Day 15: Heptonstall to The Carriage House

Wonderful night's sleep in a comfy bed. But still wake early, and update the blog. The smell of breakfast wafting upstairs is just mmmmm.

Breakfast is as great, I don't know how Jen manages to keep her fried potato cakes in one piece, without sticking to the pan. Easily the best breakfast of the walk, and possibly for a long time.

We eventually manage to leave, into a cool dampish morning. Philippa is sticking with us for a bit this morning.  Jen has made us sandwiches and we are well supplied with cake and scones.

So there is no need to go into Hebden Bridge for supplies and we take a lovely wooded path that gradually descends to Mytholm

We walk along the canal to rejoin the Way. No-one seems to be about, not even dog walkers. I try to talk to a bloke removing moss from by a lock, but he is the epitome of taciturn and reveals little.

Having dropped down to the valley, we now have to climb back out up the other side. Nice wooded paths here still

Our initial target is Stoodley Pike. This monument commemorates the Peace of Ghent and the abdication of Napoleon in 1814. As we emerge from the shelter of the trees we are walking into a strong cold wind. We phone Geoff from the Pike so that we can wave to each other across the valley.

Philippa leaves us and we commence what will be a long flattish walk across cold windswept moorland. We put on all of our layers but still not warm. On the plus side the paths are very good. There is little to photograph. There is little in the way of shelter from the wind, but we eventually find a suitable place sitting on the stones of the Light Hazzles Reservoir dam. Nice sandwiches Jen! Great bread. After lunch we meet two separate PW walkers in quick succession. They are both doing the trail in sections, as working life prevents them from devoting the time required for a single journey. Both are destined for Gargrave and might just meet up with each other. One had camped at the Carriage House the previous night, our destination for tonight. It had been closed. He had gone into Marsden for food and taken a bottle of wine back to drink on the pub steps

Heading towards Blackstone Edge I feel on familiar home ground.

Manchester is in the distance and I feel that I am nearly home.

We cross the iconic M62 footbridge. I feel some sadness at remembering the times that Sue and I used to walk in these parts.

The detritus of urban life briefly intrudes at Windy Hill.

But we are soon plodding across wide open moorland on excellent paths. The view into Yorkshire is bright and clear. The view into Manchester is dark and murky.
It is starring to get dark as we reach Standedge and our turn off for the Carriage House. I am worried about the strong winds and whether there will be any shelter. As I always like to have a plan B and C We look for alternative sites as we approach the pub. We pass the spoil heaps and air shafts for the Standedge rail tunnels and there us a suitable spot in the shelter of the very imposing air shaft building.
We arrive at the pub and survey its campsite. There is one sheltered spot nestled against the pub wall.
We go in. It is rather lifeless and feels little warmer than outside. We meet another PWer who is staying inside the pub – but at 10 times the cost. I think he is rather appalled at the mere thought of sleeping in a tent.
We have a Turkish themed evening and order the Turkish banquet for two. I have to light the candle on the table in an attempt to create a tiny bit of atmosphere. The owners have sold the place and it will soon be another ex-pub.
At 9 a pair of runners come in for a post run beer. Some life at last. We chat. They are impressed by our venture, we are impressed by their night-time fell running, and one of them has run the Bob Graham Round. So we form a sort of mutual admiration society, ‘hats off to you....’....’no, hats off to you’
Drink up and go out to pitch tent. The wind has shifted to the south and our sheltered spot is no more. This is not as per forecast. Do we move and risk the wind changing again or stick with the first site. We stick to the site at the back wall.
Distance walked today: 16 miles
Total distance walked: 244 miles
Distance left: 26 miles

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