Ickornshaw Moor and Pinhaw Beacon
This was my final stage on the Pennine Way and it was the most tedious, as well as being the longest. I left Haworth first thing in the morning in order to get to Gargrave in time to catch a train, though in the end, due to easy walking in the later stages, I arrived in Gargrave with an hour to spare. I started by climbing back through Haworth, past the Brontë Parsonage Museum, across the dam of Lower Laithe Reservoir and through the village of Stanbury all in order to return to the Pennine Way near Buckley Farm. The Pennine Way from there goes around Ponden Reservoir before climbing the steep hillside opposite. At this point the sun was out and it looked like I was going to have the best weather of my walk so far, however as I climbed up to Crag Bottom in the narrow Dean Clough ravine it started to rain. So, donning waterproofs I climbed onto the bleak Ickenshaw Moor, which although it didn’t feel like it at the time was probably the best bit of the walk. 
After passing near the trig point of Wolf Stones the rain eased and the path started to slowly lose height and became rather boggy as I passed some people preparing to shoot grouse (I wish they wouldn’t). Eventually I descended into farmland and from then on the walk was rather dull, but tiring with tricky route-finding across the many fields. There was little of any interest to the proceedings except at a lovely little place just outside Cowling where there seemed to be a mini-farm or wildlife sanctuary that was full of ducks, geese and chickens around a small pond. Continuing on from there, after several ups and downs, I reached the edge of the village of Lothersdale on a steep hillside looking down almost straight into an old mill chimney with a really steep descent on an overgrown path down into the charming little village. With nowhere in the village to sit and have lunch I climbed up the hillside beyond the village to a road that had a bench beside it. With relief I collapsed onto the seat and had my lunch looking out over the farmland that I had just walked across.
After passing near the trig point of Wolf Stones the rain eased and the path started to slowly lose height and became rather boggy as I passed some people preparing to shoot grouse (I wish they wouldn’t). Eventually I descended into farmland and from then on the walk was rather dull, but tiring with tricky route-finding across the many fields. There was little of any interest to the proceedings except at a lovely little place just outside Cowling where there seemed to be a mini-farm or wildlife sanctuary that was full of ducks, geese and chickens around a small pond. Continuing on from there, after several ups and downs, I reached the edge of the village of Lothersdale on a steep hillside looking down almost straight into an old mill chimney with a really steep descent on an overgrown path down into the charming little village. With nowhere in the village to sit and have lunch I climbed up the hillside beyond the village to a road that had a bench beside it. With relief I collapsed onto the seat and had my lunch looking out over the farmland that I had just walked across. 
A short climb from there took me onto another moor, Elslack, topped by a trig point at Pinhaw Beacon. A long descent through brown heather-coloured moor and grassy livestock fields took me to the village of Thornton (one-time home of the Brontë’s). During the descent I passed a sign saying “To YH”. If I had been doing the whole of the Pennine Way I would have left the route at this point and dropped down to Earby Youth Hostel, which I had considered doing at one point in my planning. In the event I had decided to cover the additional 6½ miles to the railway station at Gargrave. From this point the walking was actually very easy and I was able to make up such a lot of time that I slowed to a stroll over hills that were low and rolling, much like home, with terrain that was all grass covered livestock fields, which is not so much like home where there are many arable fields. The only highlight was a section beside the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, but that section was sadly short lived. Eventually I reached Gargrave where I had plenty of time to get something to eat before catching a train back home. This was an enjoyable week spent walking along the Pennine Way, but it did nothing to satisfy my mountain craving. That will unfortunately have to wait until next spring unless I can find somewhere to go at Christmas.
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