I’m doing the Offas’s Dyke Challenge on September 12th for the Red Cross, along with walking compadres Taru, Jenny and Karl (‘The Butterly Booters’). It’s 26 miles of mountainous hike. So what better way to prepare for that than.. 26 miles of mountainous hike?
We completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks on Saturday. My fourth time on this particular challenge, each one has been different thanks to the company, weather, mindset etc.. the ingredients of any long walk. This time around I started with heavy feet, having over-stretched myself by helping to move Mikron Theatre Company’s boat, Tyseley, the day before. Narrow boating can be really physical with heavy lock gates etc. I didn’t want to miss out on the chance of a day and night on the boat though!
The rest of the gang’s enthusiasm propelled me in good sprits out of the Horton In Ribblesdale start point though. As did the early morning midges.. we didn’t want to hang around!
Time is tight so I’ll let the video below illustrate the day on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks.. this time around was probably the best weather I have had, with all 3 Peaks visible (and much more) at the same time. Beautiful.
Accommodation etc:
If you are travelling from afar and are staying before or after a day on the Peaks:
after our day’s exertions we had a pint and great food at The Crown in Horton In Ribblesdale. And then drove a short way up to the YHA Hostel in Ingleton. The Hostel is great as it’s clean and with friendly staff (I actually recognised one of the guys from his time at the Helvellyn hostel. My memory not as bad as I think!). It’s also in the village itself with nearby shops and walks, if you want a leg stretch the day before or after doing the Y3P.
Info on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks:
If you want to read about my previous excursions up and around the 3 Peaks have a look here:
https://halfwayhike.com/category/yorkshire-3-peaks-challenge/
And if you want to get a great guide book (whether it’s your first time on the challenge or not), go buy the book that Mountain / Hillwalking Guide and all round top blogger Paul Shorrock has authored:
http://hillcraftguidedwalking.com/2015/06/15/177-y3p-the-yorkshire-three-peaks-challenge/
(this is a link to his blog and the article has a link to the Amazon page.. I thought you may want to see the blog first).
Why we were on the Y3P Challenge:
As mentioned, we were training for an upcoming ‘Offa’s Dyke Challenge’, I’ll use this space to plug our sponsorship for that (and thank you in advance if you do!):