18 miles/29 km

Total miles: 55 miles/89 km

A quick note on the mileage walked above. The daily miles is the distance we walked in a day. The total miles is the official trail distance to that point. As we invariably walk further than the trail miles, to walk from the train station to the trail today for example, I’ve only included the official total in the total miles.

Today dawned to much better weather and, although cool and cloudy, it was dry and that was good enough. Today and tomorrow we are crossing the gap between the southern mill towns and the limestone country of the Yorkshire Dales.

We caught the train back from Manchester around 8AM and were soon back in Hebden Bridge. The only downside was a steep 5km climb out of Hebden Bridge and onto the moorland.

Eventually we bypassed Colden and climbed onto the open moorland of Heptonstall Moor up to Clough Head Hill. We met some volunteers out maintaining the trail as well as some inquisitive sheep wishing us good luck for the trail ahead.

Feeling buoyed up by the lamb wishing us good luck, we pushed on to the first reservoir of the day being Walshaw Dean Reservoir. There was lots of bird life everywhere with lapwings circling overhead to protect their young as well as Canada Geese herding their little ducklings out on to the water.

From there, it was a few miles up and over some moorland to the ruins of Top Withens. This is a abandoned farm house rumoured to be the inspiration behind Wuthering Heights, the only novel written by Emily Bronte. Emily did wander these hills and was fond of long walks out from nearby Haworth. I know many love this novel but, personally, give me any other Bronte novel than Wuthering Heights. It’s far too dark and dour a novel. After a brief break to explore the ruins, and being stung by a nettle, it was time to move on.

From there the walk became very pleasant with extensive views towards the Aire Valley. The trail descended into a beautiful valley where it was nice to put our feet up for a while before tackling the last climb of the day.

It was then a long and wild climb over Ickornshaw Moor to our end point for the day. This section was labelled a ‘barren wasteland’ by Alfred Wainwright in his guide to the Pennie Way. I actually found it nice with extensive views to Pen-Y-Ghent, a few days travel away in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

The moorland traverse over, we began a long descent down to our stop for the night in Ickornshaw (only to be pronounced in a Yorkshire accent). The owner was very nice and even drove us the mile into town to pick up pizza – thank you Alwyn.

From here, it is across the Aire Gap to our first rest day – in Malham at the entry to the Yorkshire Dales and limestone country!