Reblogged from Yorkshire Dales Guides:

We are helping to organise this event as we are active members of the team. For the last few years we have run our own Yorkshire Three Peaks walk but we wanted to run an event that is unique to our team. This is it and it starts in Clapham where the team is based.  Come and join us and tell your friends about it. The shorter walk is also suitable for families so make a day of it. More information and how to sign up is on the website www.cro.org.uk/challenge

It wasn’t until the Saturday that I could take advantage of such a, sadly more frequent and, “different” photowalk.

Up close, what surprised me was that levees have been built that prevent the flood water from draining away as quick as it might. There’s only 2 reasons I can think for this:

1. To prevent the run-off simply draining into the Aire without soaking into the ground first; &
2. To prevent flooding happening further down the valley in urban areas.

House building is already a contentious issue in the Aire valley; There’s a proposal to build even more houses on land that floods regularly. Anyone who buys one of them should prepare for their boundary fences to look like this…

…and this…

But there is also some of this going on…

I spent a day in the garden over Christmas, cleaning up all the dead stuff, pruning, etc.  Underneath some of last year’s dead foliage, I came across these shoots.  They added a vibrant colour to the area and completely changed the colour temperature.

In other gardening-related news, the composting we started a couple of years back is beginning to give results.  I dug some out from the bottom of the bin through the access panel and riddled it as there was still some that hadn’t broken down fully.  The resulting soil looks top quality and the “too big” stuff went back in the top of the bin.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 35 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Registration Point was full of bleary eyed walkers and even a few over-keen runners – they could’ve stayed in bed for an extra hour. The only one there who seemed to be wide awake was a dog. Somehow it knew that today was going to be a challenge and was simply stood watching what was going on. If a dog mentally prepares, he was the picture poster for it.

Outside the day started out murky and damp with visibility down to 15 metres on the summits but still warm enough to work up a sweat if you were making an effort. Once dawn arrived, apart from the tops, that soon burnt off.

Pen-y-ghent took me an hour to the summit which I was quite pleased with. A good solid start!

As you descend from Pen-y-Ghent, the mist tends to clear and you can see the miles ahead of you. This was a scene of lots of standing water & lots of mud. The organisers were recommending a route diversion because of the rain there had been in the last few days but particularly the previous night. If that diversion was the best route through the bog on the day, the normal route must’ve been 1 big pond. The ground was very soft and water-logged underfoot – very energy zapping.

I’m quite pleased that the only tumble I had was on the softest of grassy inclines. I almost bounced back onto my feet in what might have been the smoothest of moves. As it was, I’m glad I was on my todd as the self-berating for such a schoolboy error went on for a while.

Approaching Ribblehead Viaduct, the summit of Whernside cleared, challenging me to take it on. On the upside, the sun also came out. Ninety minutes after leaving the T-junction, I was having tea and a sandwich on the summit. Another pleasing milestone.

Ingleborough normally looks quite majestic from pretty much any angle but approaching it from Humphrey Bottom on a sunny day  in November creates quite a daunting silhouette. And out of the sun at the bottom of “the steps”, where it’s cold and dank, it can be quite enthusiasm sapping. Anyway, onwards and (straight) upwards.

Having gauged my pace all the way round, a time of 8 hours seemed plausible up until that point. Those steps put paid to that now seemingly foolish idea. I had rested minimally all day, always keeping an eye on a good time. Ingleborough was no different; a quick touch of the trig point, checked in with the marshals and set off back down. My descent was slowed by the limestone being rather greasy and my knees were complaining quite viciously by that point. To add insult to injury a rather… let’s call him a “long-lived individual”; he was making light work of it, off down the steep section like a whippet. I made good time as the gradient eased out and when I finally caught him up, he wished me well on my endeavour. A much needed injection of goodwill but more importantly enthusiasm and energy. (I hate the phrase “redouble your efforts” but begrudgingly, it seems to fit.)

There is a finger board at Sulber (near Sulber Gate) that reads “Horton 2″ [miles]. Don’t believe it, it lies!!!  I had 30 minutes in which to make my new target time and I would have made it if indeed it was truly 2 miles. I was pushing hard, making a solid 4 miles an hour pace – if not more!

And once again, that time passed. So I set a pace I could sustain all the way back into Horton in Ribblesdale. Only that seemed to relax me and I was able to travel easier and at much the same pace. If only I’d allowed myself to do that earlier!!

I have NEVER been so glad to see tarmac at the end of a long walk. Normally, it means walking a mile or more back to the car – not really what you need at the end of a long walk. However in this instance, it meant about 150 metres back to the Registration Point and the finish. And all for the benefit of the Cave Rescue Organisation. Please make a donation. Thank you!

My final time was 8 hours and 37 minutes which I’m very pleased with. Mainly because it’s unlikely to ever be bettered.