Walk: Whernside, Ingelborough and Pen y Gent
Group: 7 people
Weather: Sunny and warm
Distance: 26 miles
Comments: I had to get up early to get over to the car park at Ribblehead for 8am as we had arranged and I was picking Steve up at 6.30am. This year parking was easy compared to the previous years as there was noone at the Station Inn besides our friends, I guess it helps doing it slightly later in the year than the majority of people. After some faffing at the bunk house we set off from the Station Inn towards Whernside and were joined by Anthony just after setting off. The day started off well and despite the previous days rain we thought we may just get away with it. the fun started as we came to the river crossing. i waded across having taken my boots off and found myself up to my knees but Phil was able to follow me. Steve we found out had managed to cross further up stream but had a minor misfortune when his boots were thrown to him - unfortunately one of them fell in the river. The remaining people (Bex, Tim, Amanda, Anthony and Chris) were unable to cross the river and were forced to go up the front of Whernside whilst myself, Steve and Phil went up to the summit. The going was a lot easier than I remember from the previous years. We sat at the top for about 45 mins waiting for the other people to arrive and were getting abit cold in the mist and rain. The others did arrive and admitted that they had been close to giving up. We walked down and out of the mist with the day gradually brightening up and stopped briefly at the Hill Top Inn.
After a short respite and a few people disappearing to get bacon butties we set off again to do Ingleborough. Anthony took some pursuading but eventually agreed to join us. The weather was beginning to be quite good and we made great progress along the limestone paving. As we began our ascent of Ingleborough I noticed that my feet were rubbing slightly from my boots - i decided that i would continue on anyway. The summit was fairly crowded as we were doing it on the same day as the Marie Curie Charity event. My feet really began to hurt as we descended down and I was pleased to sit on the station at Horton for a while. A few people were considering catching a train back to Ribblehead, however there was a large wait befor ethe next one so we all decided to go for the last summit, Pen y gent.
I was making slow going due to my feet but eventualy managed to make the summit. After a very short stop we began our descent and the long cross country haul back to the Station Inn. It was always going to be close as to whetehr we would get dinner or not. However due to my feet I really began to fall behind the others. By the time I got to the station inn I could barely stand up. after a quick drink i had to ask Steve if he could drive my car home.
