Start/Finish: Naked Man Cafe, Settle
Distance: 10.3 miles
Time Taken: 6 hours
Companion(s): 27 + dog (too many to name lol)
Route Map:
Awoke at about 4am but managed to doze a bit more until about 6am. Had another little stroll around Clapham before breakfast waiting for the shop to open so that I could buy water and stuff for today's walk. Another lovely morning weather wise.
I headed back to the B&B for breakfast - not quite the full english this morning as I had learnt my lesson yesterday and had a bit of a dodgy tummy this morning. Not sure if it was nerves, a change in the water, or just the fact that I was worried about whether I'd survive the day. I've never walked 2 days in a row before and I wasn't sure how I'd cope.
However, I didn't seem to be suffering any aches or pains from yesterday's walk so I had my fingers crossed that everything would be OK today.
Headed out on the drive into Settle and arrived in good time to meet everyone at the designated meet point (outside The Naked Man Cafe) at about 9.45am. We were expecting a good turn out today and we weren't to be disappointed. Apparently, 27 people and 1 dog is something of a record for a WF Forum Meet and....me being the anti-social old git that I am - it seemed I had 'jumped in at the deep end' with this being my first Forum Meet :-)
By this time, we had encountered a few showers this morning but I think we were all hopeful that the showers had now passed over and that the weather would improve for the day ahead. Positive thinking from everyone obviously helped as we didn't get rained on again. In fact, the first part of the walk was completed in very warm, muggy weather conditions.
Todays walk was quite a bit gentler than yesterdays but, of course, it still started with a climb out of Settle as we wended our way towards Stainforth.
Following the warm, sticky start to the walk, we arrived at the Hoffman Kiln and it was rather nice to enter the cool structure for a bit of a look around.
From here we had a bit of a long, steep pull up to Catrigg Force, meeting a hedgehog on the way....
We headed back up to the top of the waterfall to stop for a refreshment break...
Refreshment break completed, we headed on our way to Jubilee Cave...
....where a few of the group decided to look for geocache treasure....
Our next destination was Victoria Cave and I took a few pics along the way. I decided not to venture up to this one as it looked as though it might be a bit of scramble down (ok - I wimped out a bit but it was really warm!)
It was at this point that the large group split up. Some decided to head straight back down to Settle as they had long journeys home and some decided to head up Warrendale Knott to look at the views. It was well worth the effort :-)
This was my kind of hill! Grassy slopes both on the ascent and descent. A few of the group decided to make the most of the grassy slopes and proceeded to descend my means of the 'bumslide' technique. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of this. I was obviously in awe and too dumbstruck to think about getting my camera out lol :-)
Anway, we continued on our route and headed for Scalebar Force. (Unfortunately a rather boring there and back road walk to get to this but I love waterfalls so I was glad that we included it in the walk - sorry to anyone else who thought this an unnecessary addition)
From here, we headed back into Settle and we all finished our walk with either a 'swift half' or an ice cream.
Another brilliant days walking in the most enjoyable company and, although the soles of my feet were aching from the bit of road walking we encountered, I was quite impressed at myself for managing to complete 2 days walking in a row without feeling too many ill-effects :-)
Hey Yvonne it was great to read this a few weeks after the event and relive the walk :)
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