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| THE REMARKABLE WESTBY FAMILY |
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| THE PEN-Y-GHENT CAFE |
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| RIBBLEHEAD VIADUCT |
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| SHELTER ON SUMMIT OF INGLEBOROUGH |
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| TRIG POINT ON PEN-Y-GHENT |
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| JOHN MANNING CHECKS MY KIT |
Having completed my
report for Tuesday 25 August, who should I meet in the late afternoon but the
same family from Kent that I tagged along with on my departure from Bellingham
the previous week. I am pleased to see them again and get to know their names
this time. I think it truly remarkable that Mum and Dad, Heather and Andrew
Westby, have three teenage children, David, Sarah and Timothy, who are equally
enthusiastic about taking on the onerous challenge of walking the Pennine Way,
which includes camping overnight. I later enjoyed sharing supper with them at
the Crown Hotel. When we said our goodbyes I was sad that I would not be
meeting them again since they would be continuing along the Pennine path while
I stayed to climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks.
Just as a reminder for those following this diary, the Three Peaks Challenge involves summitting three local mountains, Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, totally on foot and all within a 12 hour period. They are separate mountains, so it is necessary to descend each before climbing the next. They can be done in any order and by any route, but the total distance involved generally ranges from 23-26 miles.
The Challenge starts and finishes at the Pen-y-ghent Cafe in Horton, so I rose early on the Wednesday morning, picked up the packed lunch Cynthia had left out for me and posted a note through the Cafe door registering that I had started at 7.38am. The weather was appallingly wet and I wished to avoid bogs as far as possible, so I chose to walk directly to Ribblehead Viaduct by road and start climbing Whernside, the most distant from Horton, first.
The wind-blown rain stung my face and soon penetrated my waterproofs, so I had to keep moving in order to keep warm. I was soon in dense cloud - so dense in fact that I walked straight past the trig. point on Whernside's summit without even seeing it.
Next, I dropped down to the valley and then started ascending Ingleborough, a steeper climb than Whernside but along a well-maintained path with steps that take you right up to the mountain's flat top. The descent back to Horton was long and slow, and the path quite slippery with mud in places. I made a silly route-finding mistake in the poor visibility which cost me 20 minutes, but had now cracked the greater part of the Challenge.
Although Pen-y-ghent is the most well-known of the three mountains, it is actually the most diminutive. Since it is also the nearest to Horton, I expected to dispatch it quickly. And so I did, although my hope that the weather would improve by the time I got to it was not realise. Pen-y-ghent translates to 'Hill of the Winds' and it certainly lived up to its name. The rain had been relentless, so by the time I returned to the Pen-y-ghent Cafe at 4.32pm I was wet through. I had completed the Challenge in a respectable 8 hours and 54 minutes, well below the 12 hour maximum. There was no hanging around to savour my success, though. I was getting cold now I'd stopped moving, so it was back to Broad Croft House to enjoy a hot shower.
You may well ask, what was the point of me undertaking the Challenge on a day when conditions were so utterly miserable and there were no views to be enjoyed? Well, other that avoiding any slippage of my schedule, friend Kay, who has been working so hard to publicise my venture, recently suggested in an article that I could be described as 'interesting, but crackers'. I will leave people to make their own minds up about the former, but I think I might have to concur with her on the latter.
It occurred to me later that I hadn't even thought about my shin-splint injury for a couple of days, so I think we can pronounce that one 'sorted'. I'd better send a thank you text to Reiki therapist Annabel in Bellingham.
Thursday 27 was another rest day, except that Rob had arranged for me to be interviewed by John Manning, a former Deputy Editor of walker's magazine TGO (which stands for 'The Great Outdoors') who now writes articles freelance. John was very easy to talk to and we spent more than 4 hours discussing my trek before he decided that he had sufficient material. It would clearly benefit us both if his efforts were rewarded by a published article.
Afterwards, I walked to the Crown for supper. During the evening I discovered that the couple sitting opposite, Margaret and Ray, lived in Fareham, just a few miles from my home. Moreover, they happen to be good friends of my neighbours. Small world, ain't in?
Anyway, following Wednesday's drenching, Cynthia has dried all my kit, thereby removing the only excuse I could think of for not continuing my walk tomorrow. It looks like my pleasant stay in Horton is coming to an end.
Just as a reminder for those following this diary, the Three Peaks Challenge involves summitting three local mountains, Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside, totally on foot and all within a 12 hour period. They are separate mountains, so it is necessary to descend each before climbing the next. They can be done in any order and by any route, but the total distance involved generally ranges from 23-26 miles.
The Challenge starts and finishes at the Pen-y-ghent Cafe in Horton, so I rose early on the Wednesday morning, picked up the packed lunch Cynthia had left out for me and posted a note through the Cafe door registering that I had started at 7.38am. The weather was appallingly wet and I wished to avoid bogs as far as possible, so I chose to walk directly to Ribblehead Viaduct by road and start climbing Whernside, the most distant from Horton, first.
The wind-blown rain stung my face and soon penetrated my waterproofs, so I had to keep moving in order to keep warm. I was soon in dense cloud - so dense in fact that I walked straight past the trig. point on Whernside's summit without even seeing it.
Next, I dropped down to the valley and then started ascending Ingleborough, a steeper climb than Whernside but along a well-maintained path with steps that take you right up to the mountain's flat top. The descent back to Horton was long and slow, and the path quite slippery with mud in places. I made a silly route-finding mistake in the poor visibility which cost me 20 minutes, but had now cracked the greater part of the Challenge.
Although Pen-y-ghent is the most well-known of the three mountains, it is actually the most diminutive. Since it is also the nearest to Horton, I expected to dispatch it quickly. And so I did, although my hope that the weather would improve by the time I got to it was not realise. Pen-y-ghent translates to 'Hill of the Winds' and it certainly lived up to its name. The rain had been relentless, so by the time I returned to the Pen-y-ghent Cafe at 4.32pm I was wet through. I had completed the Challenge in a respectable 8 hours and 54 minutes, well below the 12 hour maximum. There was no hanging around to savour my success, though. I was getting cold now I'd stopped moving, so it was back to Broad Croft House to enjoy a hot shower.
You may well ask, what was the point of me undertaking the Challenge on a day when conditions were so utterly miserable and there were no views to be enjoyed? Well, other that avoiding any slippage of my schedule, friend Kay, who has been working so hard to publicise my venture, recently suggested in an article that I could be described as 'interesting, but crackers'. I will leave people to make their own minds up about the former, but I think I might have to concur with her on the latter.
It occurred to me later that I hadn't even thought about my shin-splint injury for a couple of days, so I think we can pronounce that one 'sorted'. I'd better send a thank you text to Reiki therapist Annabel in Bellingham.
Thursday 27 was another rest day, except that Rob had arranged for me to be interviewed by John Manning, a former Deputy Editor of walker's magazine TGO (which stands for 'The Great Outdoors') who now writes articles freelance. John was very easy to talk to and we spent more than 4 hours discussing my trek before he decided that he had sufficient material. It would clearly benefit us both if his efforts were rewarded by a published article.
Afterwards, I walked to the Crown for supper. During the evening I discovered that the couple sitting opposite, Margaret and Ray, lived in Fareham, just a few miles from my home. Moreover, they happen to be good friends of my neighbours. Small world, ain't in?
Anyway, following Wednesday's drenching, Cynthia has dried all my kit, thereby removing the only excuse I could think of for not continuing my walk tomorrow. It looks like my pleasant stay in Horton is coming to an end.