Yorkshire Three Peak Challenge – Blog one: Pen-y-Ghent

Welcome to Blog one of a three Blog Series: The Yorkshire Three Peaks part one – PEN-Y-GHENT!

‘The Yorkshire Three Peaks’ is the collective name given to three of the mountains nestled in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. On a clear day, they stand within a triangular view of each other, several miles apart. Pen-y-Ghent, the lowest of the three stands at 694 meters above sea level. Whernside stands proudly at 736 meters and Ingleborough is 724 meters above sea level. It is a popular challenge amongst walkers to climb all three of these mountains in one day, or to be more precise, as close to 12 hours as possible. This is known at the Yorkshire Three Peak Challenge. The total loop, incorporating the climbs and full descents of all three mountains is 26.2 miles. (It used to be 24.5 miles but due to some safety works currently being carried out on Ingleborough, the new ascent path makes the route slightly longer).

This challenge sits on the radar of most seasoned mountain walkers and when I saw it advertised as a guided group walk on the Wowcher website, of all places, my heart skipped a beat. I held my breath as I read the description. Thoughts raced through my mind, ‘I wonder if I could do it? Just imagine how awesome that would be to add to my walking achievements….’ Certainly, something to aim for. There would be the opportunity to stop and get a lift back to the beginning, at approximately 10 miles and 18 miles into the walk. That made me feel reassured. Feeling exited and alive with possibility, I pitched the idea to my brother, wrapped in a package of positivity. With no convincing necessary, we signed up! We knew we had to train and practice hard for this one, but we had time, we could pace ourselves and build up stamina gradually and sensibly over the coming months and after our Midnight adventure with Snowdon, we were feeling confident!

Over the months that followed, we headed out on many training walks together, usually involving the dog and incorporating a niece or two (or three) to accompany us. With each walk confidence, stamina and muscle strength built. Our training walks themselves were eye-openers to our beautiful surroundings. New local routes and loops added to our walking portfolios, each worthy of their own Blogs (watch this space).

Unfortunately, the Corona Virus lockdown threw a spanner in the works earlier in the year, bringing the rules of being unable to mix with other households. This meant that we could no longer walk and train together. However, we could still continue individually and the miles we were each comfortably covering provided us both with a subtle driving force of healthy competition. Neither of us willing to ‘drop behind’ the other ones capabilities…hey, we may be adults and get on well, but we are still brother and sister after all! This actually worked well for us both and soon we were able to walk together again, with distancing in place. I was thrilled to learn that my eldest Niece had enjoyed the walking that she had done with her Dad and wanted to join us on the Three Peak Challenge, the more the merrier, so we got her signed up to join us right away!

With accommodation booked, a decent amount of training walks under our belts, rucksacks and all our necessary equipment purchased, the big date soon rolled around and we headed off to Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. We arrived on the Friday night before the walk, under the promising skies of a beautiful sunset, sealing our hopes of great walking conditions for the following day.

Our alarm clocks called us at 5am. We prepared for the day ahead with porridge, bananas and tea whilst a mix of excitement and nervous energy consumed us and we all shared the same concerns, albeit for maybe different reasons, but ultimately, ’am I going to be able to do this, will I make it?’

The previous nights’ skies hadn’t lied, the morning was beautiful. Crisp and blue with wispy low white cloud and a morning dew preparing to leave after it had gently kissed the ground. The most perfect walking conditions aided our positivity for the challenge we were about the undertake. We met with our guide and small group of other walkers, all feeling the same mix of excitement and apprehension, in Horton-on-Ribblesdale at a car park near to the foot of Pen-Y-Ghent. We all made our introductions, health and safety forms were handed in and discussed and actually with very little by way of information about what lay ahead, we all still felt quite apprehensive. Our route was set; Pen-Y-Ghent, followed by Whernside and lastly taking a path over the top of Ingleborough, which would descend us back down into Horton-on-Ribblesdale, completing the loop. We had been advised that we would only be stopping for time increments of about 5-10 minutes maximum, as a chance to have a drink and eat some food to replenish energy levels, any longer and muscles would start to seize. Amongst the group we all exchanged glances, clearly all thinking the same things and the support from each others’ eyes was already bonding the group before we had begun. After a quick, final toilet stop we set off for Pen-y-Ghent at 7:15am.

The ascent was steep straight away, no easing in, it really was quite simply a case of open a gate, through a field and up, up, up! Everybody was eager, our naivety and excitement meant that the pace was fairly fast. Nobody wanted to be left behind or be identified as the ‘the weakest link’ in the group, despite being told by our leader over and over, it’s not a race, it’s about the long game.

One foot in front of the other.

The warmth from the morning sun was making its presence known quite early on, as was the pounding heart in my chest as it fought to power my lungs’ requests. Red, patchy faces began to show and the gentle patter of conversations gently drifted off as the realisation hit the group — this is tough! The uneven ground, a mix of damp grass with large stones and rocks, made up the narrow, steep pathway. After about 45 minutes of hiking in single file with our pace pushing the leader, a gate now within sight, provided a perfect first stopping point. Wow, this was not easy, straight in, approximately 8am by now, heads beginning to pound as every single part of our bodies was complaining at being so rudely awoken. Some people used this opportunity to strap up knees with extra supports or add plasters for blister prevention. The question “what the hell am I doing?” was being batted around every part of my brain like a squash ball! With just enough time for some water and a couple of bites of a protein bar, for which I had high hopes, we set off again for the climb ahead.

This next section, even steeper in its rise, although it had a more defined pathway, involved some scrambling toward the top. Steep rocks requiring large climbing strides and arms/hands free to both support and elevate, climbing upwards. Rucksacks were at their heaviest for this climb as our water pouches were still at their fullest, which was felt by the need to remain leaning forwards so as not to topple back with the weight of the bag. I led naturally with my right foot each time until about a quarter of the way up, my right leg completely gave out on me, no strength in that thigh at all to power me up. It caused me to stumble and my niece, who was behind me, checked in to ask of I was ok. The stumble shocked me slightly, in regard to having no power in my naturally leading leg. My MS weakness in my right side making its presence felt for the first real time. Those questioning doubts rang louder around my head “what are you doing, this is too much” and for the first time, breathing hard, I let the thought “I’m not going to be able to do this” ring around my head. Around me, people finding their way at their own pace, with a queue behind me and a queue in front, I could hear our leader offering words of encouragement and support to drive us up the mountain. I couldn’t stay there, I had to move regardless.

One foot in front of the other.

We continued on up, my face so hot it felt like my head was going to explode. Leading this time with my left leg and focusing on nothing but my plan for each onward step. More words of continued encouragement were exchanged between my brother, my niece and myself, as we pushed our blotchy, sweating faces up over the last rocks before seeing the long, wide plateau of a steady pathway with its gradient now flattened out on a clear footpath to the final summit. The gratitude I felt for seeing this was immense and just in time, otherwise I feared that this mountain would actually have broken me. We strolled casually now with ease, no climbing or scrabbling necessary for this final stretch.

The relief flooded my senses as much as the most incredible views before us did, providing enough of a reward to dismiss those “I’m not going to be able to do this” thoughts and replace them simply with “Wow!”. Views so beautiful, so incredible from what felt like on top of the world and inspiring enough to allow us to believe we can do anything! A final steady walk led us up to the trig point at the top and much needed rest!

08:30, we were standing at the summit, first climb complete & it felt amazing. Totally worth the hard work! We did it and the euphoric feeling of ‘bring on the next one’ chased away any previous doubts!