The day was a scorcher and when I arrived in Clapham there wasn't a cloud in the sky. My sat nav brought me right to the car park thankfully and it was already filling with other walkers, changing footwear and checking rucksacks. My immediate thought was how do I get out of the car park. After paying for my ticket I checked the downloaded route on my phone (now at 80% battery eeek!) and saw that I followed the river up through Clapham and the route would present itself to me..........easy peasy. Plus there were other walkers heading in a similar direction so I sort of sauntered after them. (Following people is not advised really as I found out later in the day......)
The village is pretty and with the morning sun the trees glistened like gold, wandering past the church I was soon met with the "Trail and Caves" route. A quick check of my phone (now at 72% battery) and the 65p toll paid I headed on up the path. Glorious woodland with trees of every colour, golds, reds, burgandy, oranges all lit up the path and it wasnt long before I came upon the cave entrance. This wasnt my destination today as I had much further to go and passed pleasantries with all sorts of folks that passed. My pace was quick and and when an elderly man passed he said, slow down, you've got all day and I just replied but I've go so much to do and see and kept to the quick pace to get me out of the forest area and into the rocks.
A small scramble later and further along the path the sight of Little Ingleborough met me and I could clearly see the path ahead snaking its way up the hill. Trundling my way through the rocks the path ahead was firmly in my sights and I was debating whether to have a quick rest stop at the bottom before tackling the first steep part of the day. It was at this moment I realised that I'd forgotten my water bottles and only having my thermos of green tea with me that would have to do but it would have to wait as I wasnt really ready for a proper stop. So onwards I went towards the path upwards. There were 2 people in front of me a good distance ahead that I recognised from the car park earlier and behind me was a woman who wasnt gaining any ground and then I could hear the chatter from a group of young people so I plodded on as I didnt want company on the climb, just my own company would be fine as I put one foot in front of the other and continued up the path.
About half way up I really was thirsty so decided to stop on a flattish bit of rock to the side and have some tea and some fruit. It was only when I looked back I realised that at the bottom of the hill was Gaping Gill, the big hole that I should have visited but good god I'd missed it completely in my keeness to get onto the steep path. Oh well, nothing I could do about it now but hopefully I'd pass it on my return leg and checked my phone to see if my homeward path took me that way. (phone battery now 54%...oh dear!)
Tangerine eaten I headed on up the path as the group of youngsters were getting closer and I wanted to make it to the top before they passed me. Up on the top of Little Ingleborough there is a lovely little flattish path over to the main event and I was blown away by the views on offer. Ingleborough in the past has always been a dark and foreboding place with hail, rain, mist, fog and all sorts of dreary weather thrown in for good measure. Today I was seeing it in all its glory. Pen y Ghent behind and Whernside up ahead. It was beautiful and I could see as far as the Lakes and behind Pendle Hill stood proudly in the distance.
The final path up on to the summit of Ingleborough wasnt too steep and to my left I could clearly see the shelter, the big cairn and the tip of the trig so off in that direction I headed. I was hungry now and looking forward to lunch. A quick trip over to the trig for the obligatory picture and then I found a section of the shelter all to myself out of the wind and with views over to the Lakes. Perfect.
It was perfect until the group of youths decided to invade my corner of the shelter and these weren't just any youths they were privelaged youths. Talks of Vinyards in Switzerland and Skiing in Aspen and Vale were the topics of conversation so I had little to add and packed up quickly ready to find the route OFF. I had a fairly good idea of where I was heading and knew that I had to find the path off the mountain to take me over to Simon Fell and thats the way I headed. Quick check of the phone route (Battery now 32% oh crickey!) and I was heading in the right direction. I decided to switch the phone off completely to save what battery I had left and as I took the path off the mountain I could see a couple ahead of me that I knew were parked in the car park at Clapham so that confirmed to me that I was on the right path......or was I?
Downwards I went, Simons Fell on my left and before long I realised that I was going down too quickly and Simons Fell was looming up to the side of me. Had I missed the path, surely not????? So I thought to myself I'll carry on down this path (heading to Horton in Ribblesdale) and perhaps there will be another path up to Simons Fell at the end. Further down the path Pen y Ghent looming ahead I was very concious that I was heading away from Clapham and still could see no path to the left up Simons Fell nor to the right to take me back over to Clapham. The weather was outstanding so there was no immediate danger so I kept heading along the path in the hope that one would appear either right or left. Simons Fell was not to be. I'd gone so far along the path now that it was behind me and there seemed no visible way up it. It didnt look that steep and if I'd not been alone then probably would have attempted it but then again if I'd not been alone I'd have been on the right path in the first place oops!
So my focus was now on getting a path to the right to take me back towards Clapham. I had a quick check of the phone (battery now at 20%) and saw quite clearly where I'd gone wrong and that I seemingly could still catch the path up ahead. So onwards I went. Mr and Mrs Car Park were still up ahead so I felt fairly certain that at any moment they'd turn off right and I could relax and after another 20 mins or so I saw that they'd come to a Y in the road. They seemed to deliberate for a moment or two then headed off in the left hand direction which didnt seem right to me and sure enough when I got the Y the left hand direction was clearly signposted Horton in Ribblesdale. This was not where I was headed so I took the right hand Y. Not quite a path but enough of an indentation in the ground that convinced me this was the route. I had Ingleborough on my right, Pen y Ghent to my left and slightly behind so I knew that I was headed in the right direction, path or no path this was the way I was going.
I was all on my own, not a soul for miles and thoughts did cross my mind that I could be murdered out here and no one would be any the wiser. I counteracted these thoughts by singing and continued along the path. Little Ingleborough was up ahead on the right and I knew I had to get to the base of that to meet the path I'd come up on earlier in the day but it never seemed to get any closer at all. It was at this point I thought second lunch sounded like a good idea. So up on an embankment I popped with the gorgeous view of Pendle Hill in the distance and I treated myself to the rest of my lunch. It was a welcome break and much needed in my relentless trudging towards the base of Little Ingleborough. I dared check the phone one last time (critical less than 10% battery power) and before it died I could see that if I followed the wall I'd soon be back on the path that would take me to Gaping Gill which I couldnt miss this time!
Sure enough following the wall up and over banks I soon saw the fenced area that contained the hole and knew that I wasnt lost anymore and that there was a path, a path that would take me back to the car. It still was a fair distance back to the car park but I did spend some time down at the hole's edge watching the water cascading down in the late afternoon sunlight. There was another woman there and she seemed a bit lost and I did wonder for a moment if I'd interrupted her in some meditation moment, oh well never mind.
My mind now turned to the beautiful wooded area that I'd come through earlier and what the afternoon sun was doing to the trees. So I quickened my step and hurried as fast as I could through the rocks, over paths, down through the scrambly bit to the wooded area by the lake and it was like standing in a cathedral. Light spilling through the trees adorning every surface....bark, ground, fences, water....beautiful sight.
Before long I was back in Clapham, the sun now very low in the sky and I'd had an amazing walk. It had a bit of everything today. Forest, rocks, a little scrambly bit, a detour (unplanned) and a great leg workout even if I did miss one of the inclines. Clapham looked every bit as pretty in the evening sunlight as it had in the morning and I'll look forward to having a go at this route again at some point in the future and this time making sure that Simon does fall short!
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