For a full index of the walks, please click here
 |
Ling Gill Bridge |
I got up early again,
picked up Andrew just after eight o'clock, and drove to Horton and parked
opposite the church. The forecast had promised only light cloud, but we had
some good long sunny spells and it was pleasantly warm as we set off through
the village.
On reaching Sell Gill
Holes we took a short rest to inspect the pothole.
The flow of water was rather disappointingly low but we took some photos for the record and then continued on the Pennine Way, inspecting Jackday Hole, Cowskull Pot and Canal Cavern entrance on the way.
A number of other walkers passed, some evidently taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge, and some on mountain bikes.
 |
Sell Gill Holes |
The flow of water was rather disappointingly low but we took some photos for the record and then continued on the Pennine Way, inspecting Jackday Hole, Cowskull Pot and Canal Cavern entrance on the way.
 |
The entrance to Canal Cavern |
A number of other walkers passed, some evidently taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge, and some on mountain bikes.
Just before we arrived at the path which leads to the causeway over to Old Ing we were
passed by more bike riders, some being teenagers. I think they
continued straight on. We saw them again later.
Reaching Old Ing we
turned north again and came to where a few weeks ago John, Colin and I had spoken
to the farmer mending the wall.*
It was then that I realised that when we had been there earlier the farmer's Land Rover had obscured the steep ladder stile leading over to the pot hole known as Dry Laithe Cave, or Calf Holes, and so I had missed the opportunity of showing it to the others. Andrew took advantage of the ladder, and took some photos.
It was then but a mile to the deep valley in Ling Gill Nature Reserve, which is open to visitors, but with a warning not to enter the gill because of an infection of foreign crayfish in the water.
 |
The mended wall at Calf Holes |
It was then that I realised that when we had been there earlier the farmer's Land Rover had obscured the steep ladder stile leading over to the pot hole known as Dry Laithe Cave, or Calf Holes, and so I had missed the opportunity of showing it to the others. Andrew took advantage of the ladder, and took some photos.
 |
Dry Laithe Cave or Calf Holes |
It was then but a mile to the deep valley in Ling Gill Nature Reserve, which is open to visitors, but with a warning not to enter the gill because of an infection of foreign crayfish in the water.
We stopped at Ling Gill
Bridge a few yards further on. This was a 16th century bridge that once carried the Settle to Hawes packhorse road.and sat
down to eat lunch.
 |
Inscription on the bridge** |
It was then that the young people we'd seen before on mountain bikes re-appeared, this time from the direction of Cam End, and they stopped by the deep part of the beck. Two of the older boys decided it would be fun to toss huge stones, taken from beside the wall, into the water. The one who appeared to be the adult leader didn't stop this happening, and so a third rock was about to be thrown when they noticed that we were intently watching them and the stone was put down on the bank. It was left there when a minute or so later the party of vandals left.
 |
Calm after the vandals had left |
Andrew and I restored the stone, and another one left in the middle of the track by the gate, to their places by the wall and we, too, started back towards Old Ing.
A large minibus was parked near Birkwith Cave which suggested that cavers had entered the underground system, but there was no-one
about to chat to.
The post beyond Old Ing indicating the Ribble Way south is inadequate. It's easy to take a high route and end up on the fields above. One should descend directly down to the wall below the lowest of the limestone terraces unseen from the signpost so that the
correct path can be found to a small, narrow ravine further along. There's a path down to a bridge over the small stream, seen in the centre of the picture below. Our route passed from the right and up the left-hand side.
Some yards beyond a lime kiln I noticed a curious type of drinking trough which served two fields by having been built under the dividing wall.
 |
Looking west (photo taken March 2015) |
 |
Lime kiln below High Pasture |
Some yards beyond a lime kiln I noticed a curious type of drinking trough which served two fields by having been built under the dividing wall.
 |
Drinking trough serving two fields |
The next field is a very long one, with no easily recognised navigation points and Andrew suggested we should have taken a left fork. I hadn't noticed such a path, being sure the track ahead was the right one. So we continued on until, sure enough, we reached the old ruin on the left, and beyond it we regained the PW at Sell Gill.
It was tiring finishing the walk on tarmac through the village, and it was almost six o'clock when we left for home, making it a rush for Andrew who needed to get an early night before his five-thirty start in the morning to Edinburgh.
