Yorkshire Dales
We managed a fairly good night's sleep last night, despite our concerns about the local barn owls. We woke up at 5am to the sound of rain on the van roof, which although we were expecting we were not very pleased about. After only a minimal amount of faffing, we were on our way Only slightly later than planned at 6.30am. It was still raining and our first peak, Pen y Ghent was in the clouds.
We made amazingly fast time to the summit of Pen y Ghent - we were up there in an hour whereas the 12 hour peak planner said it should take 2. We couldn't see a thing except cloud and drizzle from the top so headed down quickly.
After Pen y Ghent it is a 7 mile slog across the moors to the base of the next peak - Whernside. The weather improved a bit and we had sunshine and showers all the way. We made good progress as we were still feeling pretty fresh and energetic. The hills were still in and out of the clouds, although we could see most of Whernside most of the time, and it looked big and far away.
Our route up it took us right round to the side, which seemed a massive distance, but on the positive side it was not too steep that way, although the ascent felt like it went on forever. My legs and hips were aching by this point and I was feeling a bit grumpy, but perked up a bit on the final ascent to the summit which was nice and airy and a bit easier going, with great views towards Ingleborough.
The summit was cloud free when we got there (after 5 and a half hours) so we decided to stop for our first break of the day and have a nice rest whilst admiring the view. Despite me putting on all my layers, I was freezing within minutes, and I don't think Claire was much warmer so we didn't have a very long break before heading down towards Ingleborough.
The way down was very steep, and the path was a man made path of rocks seemingly designed to trip you up and send you head first down the hill. We made it down without any major accidents though. About half way between Whernside and Ingleborough we came across a little snack bar with a selection of home made cakes on offer. Unfortunately we already had enough cakes to feed a small army, but we did purchase a pint of orange squash for a pound, purely so we could make use of the strictly enforced "customers only" toilet which beats squatting behind a rock hiding from passing Yorkshiremen any day.
I was feeling quite perky after our squash (and the wee of course), and my legs weren't hurting as much as they had been before. In hindsight, this may have had something to do with the ibuprofen I had during our short break on Whernside, but at the time I thought I'd broken the pain barrier or beaten the "wall" and was feeling quite pleased with myself.
Ingleborough did not look too bad as we approached it - cloud free and not as big as Whernside had seemed. The approach was lovely, on grassy paths surrounded by sheep and limestone pavements. The route up however was incredibly steep, up a never ending stone staircase, and then on reaching the "top" there were about 4 false summits before the real one came into view. We reached the summit after 8 and a quarter hours, which although was ahead of the peak planner schedule by about 2 hours, we felt like we were definitely slowing down. Well, I was anyway. It was freezing up there, so we didn't linger and set off down to cover the last 4 miles back to the van.
By this point we thought we should easily complete the challenge in under 10 hours, however those last 4 miles were the longest I've ever done in my life. We had a mini domestic on the way down because Claire kept walking off and leaving me trailing about half a mile behind, despite the fact that I was limping and pathetic. This matter was resolved after a little chat during which I threatened to eat all the remaining pork pies which were in my rucksack.
Despite my legs (which by this point only wanted to bend the wrong way) and feet, we ended up having a sprint finish such was our determination to break the 10 hour barrier. And we did, but only by a matter of seconds.
We collapsed in the van, made some coffee, limped to the toilets and then headed home. There were a lot of people limping around so I felt in good company.
I can honestly say that today's trek has been the most exhausting and painful I have ever done in my life. I think that maybe it was a mistake to have worn shoes as I'm not used to walking in shoes, and my ankles are wrecking now. Not to mention everywhere else. Claire does not seem to in as much pain, but I put this down to her being younger than me and having longer legs.
We have enjoyed a mountain of Dominos pizza and some wine, but really wish we had a day off work tomorrow to recover!
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