I made an unusual foray South of the border last Thursday, to join Paul and Warren in a march around the Yorkshire Three Peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough. They were done in an anti-clockwise romp, starting and finishing at the lovely Horton-in-Ribblesdale, in nigh on perfect weather. It was sunny all day, but with a cooling Southerly wind, and the driest of conditions underfoot.
We set off at 07:15, and were soon on the summit of Pen-y-ghent, as the footpaths in this area are fabulous, especially in the dry, so progress is swift. 12 hours is the benchmark time, and one required to be invited to join the Y3P club, but we were aiming for 8. This is possible if you keep a decent pace, don't rest too much, and have good conditions, but does require a fair old pace. Warren and Paul have long legs and quite a stride, whereas I have short legs, so on the flatter sections I was all but jogging to keep up with them. I prefer the ascents, and enjoyed these immensely as I sweated up them.
We cut across Horton Moor on the older Y3P route, as it was so dry the bog caused us no issues, and met Mark at Ribblehead, who had brought a water top-up, which was most welcome. He has done the round before, so was just joining us for a section. After a photo and a discussion on the route, we then traipsed Eastwards on the path which brings you up Whernside from the East, much to my chagrin - As mentioned above, I prefer a more direct, steeper route, and after checking it on my mapping software later, we would have saved ourselves 2.5k and 30 minutes had we done so, quite a bit when you are doing such a tramp! Ah well, it was group decision, so I had to concede to the guys' local experience at the time, but grrrrr....... ;)
We flew down the path to Chapel-le-Dale, but I started to suffer from jogger's nipple, and we had to allow me the time to apply some rather inelegant dressings to prevent this very inconvenient complaint. Most sore! It was then into my element, with a climb up the steep path to Ingleborough, where we completed the ascents.
We bade farewell to Mark at Simon Fell as he went back to his car, and we walked SE on a rather rougher path towards Horton. I ran out of water as we descended, but we maintained a sharp pace right until the village, despite our sore feet and tired legs. We came in in a respectable 7hrs and 20mins. It would of course have been 6hrs and 50 mins had we gone my way, but....... ;)
A great day out in fantastic weather. Well done to my partners Paul, Warren and Mark.
We set off at 07:15, and were soon on the summit of Pen-y-ghent, as the footpaths in this area are fabulous, especially in the dry, so progress is swift. 12 hours is the benchmark time, and one required to be invited to join the Y3P club, but we were aiming for 8. This is possible if you keep a decent pace, don't rest too much, and have good conditions, but does require a fair old pace. Warren and Paul have long legs and quite a stride, whereas I have short legs, so on the flatter sections I was all but jogging to keep up with them. I prefer the ascents, and enjoyed these immensely as I sweated up them.
We cut across Horton Moor on the older Y3P route, as it was so dry the bog caused us no issues, and met Mark at Ribblehead, who had brought a water top-up, which was most welcome. He has done the round before, so was just joining us for a section. After a photo and a discussion on the route, we then traipsed Eastwards on the path which brings you up Whernside from the East, much to my chagrin - As mentioned above, I prefer a more direct, steeper route, and after checking it on my mapping software later, we would have saved ourselves 2.5k and 30 minutes had we done so, quite a bit when you are doing such a tramp! Ah well, it was group decision, so I had to concede to the guys' local experience at the time, but grrrrr....... ;)
We flew down the path to Chapel-le-Dale, but I started to suffer from jogger's nipple, and we had to allow me the time to apply some rather inelegant dressings to prevent this very inconvenient complaint. Most sore! It was then into my element, with a climb up the steep path to Ingleborough, where we completed the ascents.
We bade farewell to Mark at Simon Fell as he went back to his car, and we walked SE on a rather rougher path towards Horton. I ran out of water as we descended, but we maintained a sharp pace right until the village, despite our sore feet and tired legs. We came in in a respectable 7hrs and 20mins. It would of course have been 6hrs and 50 mins had we gone my way, but....... ;)
A great day out in fantastic weather. Well done to my partners Paul, Warren and Mark.