Day 8 - Malham to Horton-in-Ribblesdale (15 miles)...then we were five; relentless rain showers and a scramble up one of the famous Three Peaks Pen-y-ghent.

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Sunday 4th May - Following breakfast, we just had time to finish off packing, before our friends Di, Helen and Ralph appeared at our door beaming and ready for the exciting day ahead! It was great to see some familiar faces!

After stocking up with packed lunches (and fudge!), it was time to head out into the pouring rain...it was relentless and we truly received a soaking. Despite the rain, we were still able to appreciate the beauty of Malham Cove and the extensive area of limestone pavement above. After Helen gave quick explanation of the geology of the area (well remembered from her Due of Edinburgh days!), we pushed on to Malham Tarn. Malham Tarn is a sanctuary for birds and waterfowl and is approximately half a square mile.

The rain continued to flow, and as there seemed to be no end to it we eventually stopped for a bite to eat. After a quick and "soggy" lunch, we pushed on through the rain.

As we reached the base of Penyghent itself, Di handed out Alpen bars which vanished in no time. The rocky and steep ascent which followed was fantastic - it finally felt that we were conquering a real mountain and even had to do some scrambling to reach the top - this always makes a climb more adventurous! With a large cloud rolling in fast towards us and the rain continuing, we needed to push on to the summit. At the top Helen produced a flask of hot chocolate (Lav's favourite) and lemon cake for us to nibble on - thank you Helen! It was still raining, but at least it was downhill from here...

The path on the descent meandered down to Horton-in-Ribblesdale (also known as Horton), with constant views of Penyghent behind us which reminded us of today's achievement, and with the masses of Ingleborough and Whernside rising in the distance in front of us. On reaching Horton, Lavinia and Steve made for the Penyghent cafe where walkers doing the Pennine Way sign a book...we very proudly added our names for the records!

The evening was spent at the Crown Inn Hotel where we all had a much needed dinner, before we said our farewells to Di, Helen and Ralph. It had been an energetic and rainy day, so we retired early to bed.

Only 177 miles to go!

If you would like to support us in our fundraising hike, please go to www.ectopic.org.uk/fundraising/?p=46. Thank you very much for your support and for all of your messages that you have kindly added to our blog and for your emails - all of which are very encouraging and a welcome surprise whenever we are able to log onto the internet (several places where we are staying we are unable to access the internet and update our blog). Still 192 miles left to go... (Video to follow)]

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Photos

Ready to head off for another day's adventure... Malham, Yorkshire
Today, we were joined for the day by our friends Helen, Diana and Ralph.

Hooray - we've made it to the summit of Pen-y-ghent.
Despite the very wet and cloudy weather, we all successfully scrambled our way up to Pen-y-ghent.