Ingleborough
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:49 pm
Quite possibly, another report from a hill everyone else has already climbed! But – having found the one area not quite sharing the customarily awful August bank holiday forecast – an easy walk up one of Yorkshire’s ‘Big Three’ on an interesting route.
I hadn’t realised that 9.00 was an exceptionally early start, but it was certainly surprising to see an empty carpark and quiet footpaths on such a popular hill on a holiday – the locals are obviously late starters, as there was barely room to move in Clapham by lunchtime… This route started with a very pleasant mile or so along the nature trail through the Ingleborough Hall estate - I’ve seen the ‘toll’ for this get some real stick elsewhere, but it’s a nice wooded walk past the lake and falls on a very well-kept path. (And it’s only 60p, for goodness sake! About a mouthful of beer these days…). The path narrows through Clapdale into the short but beautiful narrow ravine of Trow Gill and onto the open moor. Disappointingly though, Gaping Gill was full of the detritus of its ‘open-to-the-public’ day, and any view of its depths blocked by winches and assorted safety measures.
From here, the path up to and over Little Ingleborough to the main top is steep but, on a very well (and – it appears – expensively) made path of gravel and broad stone steps, easy and quick going. Ingleborough has some quite steep limestone escarpments, but the summit area itself is very broad and flat – it’s worth wandering around the edges for the best views of the surrounding dales and hills, with the limestone crops and Whernside to the west catching the eye especially, and – as for most of the morning – the distinctive silhouette of Pen y Ghent to the east prominent.
Hewitt-‘baggers’ will follow this with the little neighbouring lump of Simon Fell, and – after a clear stepped path down from the main summit – the wet grassy track that takes you there is rather a comedown. The hill itself is pretty nondescript, but it does offer some quite different prospects of Ingleborough, and also of the smaller hills to the north-east. After squeezing between the barbed-wire and the wall, the grassy ride across the ridge to Lord’s Seat is deceptively easy – the descent back to the main Ingleborough-Horton track thereafter being a horribly tricky zigzag between some very spongy and deep bogs. The route to and from Simon Fell is a reminder that – before the path-builders worked their wonders – climbing Ingleborough might not always have been the easy pleasure it is now…
It’s a comfortable stroll from there gradually back down to Clapham, cutting off the main path to follow a clear grassy track over the limestone ‘pavements’ south to join the Long Lane bridleway. Quite uneventful going from here, but pleasant views over the earlier route through Clapdale and of Thwaites Scar above to the left, before dropping down through the unusual dark path-tunnels back to the start.
I hadn’t realised that 9.00 was an exceptionally early start, but it was certainly surprising to see an empty carpark and quiet footpaths on such a popular hill on a holiday – the locals are obviously late starters, as there was barely room to move in Clapham by lunchtime… This route started with a very pleasant mile or so along the nature trail through the Ingleborough Hall estate - I’ve seen the ‘toll’ for this get some real stick elsewhere, but it’s a nice wooded walk past the lake and falls on a very well-kept path. (And it’s only 60p, for goodness sake! About a mouthful of beer these days…). The path narrows through Clapdale into the short but beautiful narrow ravine of Trow Gill and onto the open moor. Disappointingly though, Gaping Gill was full of the detritus of its ‘open-to-the-public’ day, and any view of its depths blocked by winches and assorted safety measures.
From here, the path up to and over Little Ingleborough to the main top is steep but, on a very well (and – it appears – expensively) made path of gravel and broad stone steps, easy and quick going. Ingleborough has some quite steep limestone escarpments, but the summit area itself is very broad and flat – it’s worth wandering around the edges for the best views of the surrounding dales and hills, with the limestone crops and Whernside to the west catching the eye especially, and – as for most of the morning – the distinctive silhouette of Pen y Ghent to the east prominent.
Hewitt-‘baggers’ will follow this with the little neighbouring lump of Simon Fell, and – after a clear stepped path down from the main summit – the wet grassy track that takes you there is rather a comedown. The hill itself is pretty nondescript, but it does offer some quite different prospects of Ingleborough, and also of the smaller hills to the north-east. After squeezing between the barbed-wire and the wall, the grassy ride across the ridge to Lord’s Seat is deceptively easy – the descent back to the main Ingleborough-Horton track thereafter being a horribly tricky zigzag between some very spongy and deep bogs. The route to and from Simon Fell is a reminder that – before the path-builders worked their wonders – climbing Ingleborough might not always have been the easy pleasure it is now…
It’s a comfortable stroll from there gradually back down to Clapham, cutting off the main path to follow a clear grassy track over the limestone ‘pavements’ south to join the Long Lane bridleway. Quite uneventful going from here, but pleasant views over the earlier route through Clapdale and of Thwaites Scar above to the left, before dropping down through the unusual dark path-tunnels back to the start.