Pennine Way Day 4

Saturday 24^th August 2019 Malham

I took no photos today as I was too hot and exhausted to bother.

Last night was the worst possible sleep.  The guy in the bunk above me must have sleep apnoea, as he had a small device that was like a ventilator, whooshing and sucking all night long, sounding rather like Darth Vader.  I’m guessing it wasn’t that loud as no one else seemed to complain, but for me laying right below it, it was a constant audible irritant, and I’m guessing I got a total of 4 hours of broken sleep.  Later, in the northern half of the walk, one night I had a conversation about it with a few people staying at Dufton hostel, and one chap there admitted that he snored very loud, so when booking hostels he always booked a room to himself so as not to annoy the other occupants.  Why this sleep apnoea dude couldn’t do the same and give me a proper night’s sleep I will never know.

Anyway, I was away from the hostel by 8 and I walked the 6km back to the Pennine Way, mostly along roads, which meant I could maintain a good pace so it took me just over an hour.  About the last kilometre of that section I followed a path across fields and, just before reconnecting with the Way, the trail led right through a deep mud patch around a barn that looked as though it would swallow me whole should I attempt to step in it, so I found a longer way around clambering over a fence; once on the other side I could see a number of abandoned vehicles, 2 of which were full of plastic bags of rubbish!  What an eyesore.

The day was hot.  By midday I had walked about 16km of the trail when I stopped at the small pub in Lothersdale for a quick pint of cider.

A bit later, when coming down off a moor shortly before the junction to Earby, I stopped at an ice cream truck for a 99, which helped cool my overheated body.

Then, shortly before arriving in Thornton-in-Craven I stepped in some fresh cow manure.  It covered a large area, and I mistook the dried top of one cowpat as a rock; needless to say, I sunk ankle deep in it.  Immediately after that section, I came across the corner of a paddock where the farmer had chosen to regularly put all the manure wash from the cow shed and race.  The Pennine Way went right through it, as I could see the waymarked stile on the fence behind the large pool of crap.  Not a nice farmer.  Cheekily, I walked through his concrete yard instead.

When I hit Gargrave I had fully intended on revisiting the tea rooms for another cup of tea and a scone, but by the time I got there I did not think I could afford the time to stop.

North of Gargrave, where I (incorrectly) thought I only had a kilometre or so to go, I ran out of water.  I encountered two ladies walking in the opposite direction and asked them if there was anywhere nearby to fill my water bladder.  They were local and were almost back to their home and, knowing there was nowhere for me to get more water, one of them offered me the water left in her bottle.

A bit later, while coming through Hanlith, I was feeling very overheated and weak, and some friendly people sitting outside their house responded to my request for some ice cubes.  I accepted their offer to sit for a moment while I sucked on the glass of them that a woman had gotten for me, and then it dawned on me that I smelt of cow dung, so I said thanks too many times and wandered on.

Luckily, I was close to Malham by this stage and I rolled into the hostel at 6:30 p.m. after 10 and a half hours of walking non-stop (minus the 10 minutes at the pub at midday).  It was a total of 45km, 5 more than my calculations.  I showered and then had dinner at the hostel.  It was a hamburger, but my appetite was almost negative, and I had to very slowly force myself to eat it when all I wanted to do was drown my tonsils in water (except I no longer had tonsils).  It was not a nice feeling and was somewhat reminiscent of both when I arrived at the Wetherspoons in Monmouth exactly a month prior, and when I went to the pub in Chapel-le-Dale almost 3 weeks ago and lost my appetite there.

I crashed on my bunk hoping for a good night’s sleep after last night’s debacle, but…

Day 5