I had several ideas in mind for our layover day in Ingleton, but the main candidate was an ambitous loop that circled Whernside, the highest peak in the Yorkshire Dales and one of the Three Yorkshire Peaks. Together with nearby Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent it forms a renowned trio of high peaks (high by English standards anyway). One of the more prestigious hikes in the area is the Three Peak Walk, a 24 mile hike that reaches the summit of all three of them.
The ride I was considering would have taken me up the trough between Ingleton and back north to Dent before curving around the east side of Whernside and doubling back to Ingleton through a second trench - this one between Whernside and its giant neighbor to the southeast, Ingleborough. Along the way I’d take time to admire what is really my main interest of the circuit, the Ribblehead Viaduct.
I changed my mind though this morning, partly because I was a little distrustful of the weather outlook. I didn’t want to find myself a dozen challenging miles from home biking in an unexpected downpour. Mostly though, it just sounded too hard. I realized biking here yesterday that there’s not a lot of strength in the legs at the moment and it doesn’t take much of a climb to wear me down. I’ve run up a streak of pretty challenging days for the last week or so, and it felt like something easier was needed. A fifteen mile out and back to see the viaduct sounded just right - I’d get to see my main goal but have a semi-rest day.
I knew I’d done the right thing when I started climbing shortly after leaving town, gaining five hundred feet in not much over a mile. I’m actually starting to get a little tired of this terrain, I’m thinking to myself as I alternately bike and walk that first mile.
That discouraged thought disappears almost instantly when I crest out and the views ahead open up. This really is astonishing country, a total delight to experience and explore.
The transition rising out of the valley is almost shockingly abrupt.
Patrick O'HaraI get tired looking at the terrain you've been through over the past several weeks. I'm sure you're looking forward to a change of scenery. Reply to this comment 4 months ago
It’s probably not too late to say at least a few words about the exceptional geology that characterizes the Yorkshire Dales, now that we’re entering the heart of it. This article provides a succinct, easy to understand overview of what we’re seeing: a land set down ondersea a half a billion years ago as sedimentary deposits near the equator, drifted north, rammed into Scotland, got uplifted and then scoured clean by glaciers in the ice ages. There’s drama everywhere you look, all overlaid by more transient delights since humans stepped onto the stage for their brief act: stone walls delimiting chartreuse meadows, crumbling stone barns and farmhouses, mining scars, wandering sheep and newborn calves.
Today’s ride is an out and back up this glaciated valley, with the River Doe running through it and Yorkshire’s two highest peaks rising on either side - Ingleborough on the right and Whernside on the left.
I’m not far up the trench when I’m startled to look down at the Garmin and see I’m almost on top of Rachael, out on her Waterfalls walk. I hadn’t looked at her route enough to register that we were starting out in the same direction. I look around and see her descending a slope just ahead, chatting away with a family she’s been adopted by for a bit. Her path crosses the road almost exactly at the time I reac(h that spot, so we stop and touch noses briefly before continuing on.
As I ride on, I can’t help stopping often to look south at Ingleborough, cutting a striking figure as it rises up stairstepped like a layer cake. Later I’ll be amazed to look at Rachael’s walk and be astonished to see that after we parted she walked up there, turning back just shy of the summit.
After a few miles my unnamed singletrack lane merges into B6255, the road to Hawes. Suddenly there’s a bit of traffic as I continue climbing, but I’m not on it long before I come to my exit - another single-track that loops around to the north before crossing under the Ribblehead Viaduct and returning to the highway.
Eastbound on B6255, a bit busier than it looks here. The Ribblehead Viaduct makes its first appearance off to the left.
Wherfside again, another layer cake like Ingleborough just to its south. The top bed is resistant gritstone (the stuff British roads are made of), the layers above scraped off by glaciation.
At the bend the pavement ends, I come to a gate and bend back toward the highway. The sign at the gate leaves me uncertain whether there’s public passage until I come to this crossroad. From here I start seeing many walkers (but no bikers) until I reach the highway. I’m surprised by how many folks are out here, thinking they’re all drawn in by the viaduct; but later I’ll learn that this path intersects with the Three Peaks Walk. Some of these folks are likely on their way to or from Wherfside.
Finally I come to the main show, the viaduct. Opened in 1875, it’s an impressive feat of engineering and construction - it took five years to construct by a workforce of 2,300 who lived in shantytowns beneath it, and resulted in a hundred lost lives. The structure is Grade II listed, the ground below it is a scheduled ancient monument; and, as we saw above, it’s still carrying traffic 150 years later. Almost exactly 150 actually - I wonder if a celebration is planned for next year?
Good thing I brought the bike along to give us some perspective. As tall as it is, it’s only the third tallest of the three viaducts on the Settle-Carlisle line.
Not long after I’m back on the highway again I find another excuse to stop. It’s breezy and cool now, but not so much so that I can’t stop briefly and celebrate the day. After all, it’s almost all downhill from here.
I imagine this is another spot some of you are familiar with.
4 months ago