No man's land

I found a good excuse to see Dan, today, picking him up from his mum's and taking him to a friend's house, this morning, and then collecting him this afternoon to take him back home again.

His friend lives about ten miles east of us, just south of Settle, in the outskirts of the huge area that is largely taken up by the Forest of Bowland.  Bound by the A65 to the north, the M6 to the west, with the A59 cutting a diagonal up across from Preston to Gisburn, there are no major roads through this whole area, which is sparsely populated by small villages, such as the wonderfully named Cow Ark. 

Whenever I have the time, I love to take one of the limited number of routes available through this largely unspoilt no man's land. It has the kind of epic beauty that clutches at your chest. I would be wonderful to walk through it, I think, but there don't seem to be that many routes. Maybe I will settle for a weekend in one of the pubs that I drive past. That sounds more likely.