A quick picture of yesterday's B&B, at Newton Grange, a couple of miles south of Gargrave. As suspected it's a Georgian building, hence the very high pogo-friendly ceilings, and grade II listed, so they probably wouldn't have been allowed to make a hash of the restoration even if they'd wanted to. We were told that we were the first Pennine Way walkers they'd had this year, adding to the delay-Malham-until-Sunday theory.
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| Newton Grange |
Today was another pretty easy day, a mere 9 miles from Newton Grange up through Gargrave, Airton, and onto Malham. Joining us for today's walk was Paul Hobbs, an ex-Reuters friend who was staying up with friends in Burnley so he could pop over for a Pennine sampler, although not a very representative day.
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| These footpath signs don't hold themselves up, you know |
Gargrave is a chocolate box pretty spot, and judging from the number of walkers putting on boots, and cyclists lycra-ing up for the day, it's one of the busier centres for the more active visitors. The walking guide says the Gargrave is the lowest town on the Pennine Way, so it's all uphill from now on. Something like that.
Since we were passing through mid-morning we couldn't justify a cafe or pub stop, so walked on through, crossing first the river Aire, then the Leeds-Liverpool canal, pausing only to watch a narrow boat negotiating the locks.
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| Gargrave narrow boat |
A few more quiet lanes, undulating fields and hills later the Pennine Way drops back down to the River Aire. Not surprisingly given the rain we're seeing the river is running pretty fast and fierce at the moment. Looks like a promising trout stream, although since it only rises near Malham I imagine that it must drop level significantly in the summer months.
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| River Aire at Eshton Moor |
The path now follows along the riverside to Airton, which used to be a Quaker mill town, and still doesn't have a pub, but does still have a Quaker friends meeting house. Lots of new flats being built in the former mill buildings so I can imagine that at some point its dryness is likely to be tested, but for the time being we were quite happy to stop for lunch at the tea rooms/farm shop at the north end of the village. Since Paul had brought along a family size pork pie for lunch we initially ordered just a pot of tea, and hid out of view so we could gobble down the pie with impunity.
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| Former mill buildings at Airton |
More strolling along the banks of the river Aire onto Malham, the only further leg test being at Hanlith where the path suddenly leaves the river to head up a very steep road through this well-heeled hamlet, which must have one of the highest per capita Range Rover ownerships in the country. Not sure why the diversion, since there seems to be another footpath along the other side of the river all the way to Malham.
Malham is probably the most touristy towns on the Pennine Way, with a YHA, several hotels and B&Bs, at least two pubs, and even ... a newsagent (gasp). Tonight's stop is at Beck Hall, an eclectic mixture of 17th century country house, 1970s furnishings, and 21st century annexes, and reached by a stone footbridge, or a very fast & deep ford.
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| Beck Hall at Malham |
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| Wooden wall panel at Beck Hall - carving says 1689 |
Nice place to stay though, with a roaring fire in the lounge so we had somewhere to pass the time before going onto the Lister Inn for an upmarket pub meal. Quite a get together again, with Paul and his wife Anita, Roger and Philippa, and Sean & Saffie one more time.
Today's GPS milage was 8.98 miles, so tomorrow's 15 miles and >1000 foot rise will be a shock.
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