Walking The Pennine Way When I Was Eleven - Stage 6: (Stanbury Moor to Thornton in Craven)


Start: Stanbury Moor

Finish: Thornton in Craven

Distance: 12 miles

Total Distance Walked: 64 miles

We set off from our rough camp site on Stanbury Moor at 9 o'clock and soon joined a track and left the moor.  We departed from the official Pennine Way route to go to the village of Stanbury where we bought some postcards.  The road walking on this section hurt my feet.

After this diversion which added a couple of miles to the rout we rejoined the Pennine Way for some rather uninspiring and cold walking across Ickornshaw Moor.  At 1.20 we came down into Cowling and stopped for lunch at the Black Bull where a sign invited walkers to remove their boots before entering.

On the climb out of Cowling we were met by the sound of jet fighters flying low overhead.  Villages were now occurring on the route more often than in the early stages of the walk and only three miles after Cowling we reached Lothersdale where we stopped to buy refreshments.  I had a yogurt cone.

Another four miles over moorland and then tracks through farms and over awkward cattle grids brought us to Thornton in Craven.  As we followed the track under a viaduct entering the village we were overtaken by a man who was walking the Pennine Way.  We chatted as we walked in our first encounter with someone who was to be a companion for the next week or more.  At the time my sister was in the habit of comparing people to the shape of sausages.  At home we ate long, thin sausages called "skinless".  Our companion was tall and skinny and, just between ourselves, we came to call him "Skinless".  We never found out his real name.

We went to the village Post Office, which did B & B, at 6.40.  Our Dad decided that we would stay there and an unofficial policy of two days camping, one day in a B & B had emerged.  I had baked beans on toast for supper and settled in to very comfortable accommodation.  Meanwhile Skinless was camping outside.

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