Walk Description

An early start  saw Simon, Beth, Steve and me heading for Settle and then to Austwick.  We were joining Richard, Dave, Josie and Liz on Dave's walk Yorkshire OFC walk.  We met outside the Game Cock Inn and decided to keep the cars in Austwick, so we set out past Town Head to Thwaite Lane and the limestone country beyond there.

The day started to warm up and as we crossed Dear Bought Plantation, it was time for most of us to remove our warm outer layer.  A steepish track took us up to Norber where we stopped to explore the numerous erratics.  We then followed the path across the field and up over the very narrow clints and grykes of the limestone pavement.  The cairns led us towards Long Scar, where we got the occasional glimpse of Ingleborough whenever the haze lifted.

We had lunch at Sulber Gate, looking down onto an almost lunar landscape.  A short steep path took us down to Thieves Moss, where we walked between the limestone outcrops to Beggar's  Stile.  Steve decided to do some exploring and went to investigate a small pool of water,  the rest of us stayed on the main path content to let Steve wander off by himself.  We had been looking forward to visiting Austwick Beck Head and the cave where the streams come above ground.  We were all disappointed as the cave was covered with a metal box,  there was just a small letterbox shaped hole in the cover to let the water out.  We were all intrigued with the sign that said "PRIVATE KEEP OUT", who did they think was going to squeeze through that tiny hole?  After taking the requiste number of photographs, we set out for Crummack and the green lane leading back to Austwick.

After changing our boots we went to the Game Cock Inn for a drink and a sandwich.  We sat outside in the Spring sunshine and enjoyed our drinks.  However the same could not be said about the sandwiches.  Beth perked up when we finished the walk and even enjoyed some horse play with Steve.