Settle, Rye Loaf Hill, Nappa Cross, Attermire Scar, Nth Yorkshire.
[16.2 km] Fri 21 Feb 2014

OS Grid Ref: SD 8370 6301
Lat/Long: +54.062735, -02.251921
I was surprised how quick it was to drive to the start of my walk above Settle. I parked on High Hill Lane where there was quite a bit of space between the carriageway and wall. Along the lane I passed the top of Scaleber Force but didn’t have time to visit it. As I got higher the lane made a few twists and turns before straightening near the summit at Ebor Gate.

I left the road here and followed a very wet and rough track up on to the moor towards high Greet. The weather seemed to be improving and I could see sunshine of Pendle Hill in the distance.

The weather didn’t get any better where I was and continued windy and overcast. On the summit ahead I could see a single metal mast that I’ve seen before.

I came this way to visit it again. At the base is what looks like a metal container but it turned out to be some sort of control room. Through a gap in the locked door I could see tables, cupboards and electrical dials.

My next objective was to visit the site of a cave shown on the map. Different maps show it as a cave or sink hole. I crossed the wall and headed downhill to Low South Bank. When I reached the location I was disappointed. It was a deep sink hole and what looked like a small cave in the base. Also in the base area were several sheep skeletons in various stages of decomposition.

I couldn’t tell if they’d died there or been dumped by the farmer. I headed back up the hill to re-join the summit wall and then along to Rye Loaf Hill where there was a trig post. It was quite windy but it was on my back.

The summit was very windy and as I passed over the summit it began to rain lightly. I was crossing open ground towards the main path to Malham and found it surprisingly easy underfoot. By the time I’d reached the Malham path the rain was driven snow was uncomfortable to walk in because of the wind. The path continued fairly easy underfoot, except for the occasional muddy areas. At the summit gate I turned left to follow the wall to Nappa Cross.

The cross site is at a kink in the wall but what looks like the original base has been re-sited on top of the wall and a modern stone lintel placed vertically in the post hole. The strange thing is that the 1:50k map doesn’t show it but the 1:25k does. I was now on one of the main paths and heading NE though a snow blizzard. I wasn’t looking forward to reaching the next path junction as I had to turn left and straight into the wind. Ahead of me was another walker going in the same direction. With nothing to see except driven snow the couple or so miles seemed to take ages. As I was going through one of the many gates I saw a group of three lady mountain bikers coming up behind. It was a pleasure to hold the gate open for them as they passed though. As I was thinking the path couldn’t get any muddier it did. I took the branch south towards Victoria Cave. The path was in a terrible state and awful to walk along. The snow had now turned to rain and I was in no mood to climb up the wet slope to look at the cave.

To my left was Attermire Scar and ahead I could just see Sugar Loaf Hill which was my next objective. Near Attermire Cave I came to the old metal plates lying on the ground that looked like they’d been a target with large holes blasted in them. I was now on the main Settle to Malham path but didn’t stay on it long as I crossed the stile in the wall and headed up a grassy path over Sugar Loaf Hill. It was terribly wet but not particularly muddy until on the final approach to Stockdale Lane. I was soon back to High Hill Lane and the car.