The weather forecast was grim but this was the only time I had available to get away. I walked to the bus stop through the correctly forecast rain. I arrived just after 6am and the bus was due at 06:08. Parked outside the Bay Horse pub across the road was a taxi with the engine running. After I'd been waiting a while the taxi driver asked if I was OK. I told him I was waiting for a bus and it looked like he was waiting for a customer to appear from the pub. The lights were on and he went in. The bus arrived 5mins late which was a concern as the train I'd planned to catch left the railway station at 06:40 and the bus was due to arrive at the other side of Preston at 06:28. 12mins was tight if it was on time but now I doubted I'd make it.

Lancaster Railway Station

He was the first bus of the day; there was nothing on the roads so how can he be 5mins late after driving just over 2 miles. Suppose incompetence is the answer. We reached Preston 6mins late and I headed off across Preston running as fast as I could with a 22kg pack on my back. I didn't expect to make the train and I didn't. As I reached the station entrance I saw the train leave exactly on time. They never leave late when it would be handy. The next train to Lancaster was the 07:15, which left on time. At Lancaster I set off across town to the bus station. I had just enough time to catch the 7:45am Ingleton bus which would take me to my fist objective, High Bentham.

Market in High Bentham in the rain.

When we got there I was the only person on the bus. I asked the driver to drop me at the stop nearest to the Railway Station. He said he didn't know where the station was so dropped me at the centre of the village. We were on time so I got off at 08:30am in pouring rain. A walked up the road a while to a small market that was setting up. Across from them was the road I needed, Station Road and a huge sign pointing to the Railway Station. The bus driver would pass this every time he came this way. I set off down the road looking in to some interesting shops that were just opening up. After the station the road started upwards towards Slaidburn.

Crossing from North Yorkshire into Lancashire

Crossing from North Yorkshire into Lancashire

I met a man walking down the other way. He asked me where I was heading. I told him and we chatted a while before I continued upwards and in to heavier rain. The map calls the road Thickrash Brow. I hope people living along it don't have to use it in their address. I came to the cross roads at Mewith Lane and stopped for a while as there was a metal seat by the road. I continued up the road towards the higher mist. Soon the distinctive outline of the 'Great Fourstones' boulder came in to view. It was a way from the road so I didn't visit it. Where the county boundary stone is for Lancashire and North Yorkshire, I was approaching from Yorkshire, I left the road to follow a quad bike track running parallel to the fence that denotes the county border. The track was good underfoot but soon had to veer away from the fence as Loftshaw Moss had to be crossed and it was impenetrable to the mere pedestrian.

'Standard' Boundary Stone

I was quite a way from the fence when I was able to cross the moss where it narrowed to a stream. Winding up the fell I eventually got back to the fence at some substantial stone shooting butts. The fence then headed straight up to Burn Moor summit. In the distance I could see the trig point but before reaching it I came to a magnificent boundary stone with inscriptions on all sides and the top. Unfortunately the driving rain meant I couldn't photograph it to best effect. After the trig point another marker stone came in to view, but not as impressive. I was planning to camp below the East Cat Stones but wasn't sure if there was a decent water supply there. Before getting there I came to a small brook with water and some flat ground nearby so decided to camp a little early. It was still raining when I put the tent up but by mid afternoon the rain stopped and the cloud lifted revealing Bowland Knotts and Pendle Hill in the distance.