Pen-y -Ghent

[susanmyatt]

Hi, this was a chance to see one of the other hills that we would be climbing when we do our charity 3 Peaks Walk, we started from where we would camp and took in Pen-y-Ghent and 11 miles, the weather was not too good and a fall in the bog requiring two knights in shining armour to get me out didn't exactly make the day. Perhaps it's beginning to dawn on us how far 24 miles is, especially with the three hills, hoping to go back soon to do two hills in a walk and then we will have a better idea. Before the event we will be going to the Lakes to put some miles in.

Pen-y-Ghent summit

Thanks for looking, Sue

[Paul Webster]

Hope you have fun on the 3 peaks - a real classic walk, we used to do it every year in April. All the tiring, bad bits of bog are between Penyghent and Ribblehead, so once you get to Ribblehead you've cracked it, really - honest (just Whernside and Ingleborough to pop up and down)

[susanmyatt]

We hope to try Whernside before we do the lot, how long did it take you Paul, our aim is 12 hours. After all we are only amateurs

[Paul Webster]

I'd really recommend doing the bit between Whernside and Pen-y-ghent early in the day as this bit could be dispiriting later on. The other sections mostly have excellent built paths these days which at least mean you make decent fast progress even when tired. Going anti-clockwise also means you get to do the steeper bits of Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough as ascents, with the long steady descent from Ingleborough to Horton an ideal way to finish.

The first time we did it in 12 hours; this came down to 11 and then under 10 hours in future years. I didn't have a car in those days so 10 hours was great as it meant an earlier train back from Horton to York (or pints in the pub!). I always thought it was amazing that it was possible to do such a great (and long) walk using the train from York in a day.

Good luck.

[mountain coward]

I wrote a report on my 3 peaks which I did sponsored a few years back but I've lost it. We didn't do the traditional route in the traditional order though. Went from Horton up the road to Ribblehead (quicker, no bogs, no messing about and no route-finding). Got a nice, greasy fried sarnie for brekkie at Ribblehead tea-wagon. Then went up Whernside and Ingleborough as normal. Arrived back to Horton and changed socks/boots etc for nice fresh feet and then did Penyghent. Worked really well - a few more miles but much easier. Took a shade over 10 hours on the hottest day of the year (and it was a year with a summer!).