The weather deteriorated during the night. It sounded like rain but turned out to be snow. I'd got good shelter from the wind but when I woke the inside of the tent was 30mm deep in water. But thankfully not the groundsheet. There was thick cloud and swirling snow as I tried to pack the tent away. It was very difficult as my fingers hardly worked in the cold and the plastic under sheet was black with peat as I wrenched it from the snow and water mix. I was thankful to sling my pack on and head for the snow plastered wall in the near whiteout. There was enough daylight now as I'd delayed my start till 8am. I followed the wall north then just kept going when the wall turned left. A light covering of wet snow was everywhere and no path to be seen. I continued using my compass until the main path appeared. It was quite wet and slippery as I descended to the Craven Way track at Boot of the Wold.

A snowy Craven Way.

Dent village centre.

I turned left and followed the track, first along the flat, then down off the fell. The difficult going was far from over as the track was in an appalling condition. I had to negotiate snow, deep ruts and running water as a huge amount of drainage seemed to coming off the fell. I was now below the cloud and Dentdale appeared below me. The last stretch of track was very steep and slippery. I made it to Dyke Hall Lane without incident then wandered on along the road towards Dent village. My problems were not over. A stretch of road was flooded to quite a depth and the only way past was to traverse a gate then climb along the top of the stone wall. There were a few people about as I reached the village and I took my time through the narrow cobbled streets.

The weather was still dark and overcast but the rain had stopped. Through the village I took the left road to Gawthrop and continued along the narrow lane above the River Dee. A few more stretches of road were flooded and the river was very high. I'm not sure when the deluge was that created these conditions but last nights snow didn't seem heavy enough. At Brackenswood I left the road and walked down towards the ford across the river and crossed by the footbridge. The narrow track on the other side was awash with water.

Lane by the river Dee.

Waterlogged fields by Brackenswood

IAt the road I turned left and followed it to Rash where I turned right into the fields and followed the path to a higher green track which took me to Millthrop and the road again. Over the bridge I was soon into Sedbergh which was quite busy for a dull Sunday afternoon. After a brief call into the Spar shop I headed through Lockbank Farm and part way up onto the Howgills to find a tent pitch. This time without the mud. Unfortunately the rain started again.