Ingleborough, one of the Yorkshire Dales 3 Peaks:
My first, his first.
I guided my ten year old son (L) up Ingleborough yesterday, it's the first time I've been up there for 30 years. It is fitting, that being Yorkshire men his first mountain was my first mountain. Set in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales it is one of Yorkshire's own 3 Peaks. It was not a deliberate choice to make it so. Strange how the unconscious mind works. It was only on the train back that it even occurred to me.
The walk was inspired by my final Law exam the day before and a yearning to get back out in the hills now that 4 years of study have been completed. We took our black Labrador, Cherokee, with us and for her too it was a first over 500m. My heavily pregnant wife, ensconced with a book back in Leeds, was comforted by the Twitter updates, posting a quick comment and where I could get a decent signal, a photo direct from the Mountain top!
My first, his first.
I guided my ten year old son (L) up Ingleborough yesterday, it's the first time I've been up there for 30 years. It is fitting, that being Yorkshire men his first mountain was my first mountain. Set in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales it is one of Yorkshire's own 3 Peaks. It was not a deliberate choice to make it so. Strange how the unconscious mind works. It was only on the train back that it even occurred to me.
The walk was inspired by my final Law exam the day before and a yearning to get back out in the hills now that 4 years of study have been completed. We took our black Labrador, Cherokee, with us and for her too it was a first over 500m. My heavily pregnant wife, ensconced with a book back in Leeds, was comforted by the Twitter updates, posting a quick comment and where I could get a decent signal, a photo direct from the Mountain top!
As we climbed a route from the railway station at Horton in Ribblesdale towards
the West I marvelled at the countryside I had not seen for so long. L
was smitten with the towering mass of Pen -Y- Ghent to the East which
towers over the village and was fortunately
soon forgotten about with a promise to climb it next time.
The path from Horton rises and falls between craggy limestone
pavements.The path is well trodden and marked, but does not bear the
distinctiveness of a prepared footpath. A single wooden signpost and
numerous stone cairns show the route to follow.
Cairns
Cairns,
now there was a thought from my past. I learnt my love of the hills
from being a youngster in the Air Cadets boldly going with a group of
friends to complete our expeditions. And later, much later, I learnt the skills of a Mountain Leader
from a group of expert, if fanatical climbers and walkers. It was their
object in life to destroy these monoliths of navigational incompetence.
Cairns, built up over long
years, lure the untrained into thinking they are travelling on the
footpath. Follow the stones and you can't go wrong, tragically such
advice has been ill informed on too numerous occasions. Nevertheless
today we were out to enjoy walking, fanaticism could come later and the
cairns survived our passing.
Our route climbed towards the south east shoulder of Simons
Fell and we took our first break of the day here. L had done
tremendously well to get this far in good humour and it was here I
needed him to stock up on chocolate and crisps. He was drinking a little
too much and having flipped his mouthpiece off the bladder pack twice
on the way up would not have enough juice to last the day Fortunately
I'd packed a litre of water as well as my obligatory flask of tea that
would, in the end, see us right back to the train station.
Summiting
The next part of our walk started with a very mild ascent along the contours of Simon's Fell, which quickly changed in to the steep climb to the summit of Ingelborough. This is where L's face turned bright pink and I wondered if his struggle was because of the childhood asthma returning due to the effort or simply the lack of fitness that seems to plague modern day children. And then we were there, the wide rock strewn expanse of Ingleborough summit. L gazed round him as though seeing the world for the first time and demanded I point out the other two of Yorkshire's three peaks. Then I introduced him to the niceties of summit bagging as we headed for the triangulation pillar.
Ceremony
To say there were some ardent climbers up there that day is putting it mildly and I will forever have the look on L's face engraved in my memory as he watched a thickset man circle the pillar 3 times with his left hand placed firmly on its top. A look which turned to fascination as one after another, walker after walker passed the pillar some slapping it, some brushing it as they passed, but all making some contact. Then L looked at me, walked up to the pillar and placed both hands flat on its top, his own ceremony hereafter I suspect.
The next part of our walk started with a very mild ascent along the contours of Simon's Fell, which quickly changed in to the steep climb to the summit of Ingelborough. This is where L's face turned bright pink and I wondered if his struggle was because of the childhood asthma returning due to the effort or simply the lack of fitness that seems to plague modern day children. And then we were there, the wide rock strewn expanse of Ingleborough summit. L gazed round him as though seeing the world for the first time and demanded I point out the other two of Yorkshire's three peaks. Then I introduced him to the niceties of summit bagging as we headed for the triangulation pillar.
Ceremony
To say there were some ardent climbers up there that day is putting it mildly and I will forever have the look on L's face engraved in my memory as he watched a thickset man circle the pillar 3 times with his left hand placed firmly on its top. A look which turned to fascination as one after another, walker after walker passed the pillar some slapping it, some brushing it as they passed, but all making some contact. Then L looked at me, walked up to the pillar and placed both hands flat on its top, his own ceremony hereafter I suspect.
The weather had been kind to us and with the sun shining I saw no need to rush our lunch on top. We joined the marshalls of a 3 peaks challenge in the stone shelter, while we tucked in to sandwiches and roasted chicken
legs and of course a full bowl of dog food for Ches. As we were
finishing L complained of being cold, even the snuggling warmth of my
Buffalo jacket failed to appease him and it was time to go.
Clapham Path Descent
The
descent was something different, I asked Luke which way, he looked
around wide eyed and could not tell. I took a minute to teach him how to
orientate a map with the compass and we stopped for a quick photo by the pillar; then headed South along the Clapham
path. This was the route I had climbed the mountain so many years ago
and I was not impressed! I remember a grassy path, littered with bogs
some deep some not, but all ready to suck off your boot if it wasn't laced
tight enough. Now in front of me stretched a scar of a prepared
footpath, the full length of the mountain ridge and raised above the bog;
visible from the moon I would guess and absolutely horrible. I was glad
this monstrosity had remained hidden until our descent.
Gaping Gill
We followed this well prepared path all the way down to Gaping Gill a huge, 330m, hole in the ground created by the running waters of Fell Beck, which joins up with the maze of underground caverns that stretch under the fells from Clapham itself. This is a life saver on a hot day as the water is clear and fast running. The Bradford Pothole Club were there preparing their annual winch meet where anyone for £10 can be winched into the Main Chamber of the Gaping Gill system. Now unless you're a caving nut this is the only time you'll get the opportunity to experience this, so have a look at the link. The winch will operate from 29th May to 4th June, but you have to get there early and it's a good 1 hour hill walk from Clapham.
We followed this well prepared path all the way down to Gaping Gill a huge, 330m, hole in the ground created by the running waters of Fell Beck, which joins up with the maze of underground caverns that stretch under the fells from Clapham itself. This is a life saver on a hot day as the water is clear and fast running. The Bradford Pothole Club were there preparing their annual winch meet where anyone for £10 can be winched into the Main Chamber of the Gaping Gill system. Now unless you're a caving nut this is the only time you'll get the opportunity to experience this, so have a look at the link. The winch will operate from 29th May to 4th June, but you have to get there early and it's a good 1 hour hill walk from Clapham.
At about this time L decided he'd had enough and wanted to make the early
train. It was time for yours truly to take us off the paths and go
direct across country. There is some debate amongst the walking
fraternity about what's allowed and what isn't. To my mind anything goes
provided you do no damage of any kind. 30 mins later and we were 2km from the train station having negotiated a directly easterly route across Clapham Bottoms, the advantages of using a 1:25000 map are numerous.
We
took our final break on the descent into Horton which allowed us to
finish our supplies and check the trains with a restored mobile internet signal. We (all 3 of us) were grateful for the cold water tap outside the public toilets in Horton (opposite the New Inn) where I filled a water bottle for the journey back to Leeds and Ches stuck her head under the tap.
