Jeri’s Steps: 41,097
Miles walked: 16.1
Elevation: 2,519
Pints: 2
Churches: none
Stiles: 13
Benches: 1

We started Day Four of the Pennine Way walking up a cobbled street in Heptonstall northwest towards Slack and High Gate. We had to visit May’s shop; a place where you can pretty much get everything you need and a Pennine Way legend. We got Eccles cakes, Minstrels, ibuprofen gel, Qtips and the latest copy of Private Eye, in other words all our needs were catered for.  Then we ascended a short hill up onto Heptonstall Moor and after a series of boggy paths rejoined the Pennine Way near Clough Head Hill. After dipping in and out of the little valley of Graining Water we stopped for our snack and chatted with a family of four who were wild camping a short section of the Way. Although we enjoyed our camping in Cornwall we reflected on the fact that getting to a room at the end of the day with a shower or bath and a nice warm bed is worth the upgrade! 

More reservoirs appeared; Walshaw Dean Lower and Upper and once again it was pleasant walking. We disturbed some grouse from the heather and they shot up in alarm, seemingly crying ‘grouse, grouse’ or something that sounded like that. Then the path struck uphill towards Withens Height and the literary highlight of the day, Top Withens. Over the brow of the hill, near a very photogenic tree are the ruins here of an old farmhouse. There is an plaque set into the wall making it very clear that the house was not the one described in the novel.

So it appears that these are not the ruins of the fictional place in Emily Bronte’s novel. We sat on a rough wooden bench set against the wall of the nonfictional ruins and enjoyed the view east to Haworth as we ate our sandwiches. Then we took a long descent down to Ponden reservoir followed by the inevitable climb back up to Ickornshaw Moor. We are now used to this familiar routine; instead of endless small fields and woods as might be found in Devon or Somerset with stiles, gates, roads, tracks, paths and high hedgerows, here in the South Pennines you approach a moor, begin a steady climb in open country with 360 degree views and plod steadily upwards until you reach an unclear summit after which you descend gradually into a valley. And before you know it you’ve walked 5 or 6 miles.

From the top we got our first glimpse of Pen-Y-Ghent, about 30 miles to the north. We ‘look forward’ to climbing it at some point soon. The final part of the walk down to Cowling was somewhat fraught as we decided to take a shortcut and descended a steep bank crossing two streams, so wet feet ensued. Then the footpath exit to the road was nowhere to be found. We realized we would miss our meeting point with the taxi at 6:00pm so we had to call to delay. This is just a long winded way to say we were forced to take refuge in the Bay Horse Inn drinking Theakston’s Old Peculiar whilst waiting for our ride.

For those of you concerned with 1/2 pints there are a number of things you should know. An Imperial pint is 20 imperial oz or 570 milliliters. An American pint is 16 (US) fluid ounces or 470 milliliters. Sometimes 1/2 pint is enough.