DAY
2 - Hawes to Thwaite
Monday 26th
March 2007
10.02miles
7h 49m
Slept reasonably well and away just before 10:00am. Stocked up at the
Spar shop in Hawes and off again by 10:15am. It was still quite misty,
less wind than yesterday but promising to turn out fine. The first
section out of Hawes was relatively uninteresting with some short
stretches of road. Then we climbed fairly steeply up to the ridge
leading up Great Shunner Fell. From her on it was a plod up a
relatively gentle slope on a good track and later some paved sections.
We met a group of 3 (2boys, 1 girl) doing a couple of days walking.
They all had HUGE rucksacks - one was I reckon over 20kg and the other
possibly 30kg. They were intending to camp out in bivvy bags so I hope
they had good sleeping bags as the temperature at night drops to around
freezing.
Saw a dead black rabbit today for a change!! Stopped for a break in the
shelter of an old quarry. The sun was shining but there was still a
cold easterly breeze. Reached the top at around 2:00pm (just as two
people moved off) and had lunch in the shelter of the walls on the
summit. A couple form Derbyshire arrived and had their lunch. They had
come up from Hawes and were returning to there. After they departed two
lads arrived from Muker and were also gong back the same way. We left
before them but they later overtook us Saw curlews, plovers and frogs
in abundance. It was and easy walk down and we stopped about
1½mile short of Thwaite and fell asleep on the grass in the sun.
Eventually we arrived at the small hotel at about 5:30pm. We found our
room had a bath = what luxury and just what tired limbs require. The
meal (3 courses + coffee) was include in the price and can only be
described as excellent. By 9:30pm we were in bed.