Fog, Bog and Slog – The Yorkshire 3 Peaks Hike
Well, the Yorkshire 3 peaks was a game of 2 halves for sure. The morning, starting at Horton in Ribblesdale at 6.30 a.m (actually, starting at 3.30 a.m at home) was shrouded in misty fog (one above mist but just below thick fog if you know what I mean) and drizzle. Which continued up and over Pen-Y-Ghent and up to the top of Whernside or so. With the bog section from last year being really, really boggy this year. I think everyone we walked with or saw on the trail plunged at least one boot into the bog at some point.
And then the sun burned away the low cloud and the final 5 hours or so were hot and sunny and with fantastic views in the valley across to Ingleborough and then up on the top of it.
My walking compadres were Adrian. Andy and son Joe. None of them had met each other before but there was surprisingly a lot in common between the actor, the professor specialising in Alzheimer’s research and the recent geology graduate. A love of the hills for one thing. But also an enjoyment of swapping science facts along the route. I joined in when I wasn’t trying to breathe, hauling myself up Whernside and Ingleborough 
There were surprisingly a lot of folk out, for what was the end of summer and a lot were raising money for their chosen charities - so hats off to them all.
I raised just over £300 for Simon On The Streets, who do great work with rough sleepers, so I’m personally chuffed. And also chuffed to have completed the challenge itself again. And also also chuffed to have spotted a purse right at the top of Ingleborough , to one side of the path towards the trig point and to have got it back to its owner at the end of the day, thanks to her business card being in there.
And a big THANK YOU to those who sponsored me (you can see who these kind folk were on this site).. much appreciated!
Here’s some photos – once again taken on my cameraphone, so not great depth of field or detail – but hopefully they give you a sense of the challenge. It’s a lovely part of the world and I’d recommend it if you haven’t visited before.
Click on the first photo if you want to see a close-up slideshow thing (I’m trying it out).
Training for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks – with a Derbyshire hike and the Mam Tor ridge
I’ve been wanting to venture further afield of late in my prep for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks (the moors around me are great but variety and all that..) and I was thinking north yorkshire or south lakes or maybe the peak district, which is on my doorstep.
Turns out a new client I’ve been working with is a walker and he recommended the ridge circular (taking in Mam Tor) above Castleton, down in Derbyshire. So that was that, the peak district. I’ve been to the area a few times over the years and really like it – so on Saturday son Joe and I headed that way.
Quick Advert :
I’m training for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge which is on 8th September.. rasing money for an excellent rough sleeper outreach / support charity, Simon On The Streets.
If you can, can you spare even £2 to sponsor me? Thanks.
http://www.justgiving.com/MarkKelly-Y3P
The route we used was the one mentioned here in the Walking Englishman’s blog/site. The route map on the site is a bit loose (as in doesn’t overlay exact path locations), so I loaded the helpfully supplied gpx file into Viewranger and used the phone app on the day rather than rely on the printed map I took as a backup. That isn’t a criticism of the info provided on the site by the way, (lots of great walks on there) but I wanted a more accurate route ‘sense checker’; as some of the paths go through farms and I didn’t want to stray off track too much.
map courtesy of http://www.walkingenglishman.com/peakdistrict04.htm
No Brodie on this walk unfortunately. I was a conflicted man – she would have loved the walk but she doesn’t travel too far in cars without getting all gippy. And it was forecast to be a hot, muggy day (which it was indeed, despite the cloud cover for most of it). And she’s slowing down a bit of late and the combo of feeling poorly after the drive and then 5 hours or so in the sun meant, reluctantly, she stayed at home. So it was just Joe and I – but I’ve promised her a long local moors walk this week if time allows.
The start and end of the walk is Hope, just past Castleton, lovely little village.
The whole hike was about four and half hours, with some great views along the way. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the trip. What you don’t get a sense of so much in the photos is that (being a weekend) Mam Tor itself was pretty busy, lots of families having picnics etc. Which was nice to see but I realised I do prefer more remote jaunts on the whole
The start of the walk from Hope (on the Edale road junction) – there were a lot of these stone gate posts between Hope and Castleton
Joe ahead of me on one of the boarded over (couple of boggy areas) sections on the path towards Lose Hill Hall (I think that’s about the right area)
A herd of curious calves in Castleton.. they weren’t the only crowd, it was a busy saturday in this lovely town. We headed up past Peveril Castle and the start of steep-ish uphill section ..
Not sure if the Limestone Way starts in Castleton but we took part of it up past Peveril castle and onto the tops.. I like the fact you are walking through / under what was an enormous reef system millions of years ago.
Joe on a stile near to Rowter Farm, above Castleton
Three fence posts we spotted on the way to Mam Tor.. may have been an art installation.. probably just a tidy framer though.
Dry Stone wall repairs (heading towards Mam Tor): different stone to the gritstone around Marsden of course but I’m not sure if the construction technique is different?
Approaching Mam Tor : the land slippage over on the right started a few thousand years ago but plagued the road below and around it in from the late 1800s right up to the 1970′s when time was called and the road closed.
We walked part of it later in the day on a detour on the way home, it’s pretty sobering seeing how mangled the whole (closed) road is in places.
views from Mam Tor towards Greenlands / Edale way (according to my map)
Taken on my phone. (Apparently) a depiction of a Sun God – one of the stone insets on Mam Tor, depicting different aspects of the celtic people who had a hill village / fort there around 1000 BC.
From Mam Tor along the ridge to Back Tor and Lose Hill. We sat here eating a sandwich and I imagined the Celts (and later Romans, attracted here by the caves and mines, including lead) patrolling the ridge with its sweeping views across the Hope Valley. Castleton and further away Hope are just off to the right of this shot.
Joe and I on Mam Tor, Hope Valley behind us. I set the camera on delay.. I’ve turned the saturation down a bit and I still look like a beetroot – a hot but overcast day.
Someone pushing into one of my shots near Back Tor. Didn’t want to argue with a face like that..
I think (checking the map) that this ledge was pretty much at Back Tor, but a search of Flickr doesn’t show any similar vista. Hmm. if you know this exact spot (along the ridge path towards Lose Hill), please let me know. I like the vista anyway and Joe made me look like I knew what I was doing.
After returning to Hope we had a quick snack break at The Blue Apple cafe. The Bakewell Pudding – not Tart, as was explained nicely to me – was fantastic. And a pot of tea that went on for ages, excellent. I think I had a net calorie gain after that pud
Then we headed home with a quick detour (I had a geologist in tow) to the Odin Mine, site of an old lead mining / extraction enterprise. Started in Roman times I think but really active in the industrial revolution. It was dark in the wet and slimy cave we entered but we pushed forward to an area that, when illuminated by the flash on my DSLR, was enormous. And a bit spooky.
The Odin Mine crushing wheel .. taken on my phone. The large metal band set into the ground behind it is pretty impressive
Also a quick marvel at the slumped and buckled old road below Mam Tor (geology cares nothing for civil engineering) and then we drove up through the impressive limestone scenery out of Castleton and the Hope valley.
A great days walking – recommended.
Related articles
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New App for hiking the West Highland Way #hike
I got contacted today by an app developer who has brought out an app (for Android initially I think) for people looking to do the West Highland Way.
I’d love to do this path / trail its entirety – on my bucket list, as having driven up most of it (and walked a tiny part + one mountain at the northern end) it’s a beautiful part of the world.
And I have family in Erskine / Paisley and as a boy we had day trips to Loch Lomond. And I’ve travelled up and down the road to Inverness a few times as an adult and always wanted to stop and wander a while..
Alas I don’t have the time just now – but (and this sounds like an Ad, it isn’t!) .. if I was to do it I’d download this App for sure, it looks really useful.
I’ve got viewranger which of course handles all the GPS, route marking and more but this looks a bit more specialist with local knowledge thrown in. One of the neat things for this App, I think, is it looks to have a diary feature. so you can jot down notes at stopovers.. handy for blogging types (yes you can blog on the go but having a facility in the app for diary notes seems a nice touch ).
Calton Hill – West Highland Way – sample App Screen
Some info from the developers:
“For the first time, a guide to Scotland’s West Highland Way long distance path is available for Android phones and tablets. People can use it to plan their route and accommodation in advance and also day-to-day as they walk the route.
The app can display a map of the route overlayed with the locations of essential facilities such as hotels, hostels, B&Bs, campsites, shops, transport links, etc. Users can move around the map and touch a location to see information about the facilities there, including links to the appropriate website for further information. So people can find the best accommodation options and link straight to their websites for contact details and booking.”
http://www.caltonhillgolf.com/walking/
Looks like they are going to do bespoke apps in a similar vein for other long distance paths. nice one.
South Pennines Walk and Ride Festival – Sept 2012
Just a quick post about an outdoors festival taking place in the South Pennines area (north UK for my USA friends) in September.
I just got an email update about it and there looks to be loads on for every type of outdoorsy person.
The events run between 8th and 23rd September 2012.. you can get more info here : www.walkandridefestival.co.uk
And for my specific micro-area (Marsden ) there’s quite a few walks listed (not just when the festival is on, obviously) http://www.walkridesouthpennines.co.uk/walk_inner.php?area=9
It kind of coincides with my pre / post Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge but I’ll make sure I can get to some of the events.. some even involve Beer
My sponsored challenge can be found here : http://www.justgiving.com/MarkKelly-Y3P
Training for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks (for @simonotstreets) – along The Pennine Way / Oldham Way
I’ve had a couple of trips away of late, so this weekend I was determined to get out and get moving in prep for the upcoming Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge I’m doing (raising money for homeless charity Simon On The Streets). Saturday looked like the best day so that was the plan. A ‘proper’ walk, come what may. What I hadn’t planned for though, was just how long the (excellent) Olympics opening ceremony would go on for.. and how heavy the red wine I was drinking would be. Oops.
Saturday was therefore a bit of a slow start. And my reluctance to get up the hills wasn’t helped by the rain that started just as I was getting Brodie’s harness on. Anyway – rain,schmain – off we went, though neither of us in particularly high spirits!
I had planned (in my head) a route that would start out from the back of the garden (always a good place to start) and go straight up the hill to the catch-water near Shooters Nab above Marsden. The climb felt a bit hard this time (first time for a long time actually). I was a bit dehydrated and I was cursing myself for not drinking more water before I set off. There was approximately 10 miles ahead of us so I stopped to swig some water rather than start with a headache.
The route described a southerly, then west to north-westerly loop up above the Wessenden valley on the heritage trail and then joining the Pennine Way near the Deer Farm and heading over the moors between Swellands and Black Moss reservoirs towards the Oldham Way / Pennine Way.
A curious young Fallow Deer in the Wesenden valley Deer Farm. I think he could smell the apple I just started crunching when I stopped to look at them. He ended up with a big piece of it. I’m as soft with deer as dogs obviously.
The part between the Deer Farm and Swellands Res is one of my favourite parts of the moors whether rain, snow or (occasional!) blue sky. Walking down the little steep sided valley to the river (Wessenden Brook) and the wooden bridge, past the waterfall and then up the steepish hill to the phone mast (and Heritage Stone number X (can’t remember which one that is.. 11?)) is a nice little section and gets your heart going.. more so with a dog pulling you downhill sniffing out sheep and rabbits (every time).
Waterfall near Wesenden Brook – I think this is Blakely Clough?
We stopped for a quick lunch of cheese sandwich just after Black Moss res (Brodie being a bit partial to cheddar) before heading over the A62 and on to the impressive cliffs looking over Castleshaw reservoirs. I could have spent ages here poking around the interesting shapes of the rocks but would have had a bored dog to contend with.
Looking towards Castleshaw Reservoirs
Millstone Edge on Pennine / Oldham Way
I shot a short video near the Oldham Way / Pennine Way Cairn – Warning : terrible sound quality due to the incessant winds ..
We then headed a bit further north before turning east / south east, down Willykay Clough and down to Eastergate and the final tramp back into Marsden.
Eastergate Bridge near Marsden
So about 10 or 11 miles in all and I had reckoned about 4.5 / 5 hours to complete. Which it turned out to be.
And after that first shower we had patchy blue skies but (very) strong winds to contend with over the first 3 or 4 hours or so (it got a bit wearing actually).
I’m glad I got out despite the initial reluctance and a few more 5+ hour walks to get fit for the 3 peaks are on the cards
If you enjoyed this post and admire my grit in fighting a mild hangover,
why not sponsor me for the Yorkshire 3 Peaks:
http://www.justgiving.com/MarkKelly-Y3P
thanks!
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Mark Kelly’s Hiking Blog
- The Misty Mountain .. a walk up Snowdon May 5, 2013
- Yorkshire 3 Peaks 2013 for Simon On The Streets April 28, 2013
- Planning a Ridgeway walk March 31, 2013
- Kit Test : NO-AD suncream March 30, 2013
- A Roman Road circular hike .. the oxymoronic post March 20, 2013
- Snowdon In the Snow 2013 February 15, 2013
- A snowy slog on Swellands – Marsden Moor January 28, 2013
- Swellands hike – checking a Walkers Are Welcome new route January 6, 2013
- Intake Head walk – some guide map checking December 30, 2012
- A Boxing Day ramble with ‘health giving breezes’ .. December 26, 2012
