14.5 miles/25 km

Total miles: 103 miles/166 km

The B&B we stayed at last night was nice and I ended up getting a good nights sleep. It was a little pricey, however, and was run by a dutchman with a few character traits in common with Basil Fawlty. Fortunately we had a lot in common as I’m married to a Dutch person so we had lots to talk about and he soon warmed up.

Leaving Horton-In-Ribblesdale, we walked northbound on a gentle slope towards Birkwith Moor. There were beautiful views back towards Pen-Y-Ghent and, so far at least, the rain seemed to be holding off. My sister also joined us for the first km.

The climb up to Birkwith Moor was fairly uneventful with some beautiful views (unfortunately behind us) of Ingleborough, Whernside and the famous Ribblehead Viaduct.

This was typical limestone country with lots of streams, sinkholes and stunning scenery. The trail climbed gently up over and around both Cam Fell and Dodd Fell Hill.

Unfortunately we couldn’t escape the wild weather too much longer and we were caught in the rain. There were some heavy downpours as we crossed Dodd Fell Hill.

From there, we skirted around the contour lines and headed down towards Hawes. The trail was slippery and wet all the way down and we got some great views of the town as we went.

We finally reached Hawes and did a quick detour via the Wensleydale Creamery. It was still pouring down so it was good to reach civilisation. The town was all decked out with English flags for the jubilee next weekend.

Tomorrow we reach Tan Hill Inn – the halfway point of our journey!