Day 37 Todmorden to Cowling (500 mile mark reached)

 

Garry started off walking along the Rochdale Canal towards Callis Bridge to meet Tom, son of Veg (Phil), who walked with us a couple of weeks ago. 

  

Once they met, Tom's local knowledge was very useful showing him how to get up and out of the valley. In no time, they were up onto Heptonstall Moor. They passed three reservoirs in quick succession, all built  to supply the Manchester area with drinking water. 

They continued climbing over Wadsworth Moor, in and out of a few squally showers. 

Then they went over to Haworth Mooor, where they met me, Vicki and Mark. We had had an eventful journey after discovering two different closed roads and needing to find diversionary routes, which included me waiting for a herd of cows to pass by the refuge of my parking space. We walked along the Pennine Way in the opposite way to Garry and Tom.

We all had lunch a little further on, at Withins Height. This was the inspiration for Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. We had another musical accompaniment courtesy of Tom and his friend, Kate.

A little further along the path, Garry reached 500 miles walked , so a another mini celebration with musical accompaniment was had. 

         

After a couple of miles, we all arrived back at Ponden reservoir, where me and Alfie parted company and drove towards the end point. Vicki and Mark continued walking for 30 minutes and then turned back to head towards their AirBnB. 

Garry and Tom headed over Oakworth Moor, a bleak moor with the heaviest rain of the day. They then headed back down onto a wooded valley, following a stream to Ickornshaw.

    

We passed through the counties of Lancashire, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire during the day today, with walking and some driving to accommodation.

A big thank you to Tom, whose local knowledge was both interesting and valuable.

One of Garry's longest walks today with some significant climbing. Well done that man!

Tomorrow is the last day walking with Vicki and Mark before they head home. The walk is from Cowling to Gargrave.