Walking The Pennine Way When I Was Eleven - Stage 5: (Mankinholes to Stanbury Moor)


Start: Mankinholes

Finish: Stanbury Moor

Distance: 12 miles

Total Distance Walked: 52 miles


After a windy night under canvas where I didn't get much sleep we got up at 7.30.  We set off at 9.45 and after a mile had reached the imposing tower of Stoodley Pike where the wind was still strong.  The monument commemmorates the Peace of Ghent in the Napoleonic Wars and can be seen from many miles away.

From there we desecended to the Calder Valley.  There was a sense of reaching a new phase of the Pennine Way.  The first few days had been mostly across rather bleak moorland with few distinguishing features.  We entered the valley through woods having barely seen a tree for the last three days.

We went through a hamlet called Eastwood and up a steep track.  A little later at Jack Bridge we stopped at the New Inn for lunch.  After the opening few days with nowhere to stop for refreshments mid-walk it was nice to have a meal and break.

Leaving the valley took us out to more open land again.  The moors here were more grassy than before with tufty clumps that were awkward to walk on at times.  I was getting a little cold as the evening drew in.  The path fell away steeply as we reached a track.  This took us past a reservoir and onto Stanbury Moor.

At Top Withins we reached a building widely regarded as the inspiration for the novel Wuthering Heights.  My knowledge of the story was limited to the Kate Bush song of the same name so I wasn't unduly excited when we set up camp just down the valley at 7.15.  Looking back now I wonder how many people would love to spend the night in such an atmospeheric place. The wind had dropped a little during the day but the moors were still windy, although whether they were "wiley" I'm not sure.  We were quite sheltered in a good spot where we could walk down to a stream nearby and my sister and played there.

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