The Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge - Run to Victory!

Hey all

I thought I'd tell you a bit about another challenge that I have completed, the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge. This challenge is set in the Yorkshire Dales and consists of climbing 3 of the tallest hills in England in under 12 hours.

(Theres a video at the bottom of this post, dont forget to have a look at it)

The challenge is a walking challenge that is 26 miles long and totals 1585m of ascent. Although not a lot, the mileage involved makes it all the more difficult. The hills are

• Pen-y-Ghent (694 metres)
• Whernside (736 metres)
• Ingleborough (723 metres)

And we did them in this order.

We set off bright and early, starting in Horton-in-Ribblesdale where you put your details on a bit of paper and post it into the local store. This registers the start of your hike with the time you started. Then we made our way off towards Pen-Y-Gent

The day started off a bit drizzly, with lots of fog and damp. Basically a beautiful English morning!. By the time we got to the top, it was looking like it was about to clear up, so morale picked up

^{Pretty grim on Pen-y-ghent}

^{View from the top of Pen-y-ghent}

Next up was the depressing long, long walk to Whernside. This is the bit that really tires you out - it's 19km peak to peak with not a lot going on in between so you need to be mentally strong for this section. The one good thing is that you get to walk by the Ribblehead viaduct which is British engineering at it's best.

^{Ribblehead Viaduct}

As you hike up to Whernside (you kind of walk around the back of it and approach it from the rear, you come across some nice streams and the occasional waterfall.

^{View of Whernside}

The climb of Whernside is the easiest of the three, but does take a long time

^{The Summit of Whernside, Number 2}

^{View looking back to the Ribblehead Viaduct.}

Coming down Whernside was quite interesting. It's a pretty steep descent and quite a few people were going for a tumble. We just took our time and managed to get down without issues.

^{Whernside Descent}

By this time, the third member of our party, my wife's cousin, was starting to find things difficult and we started to drop behind in terms of getting the challenge completed within the 12 hour time limit. We slowly made our way to Ingleborough, which has quite a scramble up to the summit. This is probably the hardest bit of the whole hike.

^{Scramble up Ingleborough}

Unfortunately, the third member of our party didnt make it to the top of Ingleborough. She literally got 100 m from the summit and gave up. Very disappointing. Anyway, Charlene and I managed it

^{Number 3}

Now it was time, literally, for the race back to Horton to try to clock in under 12 hours. It wasnt looking good though, i think we had about 2 hours left to get from the top of Ingleborough back to Horton and with one member of the team really struggling, it was time for the selfishness to come out. With Charlene staying behind and looking after her cousin, I effectively ran the last 9km on my own, down Ingleborough and back to Horton

My finishing time was 11 hours and 46 minutes but we could easily have done it in 10 hours had it not been for the problems that Janine was having. Charlene was gutted (although was happy that she stayed behind to help her cousin) and wants to go back and do it again to beat the 12 hours. I think they got in at about 12 hours and 20 minutes.

^{Certificate and badge!}

Charlene did a video of the day which you can see here...

The Y3P is a cracking challenge if you have a day to spare and fancy taking it on. It's well signposted and there's usually quite a few people doing it, especially at weekends.

If you do fancy it, I can point you in the direction of a lovely B+B nearby to stay in, just drop me a reply or message on steemit chat.

Thanks

Mark