Stage 7 Malham to Horton in Ribblesdale

I was surprised to talk to someone this morning who hadn’t been to Malham before. I guess that shows the location I was brought up in and my father’s love of driving for days out than anything else. We had a rest day in Malham, moving from cafe to cafe and sun bathing on the grass. Today’s walk started with an awful climb to the top of the cove, then a stunning walk through a gully to Malham Tarn. A short reprieve before the climb up Fountains Fell ( not quite to the top). Lunch saw us looking out towards Pen-y-Ghent, what better views can you want. A climb down on the uneven surface certainly got my feet hurting. The guide book said many are daunted by the view of Pen-y-Ghent and take the paths around it. It certainly looked daunting. The climb was steep, needing hands to scramble up the rock face but it was relatively short. Then the horrendous down hill. It wasn’t that steep but the path was loose stones and very uneven. This was a foot killer of a walk and it went on and on. At last we reached Horton were we called the hotel to pick us up. This day was by far the hardest so far.

River house hotel – a nice B&b run by a nice couple. Fresh milk in a flask on the tea tray not UHT. They did our washing. It’s really odd handing your smalls over to someone else to wash and had me wishing I’d bought new underwear. She always picked us up a couple of extra compeeds from tesco’s as we were running out.