Hebden to Malham
Hebden seemed quiet on Saturday morning but storm clouds were gathering to the West and it was ominously colder than the previous week. Some had even forgotten their waterproofs! After a lingering coffee in the Old School Tea Room it was off toward Grassington. Mike’s first challenge was to negotiate the stepping stones across the Wharfe, only three succeeded but at the cost of wet feet and trackies. Several runners reached midstream where the river was flowing fastest completely covering the stepping
stones so they retreated hurriedly before enjoying an involuntary swim.
The brave, and now wet, runners were reunited with their more cautious companions to pass through Grassington, picking up the Dales Way over the Moors to Conistone Dib. By now it was raining hard, the wind had a significant chill factor and to make matters worse our Chair had endued a sprained Achilles on the first hint of uphill! Any thought of warm Spring sunshine was dispelled on the 9 mile route to Kettlewell where we arrived wet and cold. However spirits lifted with the refreshments supplied by the waiting Ros and Sue.
Resisting the temptation to linger in the hostelries was hard but pressing on was necessary to cross Old Cote Moor to Arncliffe. The initial ascent from Kettlewell is steep and rocky, it was impressive to watch the master of fell running, Gary Bastow, take the rocky scramble at running pace! The mortals among us could only walk this section. More support at Arncliffe for, by now, the totally wet runners was received with relief.
The summit of Middle House Hill (481m) was an opportunity to appreciate the horizontal rain, swirling mist and relentless head wind before the long descent to Malham Tarn. I have never seen such waves here before! Before the tarn we lost Laura but being a resourceful Ripon Runner she headed due South, picking up the tarmac road straight into Malham thus grabbing the showers before most of us had managed to navigate the famous limestone pavements above Malham Cove. Oddly this section was quite unrunable as the limestone slabs were lethally slippery after the rain. The sun finally emerged for our final mile to the hostel.
Hostels have much improved and Malham was excellent on all accounts, food and accommodation although the bunk bedded, double rooms proved quite a contortionists challenge to the couples who occupied them! Malham has two excellent pubs wherein the day’s wet epic rapidly became part of Ripon Runners folk lore, helped no doubt by the strip poker encouraged by Bruce. Trouble was that participants didn’t understand the rules and more clothes were put on than taken off!
Sunday’s return to Hebden was made easier by better weather so the group split into two, the walkers choosing a 10 mile route and the runners 13 miles as they took in Burnsall before following Burnsall Lane into Hebden village. I think to most people’s relief there were no high, wind swept moors on this day.
Did we loose anyone else? Well Steve Smith was signed up for the weekend but was never seen at the start nor since; it is rumoured that he is still navigating Old Cote Moor.
Verdict? Well it was such a success that we are all waiting for Mike’s next planned weekend run. Finally our thanks go to Mike Pennock for his route planning, his wife Ros and Sue Grundy for providing support. Also to Cynthia for Saturdays luggage transfer and John Bull for Sunday’s transport.