Day 6: The Gargrave Kidnapping!

August 1, 2024: It rained during the night--and it sounded like it rained quite hard! But it didn't matter, because I was snug in the summerhouse lodging. By morning, the rain had stopped, so I hit the trail dry and feeling well.

The first two miles of trail led over a small hump of a hill, then the next four miles got us over another hump of a hill that was twice as high. The high point of that second hump, Pinhaw Beacon, had a COVID-19 memorial, the first permanent memorial I'd ever heard of much less seen in remembrance of that awful mess.

The monument on the right was the typical one located at the top of pretty much every hill in this country, but the rock monument on the left was the COVID-19 memorial. I'm checking out the guidebook, looking at the route ahead.

The morning started overcast and gloomy, but the weather cleared up over the passing hours until it was mostly sunny with a few clouds. Rather pleasant to look at, but it felt horribly humid after the rain during the night. All the water in the ground felt like it now hovered in the air, and I sweated bullets walking through the terrain.

We took a short break under some trees in Thornton-in-Craven, along a residential street where the house on the opposite side of the street was undergoing renovations when one of the construction workers there noticed us and walked over asking if we wanted tea or to have our water bottles refilled. Genuine trail magic!

Karolina was thrilled about the tea and accepted the tea offer. The construction worker said he saw lots of hikers passing by (really? Because we've seen almost nobody!), but most of the time, they seemed angry or mad. We, he told us, had smiles and seemed like we were having fun. Probably only because he caught us sitting down in the shade and relaxing rather than hiking up a steep hill in the sun in the humidity! But I didn't tell him that. =)

This was the site of the first real, unexpected trail magic, as we rested in the shade under these trees and a construction worker across the street offered to refill our water bottles and get us some tea. =)

 

Anyhow, we eventually continued onward, soon reaching the Liverpool-Leeds Canal. My flight out of the country was out of Leeds, and I thought of the idea that I could literally just walk to the airport from here! I wasn't going to, but I liked the idea that I could. =)

The section along the canal was, once again, wonderfully flat and easy. I really need to do more canal walks!

The Liverpool-Leeds Canal was very flat and easy!

 

We stopped for another substantial break at East Marton, where the guidebook promised that "bacon sandwiches await" at Abbots Harbour--so it was enormously disappointing when we arrived to discover that the store was only open on Friday, Saturday and Sundays--not Thursday, which is what day of the week it was now. Why did the guidebook not mention that the place was closed more than half the week?!

However, as a consolation prize, they did provide an honesty box that included a mini fridge with cold drinks and snacks that we could feast on--which we did! But I was still a bit disappointed that I couldn't get a real sandwich.

I was very disappointed to discover that Abbots Harbour was closed for the day.

Well rested, we pushed onward to Gargrave and the goal for the day. This time, the goal was a little more concrete than it was most days because it was here, today, that we planned to meet up with Dilton Martian, a fellow I'd exchanged messages with on and off for over a decade but had never met in person since he always lived in England.

I texted Dilton Martian, or Martin as far as real names go, that we were in East Marton and our expected arrival time in Gargrave. Karolina started pooping out near the end of the day and needed a break on a bench within view of the church in Gargrave, which I could see rising above the trees in town. When we continued walking, she was surprised at how close we were to town and complained that she could have made it the rest of the way without a break had she realized that the town was so close. "But you could literally see it right there!" I said, pointing to the looming church tower.

I could see the church tower in Gargrave nearly an hour before we actually arrived in town

It wasn't a big deal, however, and I spotted Martin walking in our direction as we walked into town. I recognized him immediately, not the least because he was wearing a scout uniform which seemed oddly out of place in the town. He actually lives hours and hours away in the southern part of England, but happened to be camping for the past week or so about an hour drive away for some sort of large scout gathering jamboree.

Anyhow, even from a distance, I could tell he was wearing a scout uniform and knew that that must be him. He was walking with some obvious discomfort, which hadn't come as a surprise to me since he had originally told me that he hoped to walk with us for a bit when I first emailed him about being in England but that he was overcoming an injury of some sort and wouldn't be able to, but at the very least, he still wanted to meet up while I was in the area, and--if we were interested--he would take us to the scout camp overnight and return us to the trail in the morning. Karolina was positively thrilled with that idea, although I had concerns about leaving so far from the trail. I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take us to get back to the trail tomorrow, although fortunately, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really matter all that much, so why not? It's part of the adventure!

Dilton Martian and I finally meet!

We quickly went through the greetings on the sidewalk, and we told Martin that we wanted to make a quick visit to the Co-op for ice cream and cold drinks, so Martin said he'd get his vehicle and drive it to the Co-op to meet us. Sounded like a good plan, and we briefly parted ways.

At the Co-op, Karolina and I filled up with cold drinks and a little ice cream and when Martin drove up, we piled into the vehicle for the ride back to the scout camp somewhere near Ripon. Martin also handed us a brand new Sawyer Squeeze filter. Yes! We had a working filter again! Our water problems were finally over! I paid Martin for the filter and thanked him profusely for his help.

Back at the scout camp, it was a considerably larger affair than I had realized with people from all over the country set up there. Seemingly hundreds of people, with young boys and girls running around everywhere. A few of them approached Martin about various issues--it seemed like everyone knew who Martin was.

He led us to the dinner tent where they fed us, then led us to an enormous tent at the edge of the campsite that Karolina and I could use for the night. Whoever used the tent before had left and they were going to dismantle it before Martin stopped them and made it available for us. The tent was the size of a small apartment, and we weren't sure what to do with all the space!

Later in the evening, we headed out to the campfire where everyone gathered in the increasing darkness and made some announcements as well as singing songs. Karolina and I didn't really know any of them, although I recognized the tune for a couple of them--but the words were different than from what I had heard before.

Martin let Karolina try on this outfit filled with patches. Can you find the AQ patch?! (It's on there! But I have to admit, I don't think it's visible from this side.)

It was all very entertaining, though, and after it was over, we headed back to the tent for the night to get some sleep.

Another exciting day was done!

Taking a break. Whenever there's a bench, you should always take a short break!

I'm glad the eggs are free-range, but what about the chickens?! Seems more important to worry about free-range chickens than free-range eggs!

Sheep are everywhere... but cattle we didn't see quite so often! They definitely existed, but definitely not in the same numbers that the sheep did, so I always had to take photos of the cattle when I saw them.

View looking down on Lothersdale

I'm pretty sure this is just water--not actually alcohol for your pooch! ;o)

COVID-19 Memorial

I had to take a photo of this stone telling us to "please keep to the Pennine Way" marker, since it was actually located about a dozen steps off the Pennine Way and required walking OFF trail in order to take the photo!

Yeah, yeah, I'm real scared....

This tuck shop had cold drinks and snacks that passing hikers could buy!

I'm not really sure what the purpose of this double-decker bridge along the Liverpool-Leeds Canal was , but it was interesting to look at.

Leeds was just 38.5 miles away! Liverpool... just another 89 miles in the other direction. Sounds like a nice trail, but maybe another time.... For now, we'll just have to enjoy the short section that overlaps the Pennine Way.

Fun fact: the wool on this sheep will be used for a blue coat. You can tell from the blue spot on its butt! (I'm totally making all of that up, but if you believed it, there's a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying....)

The Gargrave Co-op