The 05:40am bus was on time and a £3.60 fare took me to Preston Bus station. It was dark as I walked through Preston but thankfully the overnight rain had stopped and all that was left was the streetlights reflecting in the puddles. At the station I was planning to catch the 07:44am Glasgow train as far as Lancaster but then I noticed the 07:40am train to Glasgow also stopped at Lancaster. I caught it as it would theoretically give me another 4mins for my next connection. I had plenty of time as I crossed over the footbridge to catch the 07:10am train to Leeds as far as Giggleswick. It was 7am and the train was already waiting at the platform. It was only two carriages which were open for passengers to saunter aboard and pick which seat they wanted. We set off on time and I tried to read the newspaper as it was still dark outside and there was nothing else to look at. I soon gave up as the carriages were bouncing up and down so much I couldn't keep the paper still enough to read.

Preston Railway station

The Leeds train about to leave Lancaster

Giggleswick Railway station platform

Ruin below Big Hill on Giggleswick Common

I reached Giggleswick just before 8am and I was the only person to get off, though a couple of people did get on. It was overcast and fairly gloomy when I set off but at least it wasn't raining. The footpath takes you directly on to the main Settle by-pass road which has no paths running along it. I quickly turned right to leave the speeding traffic and head west up Scorth Gill Lane. The first couple of miles of my route are along narrow country lanes and the walking was quite enjoyable. The only vehicles I saw were a school bus, a milk tanker and a private car.

I left the road at Sandford Farm and set off through rushy ground and as I got higher managed to pick up an old track which looked well made and must have been quite substantial at one time. In the distance I saw the ruins of a building which is shown on the map below Big Hill. It looked more than just an old bard so I thought I'd investigate. It looked like it had been a house with adjoining barn at one time and there was even an old cast iron fire surround protruding from the rubble. I headed over Foxholes Crag where it was quite good underfoot and had lots of interesting rocky outcrops around. I crossed a stream by an old ruined wooden bridge, which was now useless. Up the hill I came to the north edge of an enclosure of pine forest. Another interesting rock formation marked the point called Resting Stone; so I did, for about 2mins.

Part of the old cast iron fireplace in the ruin

A grave on Bowland Knotts

Close by was another memorial. In a shallow hollow was a white stone with 'JOAN 2008' painted on it. Plastic flowers had been left there and a couple of envelopes, one having Joan + Nan written on it. It looked like a small grave but there was no indication of who or what Joan was. I continued on my way following the wall towards the trig point. The trig point is on the other side of the wall and there is no stile crossing point meaning that people have to climb over to visit it. An official crossing point would mean less damage to the wall. I climbed over and visited it and also got some good views down towards the Stocks Reservoir area. My planned camp for the night was near an area shown on the map as Knottend Well. It turned out to be a clump of rushes with a small trickle of water in the middle. There was enough for my needs and I camped just above. It had continued dull and grey all day but the wind was very light so it was a quiet pitch. A little rain fell during the night.