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Thursday 24th May 2012 Cowling to Gargrave An easier day today. It was still hot and clear with no breeze and no protection from the sun for most of the way, but there was the occasional relief of a leafy lane and later in the afternoon some light clouds forming overhead. I had a nice breakfast of fluffy scrambled eggs and mushrooms and after leaving the B&B at about 9.45 Andrew and I cut across via Gill Lane back to the Pennine Way. I'd put my new camera's battery in my old camera so I could go on using the voice memo feature and packed the new camera off with Andrew who was returning home today.
Maybe I was getting stronger after four days on the hoof, or maybe the hills were getting flatter but things seemed easier today. We ambled along to Lothersdale where we were grievously disappointed by the shocking dearth of tea shops available to succour the thirsty walker. On we plodded to Thornton-in-Craven and… what's this… still no tea!
At this point I knocked on a random door to ask where the nearest pub or café was and after a pause and a grating of heavy locks the door creaked open revealing a nervous-looking blonde. No, there were no cafes, she said, and the only pubs were over a mile away in the next village. Could she top up my water bottle then, I asked with an endearing and appealing look. I'll get you a bottle of water, she said. Cue more gratings as she re-locked the door to keep the wild-eyed ruffian at bay while she went to get the water. She generously gave me a 1.5 litre bottle but I was a bit offended by her attitude - I can't have looked that bad and wouldn't have thought it a high crime rate area, a rural village like that. Still, not to worry.
Andrew was going to get the bus back from here so I left him by the wayside and headed north for East Marton, another two miles, where I intended to spend the night. Fairly easy walking now for I could go at my own pace and not feel the need to keep up with Andrew - who wasn't weighed down by the same amount of luggage as me. I came to the Leeds-Liverpool canal and fell in with a 50-ish mountain biker - rather unfit looking, dripping with sweat and possessing a rather protruberant gut. He was from Preston, doing a loop via Colne but when I met him, despite being on a tow path, he was pushing his bike. I think he just wanted to chat to someone. The canal, a very chocolatey-brown affair, soon brought us to East Marton and me and my new pal climbed up to the road and ambled a couple of hundred yards (uphill, of course!) to a pub, the Cross Keys. I had a cup of tea there while my companion's eyes lit up at the sight of beer handles and he ordered a pint of something. I was hoping to stay the night in East Marton but it turned out that the pub didn't do accommodation, and in fact as it was past 15.00 they'd also stopped serving food. Wouldn't even rustle me up a sandwich, the miserable bunch. I had my tea and chatted to the biker for a while. The only B&B number I had for East Marton kept inviting me to leave a message though so I decided to bash on to Gargrave as it was only another couple of miles.
It was nice couple of miles too, all grassy, sheepy and undulating; an English spring with flowers and greenery everywhere - very pretty. The only downside was the haze that obscured the distant vistas and that, I think, is a result of all the industrial rubbish pumped into the atmosphere since I was a boy. It's there on any still, cloudless day nowadays, a dirty-looking haze. Anyway I continued to Gargrave and rolled into town (small village) about 16.30. There I got a B&B for £50 - I could have had a room without a shower for £40 but that meant I actually wouldn't be able to have a bath or shower at all - they weren't available. So I paid the extra £10. Later I went along to the Swan for a meal - very nice, some sort of nut roast with apricot, mashed potatoes and peas. I also looked in the guide book for a number and booked accommodation for the following night at Malham. It's a small, pretty, touristy place and I wanted to make sure I'd have a bed when I got there. Distance: 12.8 miles Average speed: 2.2 mph Total ascent: 3175 feet Total Distance: 77.5 miles | ||||||
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