Ingleborough – 0ne of Yorkshire's Three Peaks

clarejk2014

Oct 29

From the village of Ingleton to the 723m (2,372 ft) mountain of Ingleborough is a mere two and a half miles (according to a signpost). Not a long walk to the second highest mountain of the Yorkshire Dales but, my goodness, during the steep sections it felt like twice that.

It was a lovely sunny October day when we started the hike, but as this is England with its constantly changeable weather, the sky turned a dismal grey and rain began to fall. The further uphill we went, the chillier it got.

This trail took us along a path and then through fields dotted with limestone pavement and steps. The limestone is a curious geological feature in itself but it also means that we can generally miss boggy or marshy ground (a possible hazard with autumnal and winter walks in the countryside). We walked past an isolated but lived-in house and mused how lovely it would be to live there with a self-sufficient smallholding, far from the crowds. One can dream!

Before the climb - and at the top of Ingleborough

As a shortish walk up a 723m mountain, there are inevitably steep sections, which did feel increasingly gruelling, especially in the wind, rain and cold. I tripped on a sneaky rock and grazed my leg. We pondered about heading back but after getting so far, we might as well continue our journey.

It wasn't that far from the top in fact although the steep steps didn't make it feel that was the case. The summit is broad and flat, with a trig point and a large shelter. It's worth reaching the summit just for the views alone - there are hills galore. We could see Ingleborough's fellow Three Peakers and neighbours, Pen-y-ghent and Whernside, among others.

Because of the duration of the hike, we didn't take any lunch and this decision was rewarded when we enjoyed a pot of tea and a hot sandwich at The Wheatsheaf Inn back in the village. On the wall was a sign about the Three Yorkshire Peaks, a runner had completed the three in two hours, 46 minutes (Andy Pearce in 1996)! We didn't break any records today but I was happy that we'd carried on to the top and left Ingleton with a sense of achievement.

We came across a sign stating that it had been originally thought that the remains of stone ramparts and hut circles on Ingleborough's summit belonged to an Iron Age hillfort 2,500 years ago. But now a new theory suggests these date 1,000 years earlier to the Bronze Age and were built for ritual purposes with the huts actually being ring cairns (these consisted of low circular earth and stone embankments - some ring cairns have been found elsewhere in Yorkshire with human cremations).

Fascinating, it's amazing to think how these hills may once have been busy with people from ancient times doing things we are still trying to fathom today.

Limestone pavement on Whernside

Another interesting snippet about Ingleborough is its limestone pavement, also found in other parts in the Yorkshire Dales, especially Malham Cove.

These are a couple of facts from The Yorkshire Dales website:

Limestone pavement is a rare habitat in Britain. The Yorkshire Dales National Park contains approximately half of all Britain's limestone pavement.

Limestone pavement is made up of a series of clints (the flat horizontal slabs of carboniferous limestone) and grykes (the vertical cracks between the slabs). Limestone pavements were created during the ice age when the scouring action of ice sheets exposed the pavements.

https://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/about/wildlife/habitats/limestone/limestone-pavements/