During my last weekend in England, I visited with several different friends in Yorkshire to go hiking/walking in the Dales. I had been preparing for these hikes for the past several months, hoping I would be able to keep up with my friends who are much younger and much fitter than I am.
On Friday, after collecting me from the train station in Skipton, Stuart and I walked to the daycare centre to pick up his delightful daughter. That walk alone was about 38 miles uphill both ways, or so it seemed. After making that walk, I had my doubts about what was to come.
Saturday morning, Stuart and I took the train from Skipton to Dent. As we emerged from the train, we felt a mist. I burst out laughing because last year, when we hiked up Ingleborough, we went through a driving mist much of the time. This year, we were planning to "conquer" Whernside, the third (for me) of the three peaks challenge.
To meet the challenge, one is supposed to complete the hike around all three peaks, a total elevation change of 5000', total distance of 25 miles, in under 12 hours. Friends Duncan and Gaynor have done the challenge several times, raising money for charity, and Stuart has been up and down each of the peaks many times from many different directions.
My own plan was more modest: One peak per year. Maybe about 8 hours per peak. Photos from our hike up Whernside are available here, from the publicly accessible photo album on my FaceBook page. The third photo shows the driving rain we went through to get to the top (Stuart and I described it as "walking into a hurricane"). The last few show us in a fairly giddy mood on the train after the hike. Total distance was about 11 miles, elevation change about 2100 feet, time about 6 hours. We made it to the train station in time to have a pint at the pub before returning to Skipton. We sure had fun.
On Sunday, Duncan and Gaynor picked me up for a day of hiking at Malham Cove, up to Malham Tarn (small lake) and then down to (not through!) Gordale Scar (small canyon) and Janet's Foss (waterfall). We had a wonderful time, and it was great spending time with them again, but I was really tired by the end of the two days....so tired I fell asleep in front of a tv before the World Cup final ended. Here are some photos from Sunday's hike.
What a terrific weekend!