Yorkshire Dales fell running routes

[Fellbeast]

Route 4 - the Three Peaks done proper - minimal slabs and tarmac version (patent pending)

23 miles and 5,700 feet of ascent

The three peaks: everybody and their aunty who lives in the north of England has to walk it at least once in their lives and the three peaks fell race is one of the rock hard classics, albeit a rock hard classic rightly criticised for its poor fell to tarmac ratio.

And nowadays the National Park are busily slabbing any part of the route, where otherwise walkers might get a soupçon of mud on their boots, such that one day soon it will all be neatly gravelled path or slabbed steps. (I'm not criticising the NP by the way and most of the route improvements they are making are being done really well, and with the future usage in mind, but..... jeeeeeeezus I hate running on slabs)

So on Saturday, to give my knee of doom's recovery its first really big try out, I decided to trot around the three peaks but following my own arbitrary, self imposed rule that as far as possible i would avoid all slabs and tarmac.

First off here's the map (tilted slightly) showing my non-slab and tarmac route in blue. I've then added in in red arrows where the bog standard walkers route diverges from my route and I've also added in in green where the fell race route goes different again, but otherwise follows the walkers route. Finally I've added in the optimum, shortest hypotenuse line descent off of Penyghent, over Horton Moor and Black Dub Moss, in orange - this is the old walkers route, where one in three walkers used to fall into a bog up to their neck, which I'd originally intended to follow, but after two days of solid heavy rain my inner Captain Sensible kicked in and I chose not to go that way on Saturday



The other thing I self imposed on myself was to take each peak on, straight up the middle, route one. I needed to do that anyway to avoid the slabs on each ascent but this 'rule' sure as heck made each of the climbs super tough. In the fell race, everyone who runs it the first time is 'impressed' by the steepness of the climb up through Winterscales Pasture to the summit of Whernside but, if anything, straight up through the buttresses on Penyghent is probably tougher than that and definitely the climb up Ingleborough up through The Arks from Black Shiver Moss is toughest of all, not least because you've already done the other two beforehand. My chosen route up Whernside yesterday was the old walkers path, which runs parallel with the fell race route but just a few hundred metres to the south west (and is pretty much a carbon copy in gradient terms), and this was ironically probably the easiest climb of the day.

Anyway the route: leaving from home in Horton, I ran up the Brackenbottom side of Penyghent as far as the start of the slabs, where I immediately hooked left to avoid them, went through a gate and followed a quad bike track up the fell side heading for the west 'wall' of Penyghent. I have a good line up this way, through the buttresses, which for a good part is effectively upwards crawling on all fours.



Then after hitting the trig point I more or less followed the first part of the fell race descent down to the zig zags finger post; the fell race here then follows the Pennine Way back down to Horton Scar before climbing Whitber Hill but I instead followed a runners trod that takes a faster (I think), grassy and slicker route down, passing Hull Pot before going up the side of Whitber Hill to meet the bog standard walkers path at the summit. From one of my "ace" drone shots, this descent line starts top leftish in this picture and ends up passing Hull Pot 50 or so metres to the right:



From Whitber Hill I then followed the walkers/fell race route for almost 4 miles all the way to Nether Lodge. After Nether Lodge though the walker's route and the fell race route go all boring and tarmacky, following about a mile of hard packed gravel track to meet the road beyond Lodge Hall and then a mile of road to reach Ribblehead - potential for super fast running for sure but track and road running, not fell running . My route instead followed the Ribble Way across boggy and undulating moorland, and then taking the footpath from Thorns over the beautiful old Thorns Ghyll Bridge over Gayle Beck to meet Blea Moor Road at Ribble Head House. I crossed the road here and picked up a quad bike track, sort of running parallel to the left of a line of low limestone scars curving towards the viaduct (pot holing country) before dropping under the arches at Ribblehead Viaduct and picking up the old Walker's path up Whernside beyond Gunnerfleet Farm. Then it was a straight up the side of Whernside, a 1,400 foot climb with a super steep last 400 feet, and yep perhaps it was the 'easiest' climb of the day!

From Whernside summit I then followed the ridge line path but didn't drop down the conventional slabbed route to Bruntscar but instead continued south west for nearly a mile following the wall line. After crossing a stile, I then diagonally descended across steep tussocky ground to meet the track down to Chapel le Dale at Ellerbeck. This track in places was tarmac once (maybe 1,000 years ago) but its now largely pot holes, rubble and gravel and it definitely didn't break my tarmac rule, except for a small bit of running after Jingle Pot and the dinky church in Chapel le Dale.

I then crossed the main road and followed the footpath directly opposite, leading after a while to the main three peaks walkers route up Ingleborough above Souther Scales. I only followed the main drag though until the slabs (oft called 'the slabs of dooooom' in the fell race). I wasn't for slabbing though and instead turned right and, after 300 yards or so, crossed a stile into a pasture called Black Shiver Moss, with Ingleborough now towering above me to my left. Here I followed a bit of a trail/quad bike track heading for Ingleborough before bashing on straight up the sheer side (a part of the hill marked on the map as The Arks), taking mostly a grassy line, and eventually, after much huffing and puffing, popping out on the summit directly by the wind shelter. A real quad bashing smasher of a climb!

My wife Hester had been double jabbed the day before and had had a lie in on Saturday but had run up Ingleborough with the dogs, and coincided her arrival perfectly at the summit. And we all jolly trotted the last 5 miles back to home, following the bog standard track, including a few slabs above the shooting hut. We did avoid the road works at Sulber Nick though where a mile long brand spanking new slabbed path is being installed.

Like I said the three peaks done proper. I reckon I've been round that route maybe 50 times now, including half a dozen of the fell races, but I can't imagine ever taking the road route again to Ribblehead.... other than in the 'fell' race of course.