Wednesday 1st June and myself, Clare, Sam and Owen decided to do part of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks route.
Nothing better than a stroll around the route of the Yorkshire Three Peaks to make us Yorkshire folk feel reet proud so I'm always up for a day out in the Yorkshire Dales (Clare is nearly Yorkshire due to her having completed the route twice before, starting to lose the ability of saying 'the' in a sentence and being notoriously shy when it's her round!).
Sam, Owen and Clare had all completed the route in the past but were up for another trip around the 24 mile route.
Leaving the 'Old Hill Inn' at 08:30am we made good progress towards Ingleborough and up the dreaded 'Devils Staircase' before being enveloped in low cloud on the summit plateau.
With gales force winds, low cloud and the constant threat of a shower it was a typical British summer day in the hills as we headed towards Horton In Ribblesdale and on to Pen y Ghent (aptly meaning 'Hill of the Wind'.
Stopping at Horton for a short break I set the challenge of making to the summit of Pen y Ghent with in 1.5hrs, as it went we made it in 1hr 5mins without a murmer about the steepness of the seemingly never ending ascent, what a team! 😳
With a bit of a breeze blowing through we didn't hesitate for long on the summit and made our way down and along the route towards Ribblehead.
It's some 8miles approximately between Pen y Ghent and Whernside and this part can really sap the moral and see the start of aches and pains in the joints.
As we neared Ribblehead an injury appeared in our merry group and the best solution was thought to stop at the 'Station Inn' and assess the situation.
As it turned out the ankle I had gone over on at the start of the day decided that the stop was the right time give me a painful reminder that me decision to wear 'approach shoes' rather than walking boots may have been a poor one. After the compulsory 'Station Inn' pork pie and with an eye on the dark clouds over Whernside it was decided the day was to be a training day and we had done enough!
We WILL be returning to complete the further route later in the year.
Summary - with approximately 18miles and 2 peaks completed it was a shame not to finish the route on the day but with 20 completions of the route between us and safe in the knowledge we will be back to do it again it didn't take too much debate, the pub may have helped a bit.
A great outing in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales with good friends can be nothing but good!
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