This was a tough one, but it really is Yorkshire at its finest!
I last walked this over ten years ago and it was hard then. How I came to do it again is beyond me as I distinctly remember saying last time that I was never ever doing it again. However, somehow you forget the pain and tears. There I was, school holidays, a perfectly sunny and clear day forecast, if not a little cold and windy, so I thought, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll do the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge.” I love being outdoors on days like this in places that offer complete solitude.
So what is the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge? It’s a 24 mile (38.6km) route which includes 5,200 feet of ascent, summiting three of Yorkshire’s finest and highest mountains Pen-y-Ghent (723 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres). It’s absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful. To complete the challenge you must do the route inside 12 hours.
First up, Pen-y-Ghent, quite possibly my favourite, although I do like Ingleborough. It was a tough little early morning climb. This one involves a bit of scrambling around, but within about an hour or two you are up at the top and summit number one is conquered.
It’s then a long way down the other side and almost a 10 mile trek to the next summit which is Whernside. The countryside here is beautiful, lots of little streams, birds chirping, fields full of Easter lambs and a nice flat section where it was possible to do that little bit of running. The sun came out, the jacket was off and it was glorious.
Then you cross a number of boggy bits and a stream before you reach the road and the mighty Ribblehead Viaduct. This is one of my favourite parts of the walk. The viaduct carries the Settle to Carlisle railway line. It is a beautiful Grade II listed structure and is the longest structure on this line. It was designed by John Sydney Crossley and started in 1870, opening in 1875. It has 24 spans and required a 2,300 strong workforce to build. It was a challenging task, in tough terrain and over 100 men lost their lives during its construction. You cannot entirely comprehend when taking in its size how it was constructed primarily with manual labour.
Then it is time to press on up Whernside. I don’t like this one! It goes on for ever and ever, is the tallest mountain of the day, is unbelievably windy, as you’ll see on the video, and is just a bit bland. But summit number two was reached, very slowly, and my smile was not quite as big as on reaching summit number one, I was frozen due to the wind chill.
Then finally as the sun was starting to drop in the sky, the long trek up number three, Ingleborough. I like the climb up this one almost as much as Pen-y-Ghent. The summit of this one is completely flat like a moonscape. Being the tallest mountain on the west side of the country you can see all the way over to the coast and the sea from the top. I’ve re-gained my smile as it’s the last peak of the day……..only six miles back to the start now.
Then it was off back down to the start. Mission accomplished! There was a lot less running than I thought there would be but a very respectable time of 8 hours and 40 minutes, a full 2 hours quicker than my 40 year old legs carried me last time. I burnt off over 3,000 calories so had great pleasure in replacing them over the following few days, and I didn’t cry so that was a result! 😂 Yes, that’s right, last time I cried all the way down Ingleborough I was in that much pain and by the time I got to the end I was being held up by a fellow walker. This time I made it all the way around, on my own two feet without one tear or tantrum. I was still hobbling around three days later but everything slowly started to get back to normal. Would I do it again?? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! If I ever, ever utter that I may do it again please stop me!!! But it was a beautiful day out in Gods own county.
