Yorkshire 3 Peaks

So, my first blog and also my first training walk.

We set out, 'childfree' i might add which is rare hence this being the first training walk, at about 7.10am from Horton In Ribblesdale. We followed the crowds along the path towards Pen-Y-Ghent. I was quite surprised how suddenly we were climbing, and i mean climbing as in using hands too, to the top. We made it to the top in about an hour and a half. We then thought it'd be a great idea to run down from the top of Pen-Y-Ghent to ''make up some time'' as James put it...so we ran for a bit, queued to get over the stiles, ran a bit more, walked a bit, queued some more and then saw the viaduct and, more importantly, the pub. So i put one foot in front of the other and just kept doing that until we made it to the pub. We stopped for a coke and a change of socks and then plodded on towards Whernside.

There was no climbing with hands on this one but there was a lot of wind. And i mean a lot, the type where you hope your fleece is tied on securely. It's also the type where people are walking at 45 degree angles. I had spent at least 10 seconds doing my hair but this was ruined by the wind so clearly i wasn't happy. We didn't stop at the top, this was mostly due to me saying ''No, get me off this ****** hill". So then we survived the top of Whernside and began the desent. I did use hands for this bit because i wanted to get down in 1 piece. Once down safely, we had a rest and more food and then plodded on towards Ingleborough.

James informed me that getting to the top of Ingleborough was "over quite quick". He was wrong. The path is fairly smooth and flat until you get to the zig-zag bit, which requires hands again (note to self, don't have a manicure before climbing the 3 peaks). After conquering the zig-zag bit, the path is relatively flat until you get to some stones. Quite large stones. So not only is my hair a mess and my nails chipped but i also cut my thumb. However it didn't matter as the wind made sure it didn't hurt by numbing my hands. We touched the stone thing (not quite sure what it was as i didn't like to stop and check as i might've been blown off the top) and then plodded on down. That's down!! No more up's, just down!

Whoever put the signposts between Ingleborough and Horton In Ribblesdale needs to walk it themselves, they are clearly wrong. We passed a sign saying 2.75 miles to civilisation... after walking about 2 miles, there was another sign saying 1.5 miles to go... hmmm. So we put one foot then the other then the other and just kept going like that until we saw the cafe, where i was promised the biggest slice of chocolate cake. When we got to the cafe it was shut.

Our time for completing the 3 peaks is 11 hours 15 minutes.

I am still waiting for my chocolate cake and i need my hair re-doing and my nails are chipped. What will my housemates think?!