I actually completed this challenge in Easter but totally forgot to write a post about it. I also used some blog posts and lots of guides when planning to complete this challenge so thought it would be rude not to share with our fellow hiker lovers!
People may think we are weird that we love walking, but honestly it’s such a great way to spend a weekend, or a holiday or just an afternoon. Putting walking boots on and heading out to explore the wonderful world we live in is so much fun!
Anyway, the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge is a route totalling 24 miles (38.6km), and includes 1585m (5200ft) of ascent.
The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough and needs to be completed within 12 hours in order to have successfully completed it. We did it in just over 10 hours 30 minutes.
When planning the route ourselves we used the Three Peaks Challenge website a lot and did the route in the order that you would do it if you paid to do the organised route, which is Ingleborough > Pen-y-ghent > Whernside.
We started the walk super early and got to the car park at Chapel le Dale at 6.30am. We parked in the field that is set up for the challenge, not sure if you are allowed to use it if you’re not on the organised hike but our car was okay all day!
We had downloaded the OS map app and used the code from the physical map to be able to download the map onto our phones. This meant we didn’t need to use a compass as the app showed us exactly where we were on the path.
We had screen-grabbed the entire route so we had to flick between the screenshot of the route and the OS app and this worked well for us.
Once our boots were on we set off to the top of Ingleborough. According to the schedule set by the Three Peaks Challenge website we should’ve got to the top of Ingleborough at 8am, but we got there for 7.30am! The route up didn’t seem to take us very long at all, it went really quick (probably because we were so excited!!). It did involve a bit of scrambling though!
After taking our first picture at the top, we headed down the other side and to the village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale. On our way down we bumped into the first group of people who were also doing the challenge but the other way round.
The village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale is super cute and you can stop for the toilets here if you need too! From here its time to climb the next peak, Pen-y-Ghent. We made it to the top at 10.53, but the schedule says to aim for 11.30. This was a very windy walk to the top and as you look at where you have to walk it looks a bit daunting but it actually was okay!
The way down was beautiful, but the next bit was the worst of the entire walk which is kinda weird. But you are basically having to walk between the base of two of the peaks. It’s boring and seems to go on forever.
Thankfully my family were meeting us at the Ribblehead Viaduct to walk the last peak with us! We made it to the Ribblehead Viaduct at 14.20, and due to having a chat and chill with the family were basically now on the same schedule as the website suggests!
It was so nice to have some company to get to the last summit and the summit of Whernside. We hit the summit at 4pm and it felt so good!!
The way down, our legs were burning and our knees in so much pain, but we kept going.
We finished the walk at 5.20pm and the guide suggest you would finish at 6.45pm so think we smashed it!!
What did we bring with us:
- We prepared our food the night before, so made our lunch. We didn’t make anything special just ham, cheese & mustard rolls as they are our favourite!
- We bought lots of cereal bars to snack on & crisps too
- Bottles of water
- Lucozade tablets
- Sweets – jelly babies
What did we wear:
- Hiking boots & hiking socks (I bought spare socks with me too incase they got wet and I actually needed to put the new ones on as I fell over in a stream!)
- Lots of layers so you can take things off if you get hot
- Windproof coat – mine is Craghoppers its fab!
- Rucksack – mine is Osprey and its the best, its been all over the world with me!
