Pennine Way Day Six - Malham to Horton in Ribblesdale

Distance: 14.5 miles
Ascent: 850m
Weather: sunny, breezy

Green Woodpeckers: 2
Heard peregrines and also some mysterious squeaking in the rocks
Bunnies, possibly a rat
Wheatear
Short eared owl.
Discarded footwear so far: one flip flop on Kinder Scout, one flip flop on Standedge, two insoles at the bottom of Pen-y-Ghent.

The Pennine Way out of Malham is a well used tourist path that leads to Malham Cove. The gates tell of a peregrine viewing point, but the stone steps lead steeply up around the cove before we got to it. As we neared the top of the steps we could hear them and thought that we might have seen one, or possibly a budgie, but it turned out to be a woodpecker.

The limestone pavement across the top of the escarpment is very impressive,  and quite slippy, the stones of one of the stiles were polished till they shone.

We walked over the stone edge a while and then the Way leads around the back of the cove, north along Ing Scar. There was a nipply hill, many earthworks,  lots of things written in italics on the map. In amongst the areas of shake holes and pot holes. It's very holey round here.

From the gully, the land opens up into grassy uplands with slippy limestone rocks. We crossed a narrow lane and walked around the grassy banks of Malham Tarn, and in the woods on the far side we saw a short eared owl sitting in a tree. A chap from the outdoors centre had heard reports of an owl and was out looking for it. Apparently it had been seen further away and must have moved. We never touched it. Honest.

The way turns off the lane through a gate (adorned with skull - nice)  where we passed a group of chaps taking a break,  and along a grassy path over the hill up to Fountains Fell. Some old farm buildings with lots of flies and swallows. We stopped for first lunch by some rocks about half way up the hill. I saw something that might have been a rat.

At the top of Fountains Fell there are lots of mine shafts, and lots of holes everywhere. Some of them had sheep in them, one had a blonde lady. We crossed a wall and came down to a lane and walked along that for a while,  with fine views of Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent ahead. We had second lunch on some rocks near the cattle grid,  and were passed by the group of walkers from earlier.

The path climbs up gently along a ridge and then rises steeply up Pen-y-Ghent, a bit of a scramble and then an easy path to the top. We passed the stragglers before the route had even got steep, and the others at the top.

A wide gravel path leads down, clear across the heather, then became a stony track through farms into Horton In Ribblesdale. We are staying at The Crown Hotel, and have seen lots of walkers in various states of knackedness / limping. Most people seem to be doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

A chap at the bar has been saying he'd ridden up from London today and it had rained all the way to Skipton,  so we've been lucky.