Camping: Kentmere Horseshoe, Yorkshire Three Peaks and D of E (Part 2)
Silly me, I was supposed to post this last May as the second part of one of my camping expedition. The first day I camped in Ings and walked the Kentmere horseshoe. Early the following morning, I travelled to the Yorkshire Dales to complete the Three Peaks Challenge. Enjoy!
-------------------------
I set my alarm for 6am. I had an early start. The Yorkshire Three Peaks is a 24 mile route taking in the three highest peaks in the Yorkshire Dales: Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent, and Whernside, which is the highest. The Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge is to complete the route within 12 hours. That's the reason I needed the early start. Because following the completion of the walk I would still need to set up camp. The campsite I was staying at in Chapel-le-Dale required check in by 9pm. Assuming I was going to take up most of the 12 hours, I would need to have set off walking at least just before 9am.
When it comes to the challenge itself, I was very intent on completing it within the 12 hours, but beyond that I wasn't going to exhaust myself; I still wanted to enjoy the walk. But it was important to try and save time where possible. As a true numpty, I left my ration packs at home, but in honesty, I didn't really want to be waiting ten minutes for these to boil before spending three or four minutes eating them. I was going to try and limit the number of stops to ensure I completed the challenge. To this end, I made a brief stop at the Pret at the petrol station in Ings and got myself a sandwich. This would enable a much swifter lunch. I put Chapel-le-Dale in the Sat Nav and off I went (a little later than ideal).
I arrive at what I believe to be Chapel-le-Dale. As I say, I don't know this area well. I would later discover that I am actually a mile or two down the road at Ribblehead, but more on that later. I manage to park at the side of the road opposite the pub. I spend longer than usual packing my day sack (the last thing I want to do is forget anything on a walk of this length). Once I was ready, I walked a short while to the start of my route. The walk is usually done from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, but it doesn't really matter as long as you complete the full length. I take a picture whose timestamp is evidence of when I start: 08:41am. Definitely pushing it, especially as I was now going to have to drive a few miles upon completion to get to the camp in time for check in.
From Ribblehead, I made my way up the first peak of Pen-y-Ghent. The weather is glorious. After following a road for a little while I come off onto a track that leads toward the fell. There were plenty of other people doing the three peaks, many for charity. Most of them were going in the opposite direction to me. Although Whernside is the largest of the three peaks, I think Pen-y-Ghent and Ingleborough are the more interesting. Both are very distinctive hills and easy to identify and Ingleborough hosts an assortment of interesting limestone formations. There is a well made path up to Pen-y-Ghent from the direction I was taking, with some slabs that form a staircase up to the summit. At the summit there is a trig point and the view opens up providing a panorama of the surrounding area. From the top I could see over to my local haunt the forest of Bowland, with the large post that protrudes from Waddington fell visible. And I could just about make out Longridge fell, the southernmost Bowland fell and apparently the most southern "fell" in England (i.e. hill named fell on the map); a fell I can see from my front room.
Remember, I thought I'd started from Chapel-le-Dale. So, aware that I'd just climbed Pen-y-Ghent, I take a look at the map. How on earth did I end up on Pen-y-Ghent from Chapel-le-Dale? Chapel-le-Dale is much closer to the other two peaks. Based on where I started, it just wouldn't make sense for me to be where I am now. So where the hell did I start? When you are tired and quite hungry it is hard to think logically; you start questioning everything. After a few minutes I got my bearings. I realised that after passing through Chapel-le-Dale, I had actually driven a few extra miles to Ribblehead. In the end, this error actually worked to my benefit. Although the campsite allowed check ins up to 9pm, it required campers to inform them of late check ins by 7pm, and for most of the walk so far I had really struggled getting phone signal. However, as I mentioned, the three peaks does indeed pass through the farm where I would be camping in Chapel-le-Dale, and as I had not started here, I would be passing through it at some point. So as long as I did this before 7pm, I'd be able to knock on and inform them in person of my late check in.
After crossing the railway line in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, I headed off onto the open hill. There were what appeared to be D of E parties ready to set off on their expedition. Walking up Ingleborough I was struck by the limestone formations that cover the slopes that are part of the Ingleborough national nature reserve. It can be a bit deceiving as you look up the hill from this vantage point. To the right, what looks like it might be the summit is actually a subsidiary fell called Simon Fell, with a summit of 636 metres. The summit of Ingleborough is 724. The route skirts to the left of Simon Fell then, after a period of moderate gradient, the route plows steeply up to a plateau. Ingleborough's plateau is quite large, which gives it its distinctive tabletop look from a distance. On the summit there is a large pile of stones, a wind breaker and a stone trig pillar.
At Horton-in-Ribblesdale station with Ingleborough in the background.
After visiting the summit, the route then goes back on itself before descending the hill to the north. Just like Pen-y-Ghent, it was quite a difficult, steep descent manoeuvring down a rocky section. I was quite starving by this point. I didn't have long until reaching Chapel-le-Dale, but I thought I'd have a brief stop for a pot noodle, having finished off my sandwich a good few hours earlier. After getting to the bottom of the steep section, I took a bearing left at Humphrey Bottom toward the fence boundary, largely out of sight due to a dip in the land. The only option was to sit on tussocky grass. I unfolded my foam mat, set the jet boil away, and opened a nice can of beer.
After my refreshments, it was a fairly short walk to Chapel-le-Dale. I crossed the main road and then went left for a short while before turning onto the track that leads to Philpin Farm. It is quite an interesting campsite. It is a working farm. There is an old barn opposite the farm house in which there are amenities for the campers, including a coffee machine and somewhere to sit. I asked the old farmer about how to check in, he told me to knock on the door, where who I assume was his wife answered. I told her that I would pay now, but that I'd arrive just before 9pm as I still had some walking to do. Yes, there was still another fell to conquer and it happened to be the biggest. The big W. Whernside.
Getting tired now. My final fell, Whernside, straight ahead.
It was actually quite a straightforward walk up the hill after coming off Philpin Lane. I was surprised to see an ice cream van that was just packing up. Boy it is some luxury hiking on this three peaks route isn't it? The route horseshoes over Whernside visiting the summit then looping back around to follow the course of the railway line toward Ribblehead. There is a trig point on the summit next to a dry stone wall. The summit is basically on the border of Yorkshire and Cumbria and is the highest point in Yorkshire (this is debateable: more info at the end of the post). The views were outstanding all around. To the west there is Crag hill and Leck fell and to the East, the landscape slopes down toward the railway line with the iconic Ribblehead viaduct in the distance.
Approaching the bottom of the hill, I still had a couple of miles to go. But when you have already done 24 miles, this seems like you are just about at the end. But these two miles felt like ten. Near the end I passed by the Ribblehead viaduct, a very impressive showcase of Victorian engineering. I could see a little information board in front of it. I really wanted to walk over for a closer look but time didn't allow for it. That's the thing with a challenge like the three peaks, you don't really have time to stop and inspect areas of interest. Never mind, it is one for next time.
I desperately wanted to stop for a closer look at Ribblehead Viaduct but I was short of time.
I arrive back on the road where I parked. On the spot where I began the walk, I took a final photo, timestamped at 8:17 pm. With 24 minutes to spare, I finished with a time of 11 hours 36 minutes. I'd completed the challenge. I was relieved and pleased. It certainly wasn't easy and was in fact more difficult than I'd anticipated. Had I taken a few more rest stops I would have been cutting it very fine. But I didn't have time to settle. I had to make it back to the campsite and set up. Despite it being bone dry all day, it starts to hammer down with rain. Perfect timing in that I finished before the downpour, but not ideal for pitching my tent.
It was a short drive to Philpin Farm in Chapel-le-Dale, where I parked in the overflow car park. I start to put up my Regatta three man tent. Now, the previous evening, I heard a worrisome sound from the tentpole when I pitched up. Everything seemed alright at the time so I didn't think any more about it. But then, as I bend the rear poles to fit them in their footholds, I hear another kink like the one the night before. It didn't sound good, but what could I do? I proceeded to try and get it into position and then snap! One of the sections of pole snapped near to the end where it joins onto the next section. Because the smaller end that had snapped was still fixed around the cord, I couldn't join the two sections together. I ran back to my car and grabbed a pair of pliers all the while being soaked by the poring rain. Just as I go to start working on the broken pole, a fellow camper decides to strike up a conversation. I did my best to limit the small talk without coming across as rude. And once they left, I set about prising off the smaller part of the broken section. This done, I managed to get the pole to fit together. The only issue was that in snapping, the pole pierced its sheath, meaning there would inevitably be some leaking.
Though it was later than I'd have liked, I managed to settle down for the night. I put on some dry clothes and used some kitchen roll to dry out the porch. I was starving by this point. I cooked my remaining burger which I had on a slice of bread with some jalapeño cheese from Lidl and washed it down with a few bottles of the good stuff.
Postscript: The Highest Point in Yorkshire
What is the highest point in Yorkshire? Well, it depends on what you mean by Yorkshire. If we go by the historic county of Yorkshire, the highest point is Mickle Fell, whose summit is 788 metres. In 1974, The Local Government Act came into effect which redrew a lot of the county boundaries and the area around the summit of Mickle Fell was transferred to Co. Durham for administrative and ceremonial purposes. Following this, the highest point in modern day Yorkshire became Whernside at 736 metres. Quite interesting really. You don't really think of Co. Durham as a mountainous place, but its highest point is higher than that of Yorkshire and on the list of English Counties with the highest tops it is number three behind its neighbour Northumberland at two and of course, Cumbria at number one. But those familiar with Teesdale and Weardale in the North Pennines will be less surprised, as the ground gets particularly high as it approaches its boundary with Cumbria.
Comments
Post a Comment