With only a fortnight until the big event I headed up to Yorkshire for my final full on training session. Rachel, my cousin, and her husband Jamie, came down from Edinburgh to join me an attempt on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge – a circular 26 mile course taking in the 3 highest peaks in Yorkshire Pen-y-ghent (694 metres), Whernside (736 metres) and Ingleborough (723 metres). If you do it within 12 hours, you get to join the ‘3 Peaks of Yorkshire Club’, so this was our aim…
We set out early on the Saturday morning, and naively we’d all thought we’d be the only ones out, especially at 7.30am on a Saturday. But the up the hill, ahead and behind us was a steady stream of people, and this continued all day – it made navigating easier, although Jamie and I did check the route map from time to time to make sure we weren’t following walkers on a completely different route!
The first peak, Pen-y-ghent, was quite rocky and steep near the top, with a demoralising fake summit, and was in near white out conditions. We hoped the drizzle that had started was not going to last all day. To our delight, on descending the other side the fog lifted, rain stopped and while still cloudy it was near perfect walking conditions.
It’s a VERY long walk between Pen-y-ghent and the second peak, Whernside, and very, very boggy. At one point all of us had serious doubts as to whether we’d actually make the whole route at all, let alone in 12 hours! But we made the summit of Whernside, just before 2pm, and with a bite of dark chocolate, both our energy levels and moods lifted. Two down, only 1 to go. From there on it was quite enjoyable, with the sun even making an appearance at one point! The route up to Ingleborough was narrow path of very steep steps, which was a bit demoralising to look at after more than 6 hours of walking. But on tackling it, it wasn’t that bad as was quite a short stretch.
We clocked back in at the Horton-in-Ribblesdale café just over 10 ½ hours after setting out – well within the time limit and over an hour quicker than the route guide we were following. (The Café have an ancient clocking out/in machine to keep track of walkers, and if you don’t clock back in they call out mountain rescue – a good safety scheme, but potentially embarrassing if you are just forgetful!).
I'm really glad to have done these 3 Peaks, and it was a great boast to the end of my training for the National 3 Peaks Challenge. I can see a marked improvement in my mountain fitness since starting training in June, as I can now keep a steady pace up any slope, without my legs and lungs screaming out for a break with every other step!
Just to push my muscles to their limit, and as an alternative to sitting in the café for hours waiting for friends and trains, I also did an 8 mile walk on the Friday afternoon, exploring local farms and potholes, and then took a short brisk stroll on the Sunday along the river Ribble. (now say that one fast!).
The next two weeks I’ll be winding down my training and instead concentrate on fuelling up my body for the impending big event.
Still, people were smiling all day and seemed to enjoy the walk, despite having to sit outside for lunch as the only pub on the route was full!! (The staff were very accommodating though, providing us with bin bags to sit on, and even doing table service outside in the rain! Thanks!).
