HRP ... and beyond: Pennine Way day 11: Hawes

Friday 20 September 2019
Miles: 13.7
Total miles: 181.5

Cockett's hotel only serve breakfast from 8.30am normally but agreed I could have mine at 8am. I really enjoyed my stay there and hope to go back one day. Still what with one thing and another, including popping into the Spar across the road, it was gone 9 by the time I headed out of Hawes and got back onto the Pennine Way.
The official destination for today is Horton in Ribblesdale, but it is a bit like Dufton: the route dives down off the hills into the village, and then comes straight back up again. So a bit of time and effort can be saved by not going down at all but cutting straight across country to where the route comes back up and camping somewhere in the area.
This is what I have done and I am now ensconced in my tent, in the foothills of Pen-y-Gent, ready to climb to its summit early tomorrow.. a Saturday, so I expect it will get busy later.
The tent is set up on the banks of Hull Pot beck, in as sheltered a spot as I can find, but it is still a bit blustery and I am nervous, remembering that awful night in the Cheviot hills.
It is called Hull Pot beck because less than 1/2 mile downstream from here, it disappears into Britain's largest pot hole, Hull Pot. My route tomorrow passes it, and I will report back.
Wildlife newsflash: today I saw two red squirrels! The first one was sitting up on its hind legs, like they do, right in the middle of the path next to a Pennine Way sign. I stopped still, and we looked at each other for a moment or two before it turned tail and ran off. The second was a few hundred yards further on, and also ran off fairly quickly. So no chance of a photo. It is a bit of a puzzle as there were no trees within a mile. They are very pretty little animals. How I wish I had a magic wand, that would change all the grey squirrels into red ones.