Walking The Pennine Way When I Was Eleven - Stage 7: (Thornton in Craven to Malham)



Start:  Thornton in Craven

Finish:  Malham
 
Distance: 12 miles

Total Distance Covered: 76 miles



We had breakfast at the Post Office B & B .  I had Alpen, a poached egg on toast and bacon.  Before we left at 9.30 "Skinless", who we met the day before and had been camping in a field by the post office, told us that in the night a cow had put its foot through his tent.  We stocked up on supplies including for me a very exotic Yorkie Raisin and Biscuit chocolate bar, a new flavour.

The route was much less remote than the early days of the walk.  Part of the route was easy and pleasant along the Leeds and Liverpool canal towpath.  At 12.15 we crossed stepping stones across the River Aire into the village of Gargrave where we had lunch.  While we were there we met the Family Party of walkers whom we had encountered a few days earlier.

There was a bit of road walking after we left Gargrave which aggravated my blisters a little.  However, much of the remaining seven miles to Malham was close to the Aire and pretty flat.  This was some of the nicest walking we had done on the route so far.

After a stop on the river bank for tea we wandered through fields and reached Malham at 5.30.  We camped by a wall on quite a large campsite which had toilets but no toilet paper!  There weren't any midges here and I don't remember meeting any more for the rest of the walk.


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