Walk Description

When I looked out of my window this morning, everything looked murky and I nearly cancelled the walk. However if I had stayed at home, I would have missed one of the best walks of this year.  
There was no improvement inthe weather as we drove towards Yorkshire Dales and I was even thinking about doing a low level walk instead of climbing Penyghent in the mist.  However we dcecide d that as we were at Horton we would go up Penyghent regardless.  I was really glad that we did.  As we started to climb we began to see very faint patches of blue in the sky above us. By the time we reached about 1600 feet we saw Penyghent looming out of the mist.  The higher we climbed, the clearer the views and by the time we reached the stile onto the main ridge path, we were above the clouds.  It was a wonderful experience. We were in bright sunshine and we could see the cloud billowing below us in Silverdale.

The path now began to get much steeper and I needed a few stops in order to get my breath back, I used the excuse of taking photos in order to capture the wonderful views.  I found the rocky steps a little bit awkward to climb and needed a little help in places,  Although my knee held out for the walk, it doesn't like me trying to climb steep steps.  Once we reached the summit, we spent a while just soaking up the views.  Over to the west was Ingleborough peeping above the clouds  and north-east of us, we could just make out Whenerside's long summit.  The best views were of the white clouds rolling along the valleys beneath us.  I could have spent hours just watching the clouds but once we had finished lunch we had a hard decision to make: should we folow the Pennine way back down to Horton or should we follow the wall to Plover Hill and return via Foxup Road.   No contest, the day was too good to end early so we decided to make out way along the moor to Plover Hill.  This was the trickiest bit of the walk, although we could see that the path followed the wall, it was so wet in places, we have to make large detours to try to keep some firm ground beneath our feet.  Jeff was in his element, not only was he walking above an inversion but he had a bog to cross as well.

A large stake marked the descent route from Plover Hill.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the path as the first time I descended this way, the path was very loose and steep.  Today the path was stepped and very easy to follow, and it didn't take long for us to reach the Foxup Road.  We now began the long walk back toward Horton.  Although we were still in suinshine, we could see the mist ahead of us and it wasn't long before we entered the gloomy mist.  Path finding wasn't an issue thanks to the work that had been done on the path and we didn't need to refer to the map until we crossed the Three Peaks Route.  Our path looked so different to the path I followed the last time that I was here and I just had to check we were going the right way. 

Penyghent has two very obvious pot holes and we were going to visit one of them today - Hull Pot.  According the Wainwright 'Hull Pot is an open chasm of remarkable size, 300 feet long, 60 feet wide and 60 feet deep'.  It is certainly worth a visit and I would love to see it after heavy rain when the Hull Pot Beck pours over the edge and down into the pot hole.  We had a wander around Hull Pot taking care not to get too close to the edge.  We then walked down the bridleway back into Horton.

Thanks to Jeff for his company and for agreeing to do the walk in what seemed to be such poor conditions.  We were rewarded with some of the best views that I have seen. 
 

Route & Planning

Details and Route Map

Photo Opportunities

Walk Profile

The route map shown here should not be used as a replacement for the appropriate map(s). Before attempting the walk you should check the suitability of this route in relation to your capabilities and experience.