We did it!

On Saturday 21st June 2014, me and Beccy were up and out by 4.30 am, to set off on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge. Looking at our recent pace on slightly hilly ground, we set ourselves a realistic target of 14 hours - a little slower than the official target time of 12 hours.

We set off up Pen-y-ghent at a decent pace, with just a couple of short breaks to catch our breath. It took us 1 hour 40 to reach the top - spot on for our target. After a quick break and a photo we continued down the first peak and headed towards Ribblehead. The weather forecast for the day was cloudy with the occasional sunshine, and as we walked the sun began to shine through the clouds.

Top of Pen-y-ghent

We arrived at Ribblehead at around 9.30, which was slightly ahead of target. By this time the sun was beating down and the soles of my feet were sore, so we stopped of a sock change and a bite to eat.

Refreshed we set off on the long hard slog up Whernside. Initially the going was good, but after about an hour I was exhausted and needed to stop every 15 mins or so. But eventually we got to the top - slightly behind schedule and after a long break we set off roughly 30 mins behind our planned time. The mid day sun was beating down and it was hot - even 736 meters on top of the peak.

View looking back as we walked up Whernside

Force Gill

Beccy at the top of Whernside

Coming off of the top of Whernside is very steep, and my dodgy knee and lack of balance made this a slow and scary process - good job I had a walking pole or I'd probably have had to come down on my bum!

The steep steps off Whernside - a lot worse than this photo shows!

We got to the bottom of Whernside and made our way to the Old Hill Inn - to have a cold drink, shelter from the sun and top up our water supply. We left the pub about an hour behind schedule.

By this time we where exhausted and the slow initial climb up Ingleborough seemed never ending. Finally we could see the final fairly short but very steep scramble to the top and with a last push of energy struggled up the zig-zag stone steps.

About half way up the steep section to Ingleborough.

As we reached the top of the steps we realised that we still had more distance and climbing before we finally reached the summit. At the top a final walk on flat, rocky ground to reach the Trig Point.

Trig point on Ingleborough

The initial descent from Ingleborough is a bit steep and tricky, but not too bad, and then what seems like a never ending slight downhill walk back to Horton that goes on and on and on. By this time we'd run out of water, were sunburned and every step I took on the stony ground was agony to the soles of my feet.

We eventually arrived back at our start point 15 hours and 7 mins after setting off. Some way off the official target and an hour behind our own target. But we were still very happy that we had completed this challenge and at the same time raised money for a worthwhile cause.

Would I do it again - NEVER.

Oh but wait a minute. I arranged with a couple of friends months ago that I would do the Y3P with them in the summer. And one of them has done this walk several times, in as quick as ten and a half hours.

As James May would say - 'Oh cock!'


Our route/timings are below. I think the GPS on my phone is not accurate as the total distance for this walk should be 25 miles.

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