Last month I did something very exciting and challenging. I walked the Yorkshire Three Peaks with some of my friends (and some new friends) from the Baptist Union.

I did a pre video and currently working on one for the actual day. We were walking to raise money for the Baptist Union Home Mission Fund which supports projects, pioneers, regional teams across the BU.

If you’d like to support the cause you can do so HERE.

Peak One – Ingleborough

It was a super early start to the day. We were all meeting in the carpark at 5am so we got up at 4:30am, had some porridge & tea packed our bits up & headed out. Bleary eyes & a slight nervousness in the air we drove to the starting point at Chapel-le-Dale.

After faffing about with bag packing, registration & kit checks by our guide, we started out at 6:15am, heading towards our first peak Ingleborough. Sam the guide seemed nice enough but the early time meant we were still warming up & just getting out head around what we were doing, however Sam had other plans for us. Five minutes into the walk, he was shouting at us to hurry up & keep the pace good as we climbed the first part of the first peak. I wasn’t impressed & it felt it added extra stress to an already daunting day.

But the early start of dawn meant we had some incredible views of the landscape, the moon on one side, a rising sun on the other, rolling mist over the hills. It was so beautiful & made the early start a nearly worth it.

Unfortunately as we entered the second mile, Hayley was struggling to keep up & had to make the difficult decision to go back to the cars. We were gutted & felt the huge loss to the group but understood that she wasn’t able to continue. Again, Sam gave us very little time to reflect & talk so we had to push on again & it started getting hard. Ingleborough wasn’t the tallest peak but was the steepest, we had almost rock climb up a few points. We finally get to the top & it was incredible. The mist was moving across the horizon quickly so one minute we had no visibility then it would clear & you could see everything. We only had two minutes to take a few photos, grab a drink, a treat then we were off again!

Second Ascent
After the briefest of moments on the first peak, we were still a little lost without @rev_hayleyyoung & not much time enjoying the views. We were a bit concerned with our footing as the ground was a little soggy & it was still a little slippery. However it was starting to warm up & we all made an effort to cheer up a bit. We ended up having two ladies join our guided group & it was encouraging to hear why they were doing it. 

We got to where I think was Horton-in-Ribblesdale, a very sweet looking little village for our first water stop & only proper loo break at around 9/9:30am, Sam & the other guides said that we needed to have drunk nearly all our water by this point especially as we prepared for the next climb otherwise there was the risk of cramping.
As we started to make our way towards the footpath, Matthew seemed to be in absolute agony. He pushed through the first few hundred yards up the hill but a previous injury on his foot made it unbearable for him to continue. We were gutted to seem him go but for his own safety it was the right thing to do. We consoled ourselves that at least he would be able to keep Hayley company. 
To distract us as we trudged up Pen-y-Ghent, there was a bit of drama with another guided walk, which Sam had to get involved in to support a fellow guide. Not going to lie, it was a bit of fun to watch a group of women who I doubt are climbing experts argue with the professionals about what they would or would not do. They ended up getting removed from the challenge under the guides but could carry on their own but wouldn’t receive the help of pacing. Then another group had some drama where someone didn’t disclose a very serious illness. All of this was a little entertaining but made us realise the seriousness & however much we had got annoyed at Sam, we realised that actually he was doing it for our safety & were more understanding for him.
After a last little scramble up Pen-y-Gent, we made it to top for our second peak. It didn’t feel as hard as we were a bit distracted but it was still quite tough. 5 minutes stop then it was down the hill & a long long walk ahead.

If you’d like to support the cause you can do so HERE.