Thursday 23rd August 2018 - Pendle Hill G/SP-005

Unlike with Boulsworth Hill G/SP-008 earlier that day, this time, the satnav landed me directly at the intended walk start point, just past the village of Barley.  I walked down the lane to the farm, amused by the tongue-in-cheek but “unambiguous” signage put up by the farmer concerning dog excrement.  He had used a more colourful (and more widely used) term, which had been scratched out of the signs in each of the four occurences.

At the farm, I briefly deliberated whether to go left or right, deciding upon the more graded approach to the left.  I would complete a small circuit by descending the other way, down the stone steps from Pendle Big End later.  It was far too windy to consider setting up HF, so I just used my 2m handheld.  It was pretty quiet, but qualification was never a worry, and I made five contacts in around 20 minutes. 

As I commenced the drive home, I was feeling really hungry and craving some sugar.  In a moment of appalling weakness, I called into a convenience store in Baxenden and bought a pack of four Eccles cakes.  And ate them all.  800 calories smashed right there and then.  I hated myself.  Full of energy (and guilt) when I got home, I gave Liam a shout.  We grabbed our towels and swimming costumes and drove over to Macclesfield Leisure Centre for a swim. We both did 50 lengths of breast stroke, which eased the guilt, but not the energy, amazingly enough.  I ended up doing two more summits that evening, starting with The Cloud G/SP-015!