Sunday 4th September - Malham to Dufton

It's not easy to sleep in a dorm if you're not used to it. The bunkbed springs creaked every time anyone moved, so I woke at first light, got up and went for a walk. Another fine day. Having had a very good breakfast courtesy of the YHA, and being full of bonhomie, Don kindly agreed (after some persuasion on my part) that rather than take the obvious route down the valley to Settle to pick up the main road we should take the scenic route via Malham Cove, which is a "curved crag of carboniferous limestone formed after the last ice age". Very impressive it is too. The only problem was that it was up a very steep and long hill, and it took us over an hour to get to the top. I suspect he will never again take my advice on matters of route planning.

He took his revenge by giving me the slip at Horton in Ribblesdale. He was riding ahead, and for obvious reasons it's as well to keep your distance when cycling together, so when he decided to make an impromptu stop for coffee (leaving his bike in full view it has to be said) I was blissfully unaware of this fact, and kept pedalling for another 6 miles until I came to a junction and finally realised that he was probably not in fact in front of me. Now an interesting feature of the

Yorkshire Dales is that Vodafone don't have any masts there (probably the locals won't let them) and there is no coverage whatsoever, so our arrangement whereby if we lose each other we don't turn back and just get in touch by mobile phone didn't work very well. So I waited for

him for an hour, and he waited for me for an hour. And then we both carried on. It was Kirkby Stephen by the time we eventually met up again!

This means that Don will have to write his own post, as I have no idea what he got up to for most of the day. I continued on through the dales to Hawes, which is a mecca for motorbikes (though

sadly not, as far as I could see, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning), and full of cafes and fast food joints.

I stopped for a coffee and to charge my phone. Then it was on to Kirkby Stephen following the Settle Carlisle railway all the way.

I spotted a red phone box along the way and thought I'd try calling Don in case there was mobile coverage where he was. It had not been used for so long that I could hardly get the door open for vegetation, and it was full of flies. Amazingly I got a dial tone, but it didn't take cash, so I had

to use my credit card. Needless to say I couldn't get through to Don.

On the way down the valley to Kirkby I passed Pendragon Castle, which is reputed

to have been founded by Uther Pendragon, the father of King Arthur.

According to legend, Uther Pendragon and a hundred of his men were killed here when the Saxon invaders poisoned the well. It's in private ownership but you can open the gate and go and have a look. It's got a proper moat and everything. And sheep.

I also stopped at the church of St Mary in Mallerstang. This is notable for having the graves of navvies who died during the construction of the (as it was then) Midland Railway. There's a

rather poignant memorial in the churchyard, and a list of all the names of all 25 who died there. The most shocking thing is that nearly half of those who died were young children, so they obviously took their families with them.

Having re-connected with Don at Kirkby Stephen by the miracle of mobile technology (readers will not be surprised to discover that I found him outside the pub), we completed the last dozen miles to the youth hostel at Dufton. After the crowds at Malham, this was a much more exclusive affair, with only 6 or 7 people staying there. We had a meal in the pub, then Don headed back for an early night (I kid you not!), while I did a bit of blog posting. When I did eventually get back to the hostel, the place was in darkness, and the code for the key pad that Don had given me didn't work (maybe I misunderstood), so I had to go round tapping on windows until someone (not Don, note) woke up and came to rescue me. Next morning at breakfast, I kept getting asked if I'd had a good session in the pub, and I don't think they believed I was only keeping our avid readership up to date rather than downing pints!

Generally a good day, and as night comes in I hear a Tawny Owl hooting in the distance. One more tick for me, and I need all the help I can get...