I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while now. Almost a year in fact. I wasn’t expecting it to, but life got in the way over the middle of last year. Between moving house from one side of London to the other and my work schedule being crazy busy, its only now, months later that I feel able to stop, properly reflect and finish writing about this adventure from spring last year. It turned out to be one of my favourites, teaching me yet again, more about myself and showing me the beauty in the place I call home.
A couple of months ago I started having serious travel/exploration withdrawals that I couldn’t shake, so made a week available to get away from it all. To push the pause button on life and answer the call of the great outdoors. After getting back from my incredible week in the Rocky Mountains last year I told myself I would make more of an effort to discover ‘my own backyard’. 
A few of us do the same thing. Move to London and visit so many spots over Europe that we seem to miss the adventure right under our noses. I am guilty of this too. I’ve been fortunate enough to see so many amazing places across Europe over my almost seven years of living in London, but have neglected the place I call home for this season of my life. I made the decision near the start of last year that this had to change, so got a map of all the national parks in the UK in hopes to explore as many of them as possible. I narrowed it down to three as I would probably need a week per trip to do it properly. My research brought me to the Yorkshire Dales. I remember seeing photos of rolling hills and mountain tops…thats pretty much all I needed to make my thoughts a reality. The mountains were calling and I had to go.
The morning began with an early alarm buzzing beside my bed. Usually, I would hit the snooze button a couple of times before reluctantly rising, but today, today was different. Those wide open spaces were calling my name and the excitement of it all made getting on the move from to Kings Cross station all that easier to accomplish. The journey was an easy two hours and I was all to happy to get lost in watching the colours transition from the greys of the concrete jungle to every shade of green in the fields passing before my eyes. I’ve found this on multiple occasions and it continues to ring true. As soon as you get out of the busyness of London, life makes more sense. Away from all the distractions and all the things on my to do list. As if every mile created between where I am and where I’m going, a chance to breathe and rediscover. 
Getting from Leeds to where I would be staying in a little town on the outskirts of the Dales perimeter was surprising easy. Hiring a car is pretty much compulsory for exploring as much of the region as possible, so got accustomed to driving again after five months of not. That first turn out of the hire place will always scare me slightly. All the initial questions come flooding back; what country am I in? What side of the road am I meant to be driving on? Did I hit the windscreen wipers instead of the indicator again? You know, all those fun internal questions.
I was staying in Illkey and by the end of my time there I had completely fallen in love with the town and the people that call it home. The moor behind it provided the best views over the rolling hills and surrounding areas and is scattered with dozens of trails to wonder to gain another perspective of the landscape…and obviously, sunset is complete perfection.
The Yorkshire Dales are expansive with something to discover around every turn. Due to my lack of hiking experience within the UK I went in a little over prepared. Armed with an ordnance survey map of the region and inside knowledge from my airbnb hosts I was excited to get exploring. I knew the Malham trail would take most of a day to complete (with snack breaks), so started with that. It did not disappoint. The trail begins though farmland and eventually comes to one of my favourite parts of the trail. It was the first time I really got to experience the quintessential picture of the english countryside. One of those moments in which nature stops you in your tracks, forcing you to take notice. Leading up to a waterfall, a stream with a carpet of white wildflowers everywhere.
Across further rolling fields the trail continued to another waterfall in the base of Gordale Scar. It’s a huge valley surrounded by towering walls of rock leading up to the moor above. The only thing between where I was and where I wanted to be…a waterfall. When talking to my airbnb hosts the day before, they told me it was possible to climb up the side of it to the top. Now, looking at it, this seemed like a challenge and to be honest I thought they were tricking me in some way. When you get up close to the rock face the water is falling over there is no clear way to make your way up, you just have to ‘off road it’ so to speak and go rouge…but if the ordnance map says it can be done, then this girl is defiantly going to give it a go.
Upon reaching the top, I was met by a familiar sight…fields of sheep. Apart from the limestone rock scattered around, it did feel a little like home. Lots of fresh air, sheep grazing and plenty of land. Oh, that all familiar trifector. It’s pretty much rural New Zealand in a nutshell. From there, the next part of the trail lead onto a lake in what seemed like, the middle of no where. The only thing to give an indication that you are close to it, a small gravel car park. Its one of those things, you know you’re in the vicinity of what you’re trying to find but you still don’t really know where it is. I remember it was so strange to hear the wind whistling through the trees again. I had been so long since i’d heard it last. The busyness of London doesn’t really give you a chance to hear the quiet. The last part of the trail was the one with the grandest views and lucky for me the easiest trails. Walking across abandoned paddocks brought me to a view of the surrounding region from a sheer cliff face with a stream below leading my way back to the start of the trail again.
The three peaks challenge was something I had only just heard of when doing a little research before I departed London. I didn’t even know if it was possible to attempt by yourself! I think you have to be a little crazy to even consider it. Armed with maps, snacks and a inside knowledge from my hosts I left Illkey bright and early for a day that my legs would eventually hate me for. The hike is 24 mile long and has a combined ascent of 52,000ft. Seems like a reasonable task right? Well yes, until you convert it onto the metric. Turns out its 38.6 kms! Now that is crazy. I didn’t covert it before I embarked on the trail, so was blissfully unaware for the entire day. Still don’t know if that was the right decision?
The trail starts in Hoton-in-Ribblesdale at the cafe that acts as an unofficial start/finish point. As most of the trails do, it starts in a town and leads out into the surrounding farmland. This was the case here too. The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, usually in this order, and in under 12 hours. These peaks form part of the Pennine range, and encircle the head of the valley of the River Ribble, in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. You can complete the challenge either as part of an organised event, or as a self organised group.
The first ascent starts pretty quickly out of the small town below. Through a portion of farmland comes stone steps placed into the steepening hill to assist the climb. The closer to the top I got, the steeper it became, the rocks becoming natures steps when the manmade ones ran out. You really start to feel part mountain goat by the end of it all.
Because the peaks are on a part of the Pennine range, the closer you get to each summit of each mountain the more you have to concentrate on the wind not pushing you off the side. This was very apparent when reaching the summit of Whernside. On the last section before reaching the top, the wind was funnelling through from the valley below so strongly you had to walk sideways just to end up walking in a straight line to the trig point.
The final walk down from Inglebrough is gradual by comparison and a nice way to end the challenge. It gradually winds down the side of the mountain towards Horton-in-Ribblesdale again giving a perfect view of the surrounding part of the region spotted with english wildflowers. I can’t really think of a better end to the day.
It’s strange how some of the best moments in life sneak up and surprise you. This happened to me on my final day in the Dales. Looking back, it was one of my favourite moments from 2018. I had read about a waterfall just out of one of the towns I was passing through after exploring another small town for the afternoon, so decide to check it out on my way back to the house. It was so hard to find, almost getting stuck on a one way bridge in the process. Turns out, when I eventually found it was on the other side of the bridge!
I found it at sunset and as you can imagine it was perfect. The warm evening light paired with the faint trickles of the river was the setting for a perfect evening. Watching the light slowly become more and more hidden by the trees along the riverside as the sun went down really showed off the beauty of the area. It was the best way to end my adventure…well so I thought. There was one last surprise the Dales had in store for me.
There was a faint sound of a radio getting closer and just after hearing it a car came over the small cobbled bridge that connected the main road to the small lane. Out of this tiny car piled six teenagers in swimwear with towels over their shoulders. Quite a confusing sight when you’re in the middle of paddocks. Before I had time to think about it, they started jumping to the river at the base of the waterfall. This was not their first rodeo. There was hidden spots in the middle of trees and ‘platforms’ at the top of the waterfall to jump off of. Nature’s diving board.
This continued for a while and I continued to explore the small gravel path beside the river before heading back to the car. The further I got along the trail, the more the ‘what if’s’ began to circle around my head. What was stopping me? What did I have to lose? And that was it. Curiosity got the better of me again. I started the day chasing waterfalls and ended the day jumping off them. The only challenge…driving back to the house soaking wet.
So friends, get out there and explore. Take a risk or two. Get off the beaten path. Jump in a waterfall and throw caution to the wind. You never know…you might like it.
Sending hugs & smiles,
Vanessa
