Walk #34: Ponden to East Marton


ZX21 My view of the eclipse, taken near High Stubbing Farm in Cowling.		ZX23 Moorland looking northwards from Pinhaw Beacon near Thornton-in-Craven.

General Data

Date Walked	11/08/1999
County	West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire
Start Location	Ponden
End Location	East Marton
Start time	08.00
End time	16.15
Distance	13.4 miles
Description	This was a highly pleasant walk, the high point being some superb views from the top of Pinhaw Beacon.
Pack	Today I carried full camping gear.
Condition	My legs are fine, and my feet are fine. My back, however, is agony. After one very good day, this afternoon after lunch in Lothersdale it became very, very bad. It is perhaps almost as bad as it was after the second day.
Weather	Today started off cloudy, but after lunch it became much brighter with perhaps about 50% of the sky cloudy. The best day so far.
OS map	Outdoor Leisure number 21 (South Pennines)

Map of the walk

Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please let me have comments on what you think of this new format. For a detailed table of timings for this walk, please see the table file.

Notes

Today was quite a reasonable day. An early start from Ponden allowed me to get to Lothersdale by mid-day. Since I did not have much tea last night or this morning I stopped of at the pub, and the meal I had at Lothersdale came in very handy.

The highlight of the day was the spectacular view from the top of Pinhaw Beacon. I will definitely have to go up there again some day for another look. The views came as a complete surprise, and I was amazed to see a long way across North Yorkshire to the high hills.

By the time that I finished I was glad to have yet another day under my belt, with the knowledge that another day will come easily. I await with trepidation the Pen-y-ghent section, which promises to be strenuous, but I am also quite looking forward to it.

My confidence is still fairly high, and I believe that I could still finish if my back can heal. I hold a fair bit of hope of this, as my lower back which was causing me trouble earlier in the walk is now okay, and hopefully the same thing will happen to my upper back.

There has been a great deal of media hype over the total eclipse that took place in Cornwall this morning. I got a reasonable few glances at it when the clouds parted, but I was far too far north to get anything like totality. I took a photo of the eclipse right at the end, and when many clouds were out. It will probably be just a blur of cloud.

My back is *very* bad. It became bad coming down from Pinhaw Beacon. I am starting to believe that the initial damage was done by the incorrectly fitted pack, but the new irritation is being caused by sweat. The initial damage was on the lower part of my back, and that is now okay. The new pain is from my middle back between my shoulders and my waist.

I will have to do something about this. There is a chemists in Cargrave and I will call in there tomorrow on the short day and see if they can give me anything for it, e.g. some wide bandages / plasters / strapping. If it does not improve I do not fancy my chances much for the Penyghent section the day after next.

Directions

I am not going to bother giving any directions for any of the stages of the Pennine Way; there are many route descriptions produced that will better anything that I could produce. The main guides I used were the OS National Trail Guides, which come complete with strip maps of the route. Click on one of the links below to go to the Amazon page for each guide.


National Trail Guide South		National Trail Guide North

Distances

From	To	Distance (m)	Ascent (ft)	Descent (ft)
Ponden	Cowling	5.6	1010	1207
Cowling	Thornton-in-Craven	6.2	1322	1509
Thornton-in-Craven	East Marton	1.6	243	210

This makes a total distance of 13.4 miles, with 2575 feet of ascent and 2926 feet of descent.

For more information on profiles, ascents and descents, see this page

Disclaimer

Please note that I take no responsibility for anything that may happen when following these directions. If you intend to follow this route, then please use the relevant maps and check the route out before you go out. As always when walking, use common sense and you should be fine.

If you find any information on any of these routes that is inaccurate, or you wish to add anything, then please email me.

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And finally, enjoy your walking!

This walk was mentioned in the following routes:

My sectional Land's End to John O'Groats walk

My Pennine Way Walk, 07th to 26th August 1999