped several degrees. I stopped and put my coat on and strapped my Tilley to my pack. I didn’t want to be chasing it all over the fell. My feet weren’t happy at the prospect of the next few miles, West Cam Road is a hard path with loose rocks and stones, although sections of it have a grassy strip. The views to the right were mostly dominated by cloud covered tops and the road stretches off into the distance. I’m listening to an audio book series by Conn Iggulden at the moment, about the ancient Greek city of Athens and the wars with Persia, so I plugged my earbuds in to keep the noise of the wind down, and to help take my mind off my feet and my right knee, which had seemed to be OK on the climb up, but was now making its presence felt.

As I was closing the gate at the foot of Dodd Fell Hill, I turned and almost jumped to find the lone walker from behind had caught me up. He was just out for a day walk, and made a cheery comment, before striding off ahead. I soon reached the junction at Kidhow Gate and the lone walker headed off left towards Oughtershaw, or maybe Drumaldrace, while I turned right to join Cam High Road. I saw a caravan beside the road and briefly considered checking to see if it was open, just for a short break out of the wind. I decided even if it was, it would be difficult to explain my presence if the owners came along, even if it is only used by shepherds or workmen. I put my head down, hood up to keep the warmth in, and pressed on. I did look up occasionally along this section, as the views of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent (hereafter to be shortened to PYG) become more impressive, even covered in cloud as they were.

I passed what I think was my only Pennine Wayer today, as I reached the cairn and fingerpost that marks the Dales Way path down towards Oughtershaw. He was a young lad, two poles, big pack and the thousand yard stare. We nodded to each other. A little further along and I reached Cam End, where the Pennine Way turns properly south again (into the wind) and I got a grainy, murky view of Ribblehead viaduct, sitting beneath the cloud covered bulk of Whernside, with Ingleborough over to the left.

Although I was turning into the wind again, I did begin to drop down now, still on a hard surface, albeit not quite as brutal as the logging road I’d just left. It was coming up to noon and I’d done the best part of 9 miles without a break. I promised myself a stop at Ling Gill Bridge, if I could find some respite from the wind. The valley is lovely on the approach to the bridge, it just needed a bit of sunshine to cheer it up. Fortunately, one of the bridge parapets provided some shelter, so I threw my tarp on the grass, and sat down happily. I doubted I’d be able to stay long given how cold it was, but I ate one of my bananas, one of my sausage rolls and a kitkat chunky, washing it all down with a bottle of juice. After probably only 15 minutes I was up and off again. I held a gate open for a guy walking his dog and then needed to stop and apply some Lanacane to my arse cheeks, which had begun their familiar third-day burn. I passed beneath one of my favourite trees, a huge sycamore which overhangs the path, from the field on the other side of the wall and was hugely relieved to have grass under my feet again.

The final three miles or so into Horton were done under an increasingly threatening sky, mostly with my head down, hood up, into the wind, just waiting for the rain to break. I passed a couple of Three Peaks signs, where the Pennine Way shares the same path for a short while, and I was glad it was mid afternoon and not early morning, as I’d have been tripping over hundreds of other walkers.

I soon had Horton in sight and the thought of a warm pub, maybe with a roaring fire and a nice pint of Black Sheep, seemed to draw me down the hillside. The harshness of the track made my feet hurt, even more than my knee, which seemed to having a few minutes off. The last bit of path seems to be made of the thin ends of slates and I groaned my way into the village. The first building I came to was the Crown. The ‘For Sale’ sign wasn’t a great sight, and is perhaps indicative of the experience I’ve had so far.

We’ve come full circle of course, and I have to return to my moans about the Crown. It was opened at 3pm, which was nice, and I was asked to sign in by the guy who was running the ship for the evening. I ordered a Diet Coke to take to my room and he walked me up. I was somewhat dismayed to hear that breakfast isn’t available until 8.30 and even then it’s only continental. Apparently they can offer ‘a sandwich’ if I need to leave early. I’ll see what supplies I have and what I can spare for a breakfast in my room and make a decision on that later. In the meantime it turns out I have no mobile signal in my room and when I went down to ask about the WiFi password, I was told they don’t have one for guests, even though there’s a very faint BT wireless router in range. It’s 2024 for fuck’s sake, who doesn’t provide WiFi to their guests in this day and age! In their defence, it does prevent me from posting the scathing review I have in my head! The room is cold, tea isn’t served until 6pm and even then I’m worried about the quality of the food. So all in all I’m not a happy bunny right now. It’s B&B experiences like this that make me want to shout at someone. I’m fed up, cold and wishing I could just throw the towel in and go home. I think worry about my mum (her consultation is tomorrow) is adding to my low mood of course and concern about not having a mobile signal tomorrow when I need one is compounding that.

I went down for tea at 5.40, and asked if I could at least order my food now and was told no, I had to wait to order until 6pm. I have a half-decent (although I hate to admit it) pint of Black Sheep on the go and I’ve just been out into the rain to get a mobile signal, to send a message to my wife. I’ve ordered the Steak and Ale pie (fingers crossed) and as soon as I’ve finished it I’m going to bed. It’s colder in the bar area than it is in my room, despite there being a fireplace right beside me. To cap it all, I’m paying a gobsmackingly extortionate £85 for this place – the second most expensive stop of the whole walk! I honestly wish I’d booked somewhere in Settle and got the train back and forward, it would have been bliss compared to this!

I’m going to make a confession now. It’s a big one and obviously you won’t get to read this until after the fact, as I won’t be able to post this until Tuesday night, but please don’t think too badly of me. I’m going to skip the climb up to, and the very, very steep descent of PYG tomorrow morning. I’ve decided that I’m not prepared to risk making my knee any worse by coming down that steep descent. I know it’s a short-cut, and I don’t do short-cuts, and it’s part of the Pennine Way and I’m supposed to be doing THE Pennine Way, not A Pennine Way, but I think I can justify this small diversion, if it helps keep me on the path.

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