We had greatly enjoyed the post-caving houmous the previous day. And the excellent dinner (including powerful garlic bread) and some beers. And wine, whisky, ginger wine, and whatnot. So we weren't up and about very early. And we took it easy over breakfast. But we managed to leave the hut before noon in order to wander up nearby Pen-y-Ghent, one of the Three Yorkshire Peaks. It was in sight as soon as we walked out of the door. It was a great day to do this walk! Sun and menacing skies.
Soon we reached the top. We ate our sandwiches and contemplated the options. We could just go back, back the other way, or back with a small detour. We chose the last option. That took us down along the slope of the hill, which had looked like a blob from the approach, but turned out to be rather elongated. And there was quite some snow left on this side! That allowed for snow angels. Snowballs. Running down a slope until you fall over. Many combinations of the above. It was fun! It was rather snow-in-your-socks damp and chilly fun, but fun nonetheless!
After we had managed to make our way down the side of the slope we realised we had strayed further from the hut we thought. Time to quicken our step! We still had quite a drive home to complete.
We left the snow and reached the sunny, green hills. With a river vanishing into it! We had accidentally stumbled upon another Dales cave. And a large gap in them! This place is littered with holes. But we moved on to reach a watering hole. We all could do with a nice hot drink at the Pen-y-Ghent cafe! And after that we slithered the last few muddy kilometres back to the hut, where we got our tired arses in gear for cleaning the place. And then it was time to go home.
I got a big hug from all. I'll miss these folks! I hope their preferred direction for going on caving weekends is west. You can't find better people to hang around underground with!
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