At 6:30am a group of six students slid out of their sleeping bags in a camping barn in Yorkshire and set about cooking bacon top the disgust of those still in bed. What were students doing up at that time in the morning? This crazy group of 6 had decided to attempt the 3 peaks- Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen Y Ghent and were going to need as much daylight as possible and so by 7:30am they were walking towards their first mountain.
Less than ¾ of an hour later, after already deciding they were on the wrong path, the heavens opened to punish those foolish enough to be out of bed. The group continued through wind and rain walking virtually straight upwards, cursing the mistakes on the map, only to be snowed on as they approached the top. One quick phone call later (to see if the rest of the club were awake) and the group was on its way back down, one mountain climbed and it wasn’t even 9am!
Tragedy struck when the group arrived at the bottom. The start of the path up the next mountain was at a country pub, but as it was only 10am the group was forced to continue without the liquid refreshment they so badly deserved. Ingleborough was then summated within 1 ½ hours, in glorious sunshine, which was to last all day, quite a contrast to the snow earlier on Whernside.
After a long walk through limestone pavements, with Richard doing his best to try to sprain his ankle we eventually reached Horton in Ribblesdale for a late lunch and a country pub that was actually open. By 2pm, suitably refreshed we were on our way up the final mountain and looking to meet up with another group who’d spent the day on Pen Y Ghent. After a brief (leg killing) burst of running, stopped only by the blessing of a mobile phone ringing, we met up with the other group to find that yet more members of the club had arrived during the morning. By 3pm after yet more (suicidal) running we reached the top and looked back on the other 2 mountains and the huge distance between them. That made me realise the magnitude of what we’d done and made it worthwhile, though I think everyone else was just keen to get back down for a pint, so after bombarding a fellow hiker with cameras that was exactly what we did! After a quick visit by my parents it was of to spend the night celebrating, though after disappearing in the early hours I think that part is best forgotten.
In all we were walking for about 8 ½ hours. The day could have been a lot longer but we were blessed by a shortage of photographers and the lack of sheep on the route meant Richard was a lot easier to control. Thanks to Dermot for squeezing 6 of us into his car at 7 in the morning and to Lisa for coming with us and making sure we actually did walk all 3. Well done to Richard, Graham, Matt, Lisa, Henry and Dermot.