Time On Your Feet: Skipton Trail Weekend: 07:05:22

A long weekend in Skipton, for some trail adventures with the Recce Crew (and some hill training ahead of the Hundred)! After an overwhelmingly unenjoyable (tired, wet, dark, and largely diverted) drive up after work on Friday to the Travelodge just outside Skipton, it was an early start on Saturday!

Day 1, Saturday: Yorkshire Three Peaks, 25 miles

I've never done the Yorkshire Three Peaks all in one day before, so was looking forward to a challenge. It being a sunny Saturday in May, thousands of other people also were taking on the challenge (lots of charity events, and a GB Ultra event - the Pennine Barrier 50 miles), so it was busier than Piccadilly Circus on the peaks.

We caught the 08:26 train from Skipton over to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and travelled on the beautiful Settle-Carlisle railway line:

We started the run from Horton-in-Ribblesdale station at about 09:00, and did the route anti-clockwise, starting with Pen-y-ghent, then heading over to Whernside, and finishing with Ingleborough. We (when I see "we", I mean Alan did all the navigating - many thanks Alan!) followed the route from Robert Turnbull's Three Peaks Ten Tors book, which is a bit different to the usual Three Peaks route, taking a more cross country (AKA "through the bogs route") between Pen-y-ghent and Whernside. Alan ended up in a bog first, followed shortly by Tara, and then me. Only Andrew remained above bog! It was worth it though, for some quiet miles, and to see Hull Pot (a collapsed cavern, which is now a giant hole).

Hull Pot

View back to Pen-y-ghent (from bog)

View forwards from bog

Checkpoint time

View from lunch to Whenrside (right) and Ingleborough (left)

Coming down off Whernside there had been an accident for one of the runners from the GB Ultra race - he'd fallen and obtained a head injury, so the Cave and Mountain rescue were out with several vehicles and the helicopter was out too. Here's hoping he's OK.

Shortly after, we found an ice cream van! It was fairly warm, so ice cream and cold drinks were a dream come true!

Thus refreshed, it was time for the last peak, and the steep climb up Ingleborough, where Tara and I created a hill-climbing soundtrack, including hits such as "Stairway To Heaven/ Highway To Hell", "The Only Way Is Up", "Insanity", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Reach", "Pray" etc etc.

At the top of Ingleborough I bumped into my friend John, who was doing the GB Ultra event! Well done John, it was great to see you!

The descent from Ingleborough back to Horton-in-Ribblesdale was a lovely several miles downhill, and we made it back to the station with plenty of time for the train, and did our "round" in 6 hours and 55 mins.

Back in Skipton, we found a pizza place called Chicos, and had a pizza picnic in a church yard under blossom trees in the sunshine - £4.60 for a first class pizza, sat with friends, and reflecting on a fabulous day in the hills - perfect!

Day 2, Sunday: Around Skipton and Gargrave, 15 miles

An hour of Krav with Alan in Aireville Park......

....followed by a recovery run from all the hills yesterday. Started off with passing an ominous sign (after yesterday's bog-dunking)......

...but luckily there were no bogs, and the first 5km were uphill to Sharp Haw, for beautiful views over the dales, seeing Lapwings and Skylarks on the way up, and a very shiny bench that we could see glinting in the sunshine all the way from the bottom of the hill, which turned out to have a very friendly lady sat on it.

Back down in to the fields, and an intimidating cow forced Andrew to face his fears....

Beautiful sunny day, and running through the dales felt like we were running through Postman Pat country.

In Gargrave we stopped and had a takeaway drinks from The Dalesman tearoom/ sweet shop, and also had a sneaky unicorn cornetto!

From Gragrave it was around about 5 easy miles running back along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal to Skipton. The canal is nice and high up along this part, with nice open views, and is beautiful to run along.

We arrived back in Skipton shortly before Chicos opening time, so after a short walk around the town, taking in the Castle and the Holy Trinity Church, we arrived back at Chico's door ready for pizza #2 of the weekend!

Day 3, Monday: Wild Boar Fell, 20 miles

It was back on the Settle-Carlisle train, a little bit further this time, to Garsdale, the starting point for our run, which was a loop up to and over Wild Boar Fell (the fourth highest peak in the Dales).