Rye Loaf Hill from Settle 14.1.11

9 Miles - 5hours

This walk starts and ends in the pretty town of Settle. The weather was set to be brutal, by which you can't expect much in January, and I had made this a there and back again walk, rather than a circular for quickness.
 I made my way from the well kept station, through the town centre and up the steep hill side towards the already visible Warrendale Knots...

Approaching the Warrendale Knots after the ascent from Settle...

An unmarked cave in the side of the Warrendale Knots. The picture is distorted due the rain lashing the lens...

Looking towards a cloud covered Rye Loaf Hill...

Trig Point at the summit of the Warrendale Knots at 440 metres, the wind and rain was very cold and harsh at this point, and only set to get worse!...

Glad to be down out of that for a bit. What can the Rye Loaf throw at me which is higher? Here looking back up towards the Warrendale Knots...

Looking down towards Attermire Scar...

Approaching the Pennine Bridleway path entrance opposite Stockdale Farm. Time to take cover!!!!! After an attempt at the hill in this, and ending up scaling Kirkby Fell in near zero visibility instead by mistake, I'm disgusted at myself for this, but I gave up for the day...

So it was a return on the Sunday to get a second attempt at the hill. The forecast was still heavy rain, but this time with some sunshine thrown in for good measure. 

 I made my way towards the hill again, and I was disappointed for it to still be hidden in very heavy cloud on my approach. But then when I was passing Stockdale farm, there was an almost divine break in the cloud revealing Rye Loaf...

I then at this point literally started to run towards the base of the hill in order to try and ascend it in this break in the weather. Even the wind had died down at this point, and the day was looking good. The walking poles came out at this point to get to grips with the boggy steep side of the hill. This may not exactly be Everest, but after missing out on this rise in the land the previous day I wasn't going anywhere until this one was done, however the higher I climbed the worse the weather started to get again, this hadn't been a break in the weather, this had just been the eye of the storm!...

 Finally making to the Trig Point on the summit of Rye Loaf Hill at 547 metres...

The wind by this point must have been somewhere in the region of 60 mph at the summit, and this meant the rain combined with hail was like being sand blasted... 

After getting nearly lost at the back of the Hill exploring around in thick cloud, it was time to make my way back to Settle. Here Attermire Scar (nearest) and the Warrendale Knots take a beating from the wind and rain...

And finally back to Settle Station...