I woke just after 0600, and turned over to try to go back to sleep for a while. I couldn't sleep, though, so I made a coffee and settled back to enjoy the entirely unaccustomed luxury of lounging around in bed whilst watching the television, something I don't get to do even at home :-) Breakfast was at 0830, and the eggs turned out to be free range so I was able to have poached eggs on toast. Yum!
When I first got up I found my left foot hurting on the top, and when I took a closer look I found it was bruised. I realised I must have pulled something when I went head over heels the day before, and hoped it wasn't going to become a significant problem.
I left the White Lion about 0930, and set off for the Post Office to send some redundant things home. I'd not been using the filter coffees or the Balloon Bed, and so I sent them back with my second reading book. After that I went to buy my lunch, and was entirely spoiled for choice by an enormous array of interesting shops selling organic and vegetarian food. In the end I opted for a cheese pie from the local bakery, as well as a hand-made hummous, beetroot, cucumber and lettuce roll from one of the lovely shops. I made a visit to the chemist to get some more painkillers for my aching feet and various other protesting body parts, and then to the library to check my email, hoping for contact from home. By the time I'd done all of that it was after 11am, and I had to wait until about 1145am before I could get a bus back to the route. I met another walker at the bus stop, and we chatted until my bus arrived.
It was lovely to have had a mini-break in Hebden Bridge, which was just about the most interesting place I visited in the whole, long journey, but deferring the start of the walk until 12 noon was pretty short-sighted. I'd been planning to walk to Lothersdale that day - almost 13.5 miles - and at an average of just under 2 miles per hour it was clearly going to be pretty late by the time I got there. In fact, I soon managed to make things even worse by losing my way on the (very steep) climb out of Hebden Bridge over the hill. I didn't go seriously wrong, but it made me even later than when I'd started out.
My lateness then dogged me throughout the whole of the day's walk. I just couldn't get going properly, and by not very late in the day I was revising my plan and considering a stop at Ponden rather than Lothersdale, as is suggested in the OS Guide. The weather was also pretty difficult. Twice I got out of my waterproof jacket and down to a T shirt in hot sun, but on each occasion monsoon-like rain started again very soon afterwards, and eventually it just became easier to walk in full waterproofs all the time, just in case.
At Colden I took a small detour to the left in order to visit the famous "Aladdin's Cave" shop where it's apparently possible for PW walkers to find absolutely anything they might want or need, and it was indeed pretty amazing! Whilst there I had a mug of coffee, and rang Ponden House to confirm availability and ask for directions. It sounded from the Accommodation Guide like an extremely sophisticated campsite, and certainly the best available for that night. I had a rather confusing conversation with someone there who kept insisting that the house was north of Ponden Reservoir, and so I eventually set off unsure about how I was going to be able to find it, because the Ponden House marked on the OS map is clearly to the south. I thought perhaps there were two. In any event, it was good to know that there would eventually be a hot shower and drying facilities as long as I could find the site. I decided I could ring later for futher instructions, if lost.
The moors began again just after Colden...
...but soon they gave way to yet another reservoir, this time at Walshaw Dean. I've never seen so many reservoirs in my whole life as I saw on this trip! In fact, I hadn't realised there were so many reservoirs in the whole country...
The weather had been temporarily ok as I approached the reservoirs, and indeed some hot sun had actually showed up and I'd struggled out of my waterproof jacket and fleecy thing once again, but as I got down to the water I felt a few spots of rain, and within 30 seconds I was engulfed again in an absolute torrent. I tried to take shelter at one stage under some hawthorns at the side of the track, but the rain was relentless and so I realised I'd better press on. Interestingly, though, the deluge brought out a swarm of tiny frogs along the path, and I had to take care where I was putting my feet.
I missed the start of the path as I embarked upon the moor that led up to Top Withins, and spent about 30 minutes staggering around from tussock to tussock, afraid that I was about to break an ankle. Eventually I saw where I was meant to be, though, and from then my progress was quicker. Top Withins, said to have been the house that Emily Bronte had in mind when she described the location of Wuthering Heights, finally appeared. I'd been very much looking forward to seeing it again. At about 5.30pm it came into view in the near distance, partially sheltered by a couple of trees. It was certainly remote, and would clearly be very bleak indeed in the depths of winter.
I passed the other Ponden campsite on the descent to the reservoir, and was so tired by that stage that I was very tempted to stop. However, I continued with the prospect of shower, drying facilities and other cosy comforts in mind. Again I managed to miss the correct path, this time just towards the bottom, and so added an unnecessary kilometer or so to my journey. Deep gloom began to set in...
Eventually, though, I arrived at Ponden House just before 7pm, heaved a sigh of relief and banged on the door, only to be told that there were no shower or drying facilities. The description in the Pennine Way Accommodation Guide was inaccurate (not the only time that happened in relation to campsites). The camping field was at the bottom of a steep, muddy hill, and the midges were second in ferocity only to those I'd encountered at Crowden. The toilet on the field was an open hole in the ground, a short distance from my tent. I understand that there was a toilet with a sink back up at the top of the muddy hill, but I never managed to find them. These were the worst camping conditions I experienced on the whole trip.
Dave from Crowden was also down on the field. He told me that he and two others had ordered a taxi to go to the pub, and that it was due in 5 minutes or so. I said I'd never manage to erect the tent and get changed in that time, but he urged me to have a go, and realising how knackered and hungry I was I decided simply to put up the tent, chuck some clean clothes into a plastic bag, grab my money and get washed and changed at the pub. I flung up the tent as quickly as possible, pushing tent pegs through nettly undergrowth with one hand whilst attempting to brush off the midges with the other, grabbed my bag of clean T shirt, pants and sandals and set off, sweating, back up the hill. In the taxi at the top I found Ian, from the day before, as well as Stephen, whom I'd not previously met, and all 4 of us set off for the pub.
The pub was great! We ordered dinner, and I then sneaked off to the loo for a surreptitious wash before changing into cleaner clothing and out of my boots. I think I had my first mushroom stroghanoff of the trip, and I remember it was nice and that the staff were friendly. Afterwards we got the taxi back to Ponden, and I crawled into my tent to inflate the Thermarest and unfurl my sleeping bag. The tent felt damp, and I lay around waiting to sleep, and making plans for a very early start.
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