The rain continued into the night but at some point it stopped because when I poked my head out of the tent door at 5am I could see Pen-y-Ghent across the valley. I made a start on breakfast right away to try and get underway before the rain came back. I managed to get the tent down and on my way by 7am but the cloud and rain was faster than me. Once again I was climbing through the wet mist in full waterproofs. I set off NE, following the wall and aiming for the trig point. It wasn’t on the wall line but I could just see it at the limit of my visibility. As I set off to investigate I looked back and saw another similar trig point like outline over the wall.

Morning view of Pen-y-Ghent.

The gate post at Horse Head Pass

The wall was too high to investigate so I left it and re-joined my route ahead. The grass was horribly wet and I was soon walking in squelchy socks, at least the wind wasn't too bad. In good weather this must be a spectacular walk but there was only a sheep track to follow, indicating that few walkers come this way. The wall was the only guide I had and I often wonder about the men who built the thousands of miles of these magnificent monuments. Now, when a piece of wall falls down after centuries of no maintenance, all the landowner can do is put up wire fences. Repairing a wall is beyond the skill of most these days. I’d made the right decision to camp where I did yesterday because when I arrived at my planned camp of Robin Hood’s Well I couldn’t see anything over the wall.

I didn't venture inside the church but hope to someday. After another stretch of easy road walking I arrived in Buckden. The village green looked nice and the two seats were a good spot to sit for a while.

St Michael's Church, Hubberholme.

The village store in Buckden

The shop was picturesque and I thought I’d take a photo. Just as I'd taken it a very angry man burst out from the shop and demanded to know what I was doing. I was stood there with a camera in my hand and thought my actions were obvious to anyone with an IQ of greater than one. I told him I was taking photos, 'What are you taking them for?' he asked. Now I was annoyed at his rudeness. Stupid and rude must be a local problem. He returned to the comfort of his local shop and I walked on. At the car park I saw the bus and spoke with the driver for a while. He had one passenger and apologised for not being able to chat longer but he had to be on his way as he had a timetable to maintain.

I took the old quarry track that runs diagonally up the dale side. At the top I followed a deteriorating track that took me up the Buckden Beck valley side to the old disused Buckden Lead Mine. The entrance to the mine was a stone arch and surprisingly wasn’t blocked off. I climbed steeply up and came to a rough path that I followed to the summit of Buckden Pike. I’d planned to camp here but there was no decent water to be found. Just a couple of ditches with shallow black water. I had a quick look at the eroding trig point and returned along the ridge heading south. I came to a memorial cross but because of wind and rain couldn't take a decent photo. Still no water was to be seen so I carried on. I hadn't descended too far when I came across a ditch with rainwater draining into it. The ground was reasonably flat so I decided to pitch my tent. The rain began to fall even heavier and I just got into the tent as the weather took another turn for the worse.

The memorial was erected in 1973 in memory of
five Polish R.A.F. airmen who died here
on 31st Jan 1942. There was one survivor.