Yorkshire With Mum :: Part Two

Hello Lovelies,
while researching walks for our weekend away I came across a circular walk up
 Pen-y-ghent. It's one of the three highest peaks in Yorkshire ( not Wales as the name always suggested to me).
At 2,273 feet above sea level it's higher than anything in the Peak District. That made it so tempting but also rather intimidating.
I did some more googling and came across a walking forum where folks were discussing which of the three peaks were the best. This comment  made me chuckle.......

"My vote goes to Pen y Ghent too. Great steep mini-mountain.....

And the name - it's just so ... romantic and evocative. "Hill of the Winds" or something like. Just makes you want to be up there. 

Whernside by comparison sounds like somebody's Geography teacher ("Psssst! Old Whernside's on the prowl," hissed Bunter...)
and Ingleborough a bit like a rather twee Home Counties town (Ingleborough's new Bus Station was opened today by the Mayor of neighbouring Tunbridge Wells....)

Hmm - wash my mouth out!   No offence to those two fine hills - but Pen y Ghent .... dreams of dragons and sorcery at least! "

That settled it ...Pen-y-ghent it would have to be then :0)

 When we parked in the village of Horton in Ribblesdale it's bulk dominated the skyline.
THIS WALK was billed as moderate, where as the previous day's walk up to Stoodley Pike was rated as challenging....somehow I doubted very much this could possibly be easier.....

Rather disconcertingly I had left my map in our hotel room...oh well at least there was a sign. Only 3 1/4  miles, but quiet a lot of ascent!

After a while I came to a choice of directions to take, happily there was a clear diagram telling you where each path would take you. I wanted to do the steep ascent and gentle descent, that will be the red route then, best turn right here.......

I walked down a quiet lane.....

and came to a cluster of houses....and spotted Mum's car. She had found a view to sketch ......

Show us your drawing mum........

looks promising. Here is the actual view........

I left her happily drawing away and headed over the footbridge and past the school, that "mini mountain" visible above the rooftops.......

Gentle walking.....

lovely views........

Another sign, but I hardly needed one, it was easy enough to follow other walkers I had caught up with........

Some of you might be familiar with the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, details HERE. I was happy to be attempting just one peak today.......

The well worn path soon got a lot steeper.......

and I passed a chap limping badly on his way down........

Oh, it will be fine Jacquie, look at those views......

I took a steady pace, still a long climb to go

stopping regularly to look at the views.....

soon the rocky outcrops began......

Each one slightly trickier than the last......

but the path was still mostly easy......

 A new gate was being installed here.....

As I neared Pen-y-ghent it's self the winds began to get quiet strong, that and the grey sky made it seen a little foreboding.
While I feel like a walker these days I don't have a long, hilly history of walking. I'm only onto my second ever pair of walking boots. My parents were never walkers when I was a child and as a young adult I wasn't in the least bit outdoorsy so this was rather outside my comfort zone. Being alone adds to the anxiety somewhat too...though I do like walking by myself.

A little higher the path turned into flagstone steps. I think we are so lucky to have wonderfully maintained footpaths like this .......

quiet a few people overtook me, that didn't worry me in the least and they all said a cheely hello...or it being Yorkshire "how do".........

Photographing the photographer :0).......

Here the path dipped down and was quiet sheltered.......

But then it was time to face the real climb......

more helpful steps........

Not a tree in sight.......

I was very pleased there were others around as the going got trickier and the wind blew more strongly than ever.....

Soon the steps were natural rock.......

then there was a scree field (think that's what you might call it) to go around......

Then there was a narrow path

with a steep drop to one side.......

This is so much harder than Mam Tor I thought. And it was. Sometimes you needed both hands to help you scramble up the super steep path. I couldn't take any pictures there.
And just when I thought I had made it, I looked over the top to see it wasn't actually the top and there was another tricky climb to do. I may have wished I hadn't started at that point, but I certainly wasn't going to turn around and go back...it would have been much scarier than climbing up.

A shaky view from one of the steep bits. Actually I think maybe I'm a wuss as I did see a little girl of about 5 years old, wearing plimsolls, coming down, chatting happily with her dad. And even a couple with a toddler each in carriers on their backs. That did seem rather foolish to me.

Gosh I was glad to pop my head over the top of the last climb and see this......

And then this........

And then I had made it. My highest hill so far "in the bag" :0)......

There's even a lovely seat to rest and enjoy the view....

But that was on the windy side when I was there, so I joined the other walkers and sheltered behind the wall.......

and ate...you guessed it...a hot cross bun :0)

I chatted with some couples who were also eating lunch, including a chap who was "fair looking forward" to his Ham and Mustard sandwich :0). They had come up in the opposite direction and he read out of his guide book to the others " head south from the trig point in a southerly direction along a flag stone path, until you reach the place where this path suddenly ends. Feet, hands and bottoms will be needed to negotiate the steep rocky descent" ..." you are not selling it to me" said a lady who I presume was his wife. Another lady said "I prefer to go upwards on the steep bits." Yes, I thought. So do I.
 I did have to agree it was very steep but at least it was not wet and they could help each other. Got to look on the bright side :0)

I loved seeing the little red GPS arrow showing my position on top of Pen-y-ghent, and all those contour lines showing how steep the route from the south was......now that it was over :0)

Sitting behind the wall it was easy to forget how strong the wind was on the summit, until you stood up, and wham, it hit you again.

I went to take one last picture of the Trig point on my phone and a kind hiker asked.... "are you alone? would you like me to take your photo?" How thoughtful.

So here I am. 

The route down was mostly quiet easy..........

It's a shame the sun didn't shine.......

The path was clear enough but I guess a cairn maybe helpful if there was snow on the ground....

I liked looking up at the cliffs, now the scrambling bit was over......

This part of the path was quite steep and the loose stones made it tricky......

A little colour still in the patches of heather...

Here I took a short detour ......

to look into a big hole in the ground called Hull Pot. A chap here told me it can fill up and look like a pond after heavy rain. You can see water flowing into it HERE

Looking back at where I climbed up :0)

My legs were feeling tired by the time I reached this lane......

Love the limestone landscape......

But I was glad to see the village.....

Not far now.......

Passing the Pen-y-ghent cafe.........

When I got back to the car park Mum was waiting and we enjoyed a car picnic. In the three hours I had been away mum had done two watercolours.

Here's the one we saw the start of........

And here's one from nearby Langcliffe........

It was still only three thirty so we enjoyed a drive through some pretty dales villages on the way back to our hotel. I'll share those pictures next time.

When we did get back it was 6pm and we were both hungry. Time for tea, and I felt I had earned an indulgent desert :0)........

Warm chocolate brownie. Yummy

All in all it wasn't the most photogenic walk, but I loved the sense of achievement it gave me.
Thank you for reading my ramblings.
Jacquie x