‘‘We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.’’

I do believe if you don’t challenge yourself and like to stay in your comfort zone you will never know how much you can do or how strong you are. Therefore, myself and my partner aka Hike and Travel, we wanted to do a challenge. We were thinking to do the 3 peaks in Peak District but we also wanted to have a circular route so we do not need to rely on someone else to pick us up from the finish point.

Yorkshire 3 peaks Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-Y-Ghent is around 26 miles in total and as we have done Whernside before we made our route slightly shorter ( 18 miles) to include the other two peaks.

The route starts from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, from a car park near River Ribble which costs £5/day and there are facilities opened early in the morning.

After you cross River Ribble, turn left to Horton-in-Ribblesdale train station. Right after you cross the rail lines, there is a blue lagoon near Hanson Aggregates. As we started to ascend we’ve noticed behind us was Pen-Y-Ghent and the sun rising, the perfect start for a good walk.

The ascent to Ingleborough is gradual and only after few miles you can see the peak.

Ingleborough (723 m or 2,372 ft) is the second-highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales. The entire area around Ingleborough is full of fantastic tourist places like Ingleborouhg Cave, White Scar Cave, Great Douk Cave, Junifer Gulf and other spectacular places that I would like to visit.

Once we’ve reached to Ingleborough summit, the wind was stronger and the rocky terrain made the climb more difficult but the views were amazing.

One trig done, next trig Pen-Y-Ghent to go.

After we started to descend along the Ingleborough ridge I was able to see the famous Ribblehead Viaduct. The grade II listed structure was constructed in 1870-1875 where hundreds of railway builders (“navvies”) lost their lives building the line, from a combination of accidents, fights, and smallpox outbreaks. In particular, building the Ribblehead (then Batty Moss) viaduct, with its 24 massive stone arches 104 feet (32 metres) above the moor, caused such loss of life that the railway paid for an expansion of the local graveyard.

When we’ve reached to the main road, we turned left next to Ashes Farm B&B and cross the River Ribble towards our next peak, Pen-Y-Ghent. Along the way we’ve made a stop to Hull Pot, an impressive hole measuring 91 metres (300 feet) long by 18 metres (60 feet) wide by 18 metres (60 feet) deep. Just be careful close to the edge. When it’s wet the water in falling down on one of the sides creating a beautiful waterfall. Great spot for a brew and a snack to boost our energy for the climb.

There is another similar hole Hunt Pot next to the trail and it can be missed if you don’t know it’s only few meters away from the route.

The leg leg of the hike from Pen-Y-Ghent trig was a steep descent, quite challenging due to rocky terrain, but not impossible if you take your time and use your hands if needed.

There were only 2.5 miles left and I was started to feel my legs, but once we got back to the car we had a tea and hit the road back home.

The entire 18.4 miles took around 10h including lunch break and pit stops, 1,412m elevation gain and around 7h active time.

It was a really good experience and I would definitely like to go back and visit the rest of the area. I have learnt so many from this challenge and gained a lot of confidence, plus we made such great memories.