The top of the year comes a week later than I had planned, as the 22nd provided uninspiring and grey skies around Morley and promises of grimmer weather further afield, so the mid-point of the walking year, and of my 3 year odyssey can come as 'Flaming' June comes to an end. Having walked up Ingleborough at the start point of the year, I think it's time to return to the Yorkshire Three Peaks and make my first assault on Whernside, having first looked that way back in 2002 and being discouraged from going there as my more active friends described it as a 'grim and unforgiving slog', but having had a reconnoitre on my wanders in Dentdale, I have picked myself a route which is the path less trammelled and approaches that big hill from its more interesting aspect. So, top of the year and top of the county too, which has a nice symmetry to it, and the weather for the early summer looks like about as changeable as an all white cloud day can be...
Whernside: Dent to Ribblehead 11.3 miles
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| Whernside from Dent station |
Off the train at Dent, and set off as quickly as possible as it's already past 10.15am, and we set our track for the highest point in Yorkshire by starting off in Cumbria, naturally, and it's from the railway station that you get the best view of Whernside, showing the rarely seen crest at its summit cap, with the broad apron of grassy moor surrounding its northern flank. As Coal Road is descended, the interesting view is lost and Whernside becomes an unattractive lump and attention turns down Dentdale where Great Coum presents the face of a much more interesting hill, whilst a look back shows up the tops of Great Knoutberry and Wold Fell. It's a lengthy and steep descent, and descending will be the feature of the early going as 200m of altitude is lost as I make my way down Dentdale, but I'm pleased to see the sun poking through the clouds, and I start to guess that the predictions of an all white cloud day might be wrong, and our climb will provide us with some well-lit vistas. After negotiating some sharp bends and dodging a couple of vintage cars, we arrive in the miles-long hamlet of Cowgill, and a wave is directed towards the phone box at Lea Yate Bridge, but I'll be sticking to the north side of the Dee to gain a small variety on the experience of Dentdale, and the road walking continues as I choose not to take the footpath via Dockra Bridge, instead taking my chances with the traffic along the road so I can get a look at the church of St John the Evangelist, the sort of Victorian chapel that could easily fool people as to its relative lack of age.
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| Dentdale & Great Coum |
Meet the riverside, and wave to the Dales Way track on the other side of Ewegales bridge, but remain on the north side with the intent of leaving for the path over the fields, only to find that the access to the path that I had expected doesn't seem to exist without wandering through a private farmyard, so I'll be remaining on the road for a while longer. The roar of the Dee keeps me company for a while, and I develop new country-retreat fantasies as I note that every farmstead in Dentdale is picturesque, enjoying the solitude as no other walkers are to be found down here, until I notice that all is quiet and the next peer down to the riverbank indicates that the bed is dry and the river has disappeared into its water sink and I've missed seeing it, again. The road rises away from the Dee, among pastures of Buttercups and attention is again drawn to the exciting profile of Great Coum, and barely any glances are made towards the dull slopes of Whernside, and I'm still pondering the idea of living out here and fixing up the ruined barn at Gibbs Hall. Sight of Dent Village is finally achieved, and that's the due to depart the road, via the grounds of Cross House farm, where the chained up Border Collies object to my presence with great voice, onwards down a barely traceable bridleway down to cross the Dee at Tommy bridge. Cross the Dales Way path, and pass below the 150m contour, then take a left to meet the path that leads up to Dentdale's other road, the sort of enclosed ditch which would be very wet indeed in worse weather. Then it's off on the start of the rise as the road leads around the farmsteads of Whernside Maonr, but offers now vies of the house itself, and the turn away from Dentdale is made at Deepdale Methodist chapel, a building so prosaic that only wire crosses strung from its gutters offer any indications as to its ecclesiastical use.
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| Whernside from the Craven Way |
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| Deepdale |
Emerge from the trees that line the road to get the view into Deepdale, which would be a whole lot prettier under sunny skies, and a left turn brings us to the start of the Craven Way track which leads all the way around Whernside, and after watering the ascent can start in earnest. I've a mile of steady ascent to go along this track, which changes surfaces in pretty short succession, starting out on grass, then turning to concrete (for access to a electrical substation), then slippery gravel and finally to the earth and limestone that you'd anticipate. Meet five walkers descending and think that this might be a popular track after all, but they prove to be the last people I'll be seeing for a while as I have this route to myself (aside from the roaming sheep), and the weather glums over severely, not getting grey enough to be threatening but dark enough to be untrustworthy, so waterproof up to fend off the light drizzle and sharp winds and keep progress going up with the high cairns on the apron of Whernside being my distant objectives. The looks back are more enticing than the view forwards, with Deepdale revealing itself as another of the forgotten Dales, and the view down Dentdale gradually expanding with altitude, and gaining height does screw with your sense of perspective as you realise that you can now pick out the different hills which lead all the way to Lakeland, some 30 mile distant. It's a shame it's so grey, but the various hills provide sharply relieved silhouettes and the view into upper Dentdale offers the hills of Garsdale and Mallerstang appearing beyond, with Dent station looking very remote from anything and Arten Gill viaduct looking like a small feature on a train set. The odd field of cottongrass breaks the monotony of the moorland grass on all sides and the the hill never does provide an exciting profile, so I might have overstated this as the 'visually exciting route', but I'm sure the environs make up for it, and the total solitude is a huge bonus.
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| The Summit Cap |
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| Whernside Tarns |
When the dry stone walls end after 350m of ascent, and the Craven Way turns into a grass track, it's time to leave the path at Boot of the Wold and strike over the turf moor due south for a further 100m of ascent to meet the edge of the high plateau. The going isn't tricky as the trod is always visible, but it occasionally wanders into marshiness and areas of exposed peat, and wet going is a bit of a surprise though there's only one patch where more than two steps are needed for a questionable traverse. It turns out that the guide cairns that I'd been looking towards since the start of the ascent are both some distance from the route I'm taking, and I have no visual feature to aim for on an almost flat horizon as I go, so I'm lucky that the cloud is still decently high above my head, and I aim for the faintest of grooves in the distance and keep on ascending. Eventually the perspective changes and the summit crest appears, still half a mile distant, but the heavy duty ascending is done and the high moor gives us a bit of respite, and decent path finally emerges to lead us the edge of the silvery pools of Whernside Tarns, where lunch can be taken, as the wind blows in harshly from the west and the temptation to linger rapidly passes. I didn't think tarns formed on limestone, and a bit of analysis of the rocks suggest that they are much more granular than the normal Dales limestones, suggesting that the might be sandstone. Not having the requisite geological knowledge means I have to leave my pondering there, along with the thought that is Whernside so named because its rock was good for making quern stones, or because its flat southern face resembles one?
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| Whernside Summit |
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| The Ascent to the Summit |
Anyway, time to strike for the summit cap, for a last half mile in solitude ascending a further 80 metre over the area which claims to be called Knoutberry Hill (Dentdale has three different Knoutberrys, apparently), and the vista to the already tramped Blea Moor opens up and shortly the view into Ribblesdale follows. The solitude ends as the path from Force gill is met and the crowds ascending means that I feel moved to pick up the pace, and I almost start to hurry as the view presents the Tarn on Greensett Moss, as well as the sharp edge of the ridge finally giving a sense of elevation as the path to the summit if followed. The path itself is about a ghastly a track as I have encountered, almost completely blasted by the thousands who have trod it annually, and I'm not doing anything to help that of course, and as the high ridge is attained, the long wall to the right provides some shelter from the wind as the view presents the curved Ribblehead viaduct far below and the Ingleborough massif ahead. The huddled crowds on the highest part of the ridge indicates that we're at the top, but the trig point could easily be missed as it sits on the west side of the wall, and despite the crowds, I'm the only person to go through the squeeze stile to touch the 736m summit, so despite the throng, I can actually have the summit to myself. The greyness and low clouds don't make the views particularly good though, as it obscures the look towards Bowland and the Lancashire coast, whilst the bulks of the Great Coum / Gragareth ridge and the mass on Ingleborough obscure the views west and south. Even Pen-y-ghent looks unfamiliar as its profile merges with Fountains Fell beyond it. Altogether a disappointing summit, but a good trek to get there, and bare minutes spent taking it in as the cold wind and gathering walkers and runners make it a spot too busy to really enjoy.
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| The South-western Descent |
The obscure routes off the Summit are too steep or too long to consider, so the throng is joined to descend by the popular route, and the going is little firmer alongside the wall, which could convince you that you were on Hadrian's Wall for all the exposed bleakness, whilst I can be amazed that so many walkers will seem to talk about anything other than their surroundings. Having speeded up my descending skills means that I can weave between the family amblers and the charity parties to get ahead to gain some relative peace, and filtering all the walkers though a kissing gate means that everyone has to slow down and you can put some distance between yourself and them. It's a steady decline down the first 100m before the path starts to wander and then the hardcore section starts, losing 80m as stone steps are tread and all attention goes to foot placement and keeping balance, and I conclude that this section is an even harder walk than the ascent route to Ingleborough. Meet the first gate with relief as the descent starts to ease off slightly, but there's still 200m more descent to go so you try to keep a steady pace going and not to jostle or hurry the slower walkers, and it's a good idea to settle in at the pace of someone else and to not be too hasty, and if you did burn someone off, be sure to hold the gate open for them at the bottom of the field. Half a mile of steep descent in a half hour and stop to water above Bruntscar farm, where I watered back in February, but there's no nice lady circulating with free cake today, and I've got some soreness in my calves and thighs coming on that I've only gotten via serious hillwalking, but I'm not unlucky enough to have come up lame like a couple of unfortunate souls.
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| Whernside & Ribblehead Viaduct |
Having just over an hour to get to my ride home means that the route back to Ribblehead has to be as direct as possible, so leave the Three Peaks route, and the throng, behind and strike along the farm track that leads to the bridleway that meanders its muddy way down to ford Winterscales Beck, which is completely dry and looks like it hasn't been in water in along while. The ground undulates a lot for a flat section around the 300m contour, and the road to Ivescar farm is met to bridge the dry beck once again, before joining the track to Gunnerfleet farm, where some muck spreading has been going on, leaving the air thickly pungent. Attention is occupied by taking looks back to Whernside to judge its southwestern aspect as probably its best, and looking forward to the looming Ribblehead viaduct, and I'm ridiculously happy to see a big freight train crossing it (and having seen the same service back in March means my timekeeping is sound). Cross Winterscales beck for the third time, and here it is in full water, indicating that there is another water sink around here which I failed to notice, and pass the farm and Three Peaks barn, one of the more dynamically placed holiday houses, before the track takes me under Ribblehead viaduct, so I can photograph it for the millionth time and get all excited by Victorian engineering all over again. Roll on over Batty Moss for the third time this year, and carry on up to meet Ribblehead station for the fifth time, making this the northern hub of 2013's ambling. The day has finally broken through pleasantly as I end at 3.35pm, and ponder that there probably won't be many more trips into the upper Dales this year as FOSCL have not scheduled any of the walks I'd like to do for the second half of 2013, but with two of the Three Peaks down, I'll be looking to get to Pen-y-ghent somewhere towards the end of the season.
Next on the Slate: The siren call of Wharfedale's high lands recalls me...
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 695.7 miles (2013 total: 230.4 miles)
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