Saturday, 26th March 2022
After a “bit of a hiccup” getting to the parking spot I finally met up with Paul for a wander up Whernside.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous – almost too warm and
I’m soooo glad I didn’t take the big thick fleece jacket I was planning on
wearing. Absolutely no need for it whatsoever. It really was
t-shirt weather.
We trotted off down the road a little way before joining the
main path, along with a million other people.
The task ahead:
Getting a little nearer to Ribblehead Viaduct:
Navigation definitely
isn’t an issue on this walk.
We get to the iconic Blea Moor signal station/box:
It could do with a bit of a spruce up and lick of paint.
It’s a fairly
featureless landscape in some respects – vast moorland views although the
skyline is dominated with views of Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent and it was a
bit of a surprise to me to see how close they seem.
Hazy Ingleborough:
I did take some more
pics but the views were hazy and they didn’t turn out very well at all, but the
views were better in real life.
An unimaginatively named “waterfall” on Force Gill:
To be honest, I could
have got a better pic of this too but we were too busy yakking!
We reached a crossroads:
By this point we were looking for a likely place for Snack Stop Number 1 and Paul suggested carrying on towards Deepdale to get away from the crowds a bit. So that’s what we did. The path gets noticeably rougher at this point but still easy enough underfoot.
We found a suitable
tumbledown wall to perch on and stare at the even more impressive views of
Ingleborough and PyG now that we were a bit higher up. But again, the
haze made the pics rubbish.
We bog-hopped along
the (wrong side of the) fence, looking for a suitably bendy/saggy bit of wire
fence to clamber over to re-join the main path. I was quite happy with this
bog-trotting adventure, Paul, less so, I think
Another attempt at a pic of the views:
I used the “wide”
function on my phone’s camera and, well, yeh. It flattens the two most
prominent hill in view somewhat.
A little further along and we got a frog chorus. Or, as Paul called it frogpawn:
The little dark lumps
in the water are all frogs, all ribbeting away. It was just like being in
the Serangeti (or somewhere!). I took a little vid of it too, more for the frog
chorus than anything (turn up the volume):
We’re heading onto
the “nose” of Whernside now and I’m realising that, although I’ve been walking
almost daily, doing yoga, tai chi and using the gym, there is nothing
NOTHING that gets you hill fit other than walking up hills. Something
I’ve not had chance to do since November last year. I stopped to admire
the views. A lot. It’s not even a particularly steep
gradient. I was reassured by Paul that it gets dark around 6pm but not to
worry, he’d brought a headtorch!
The tarn on Greensett Moss:
With Ingleborough
looking pretty impressive beyond.
After what seemed
like ages (probably was) we reached the trig. I tapped the top and took this
shot quickly before more people appeared:
There’s a
squeeze-stile to get through coming the way we came and it’s not very
forgiving!
There are also a
couple of little shelters either side and I sat in one of them to tend to a
blister that was making an appearance on my heel – thanks Paul for the Compeed
– I’m now a convert and think these are a viable workaround for my shoe
stitching issue.
We didn’t stop long
here as there was lots of people drifting past. Including three blokes, one of
whom was on his first ever hill walk – he looked a bit tired! Paul
offered to take a pic of the three of them at the trig and one of the guys
clambered up and stood on the top of it. Rather him than me!
But oh, the views
from the top were gorgeous. Although we were under cloud, the surrounding
hills were dappled with sunlight and cloud shadows and it looked
gorgeous. The Howgills looking all lumpy and bumpy and inviting to the
north. Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent looking pretty imposing to the
east. The Lake District mountains were just visible through the haze to
the west. The vast flatness (in comparison) of the rest of England to the
south and Morecambe Bay just visible in between.
We trotted off on the
easy (at the moment) descent before taking a left turn down the hillside to
join The Pennine Journey path.
Before we dropped too
far down, we found some convenient rocks for Snack Stop Number 2. Paul
pointed out the path we were to follow back to the viaduct. It still
looked a long way away!
Fed and watered for a
second time, we continued steeply down the hillside, made somewhat easier by
the newly laid stone steps – a weird green colour and definitely not
native. I hope they weather a bit.
The gradient eased
after we reached the gate and it was a pleasant meander through farmland where
I saw lambsies:
My first of the
year. Awwwwwww
And so back to the viaduct again:
An attempt at an arty-farty pic:
Plaque:
I had a brief rest
here as my legs were sore now but it really wasn’t far back to the cars.
Back at the cars we
checked the scores on the doors. I was interested to know how my new
mapping app had fared I got a splidge over 8 miles, Paul got a splidge over 9
miles. It felt like a splidge over 20 miles.
But whether it was 8
or 9 miles, it was a smashing walk and not bad going (for me) as the longest
walk I’ve done this year so far. Anyway, it’s given me restless legs and
wanderlust again.
Cheers to Paul for organising. A smashing day out in the hills and that's my final Y3P ticked off...
.... Now for the N3P (eeeeek).
Thanks for reading 😊