I was awake just before 6am, I didn't get a great sleep thanks to the person in the bunk below me moving about so much during the night, I hoped Malham hostel wouldn't be as busy and I could get a bottom bunk. I left the hostel about 6:45am, thankfully the rain had gone during the night and it was dry, although the ground and paths were quite wet still. The bus that I'd thought about getting back to nearer the start was still an hour away so I headed off and decided to join the Bronte Way so I'd miss out the tarmac and hills from the previous day. The walk back near Top Withins would be a joy compared to the slog yesterday afternoon and just over an hour later, I was back where I had left the path the previous day.
Today started with better scenery than the usual moors I had seen on previous days as I rounded Ponden Reservoir and up to the Wolfstones where thankfully the wolves must all have still been sleeping. It was here I passed a walker, I would only see 2 more walkers all day despite the fact that I'd end up walking nearly 29 miles thanks to my miscalculation from the previous day. The extra mileage played on my mind as the up's and down's of the morning seemed to go on and on over fields and moorland which was a bit on the softer side thanks to the amount of rain that had fallen previously so by the time I reached Cowling I was ready for a break, luckily there was a nice shelter by the road so I made myself comfortable in it for a break.
Plenty of up's and down's continued through Lothersdale before eventually I reached Thornton in Craven where I found another seat beside the busy road and had a break. I had originally hoped to get into Gargrave about lunchtime but with the extra 8 miles today it meant I was going to get there nearer 3pm.
A bit of canal walking and farmland followed but the rain started just as I approached Gargrave so I decided that to head into a pub to have a pub meal and a sit down, I had walked about 21 miles and still had about 8 miles to go. I decided to have a main meal here and then get a few things from the shop in Gargrave to have later on for tea instead of heading back out after reaching the hostel.
The walk between Gargrave and Malham is probably very nice on a warm, dry summers day but today it was miserable, the fields being saturated with not only the recent rain but the rain today which was getting heavier all the time, making the going pretty soft underfoot as it passed through field after field and following a stream to Airton, more soggy fields would continue to Malham.
I was wet and miserable by the time I reached the hostel but at least it wasn't busy and I was glad to get a bottom bunk. I put my wet gear in the drying room, got changed and just let my feet and legs recover, hoping that they would still be ok in the morning as it was another long day ahead of me and quite a bit of ascent. I didn't mind too much though as I'd done this part of the walk before and I knew what to expect, which I was hoping would help, I also hoped that my boots might dry out before the morning.
I had stayed at Malham youth hostel a couple of times before but never on wet days, I then found out that the drying room was in another building so if I wanted to put my boots in the drying room it meant taking them off in the drying room and walking back in my socks to the main building, which seems stupid. It also meant that in the morning I'd be putting socks on to then have to go to the drying room for my boots which would mean the socks getting wet in the process. Malham hostel has 3 buildings, the third of the buildings being the self catering kitchen, it would help if everything was in one building.
