Today the weather forecasters drew us out of the house a day early for our 'Sunday Walk'. Luckily, our plans had not been advertised, so adjustments could be made.
Setting off from Ingleton at 10 am we were disappointed to find grey skies instead of the predicted blue ones. However, with only a handful of folk around, we enjoyed a peaceful ascent of Ingleborough via Crina Bottom. A descending photographer concurred with our feeling that it would be a 'grey day' all day. He was returning from the summit empty handed - fooled into an early rise by the forecasters.
The path was well frozen and quite icy, though the precautionary crampons were not needed. With an increasingly bitter breeze as we approached the summit, we were impressed to see two well equipped young cyclists skillfully (and courteously) negotiating the difficult stepped descent.
On the top, various folk ambled around in conditions that could be described as 'benign but raw'. 
A little care was needed on the steep descent to Chapel-le-Dale, with the sun tantalisingly beating down only 5-10 km to the north.
Dropping to the main road via Souther Scales, we then headed around the chapel and past a group of cave divers beside Hurtle Pot, before coming across this statue.
This plaque provides its history. Wow - no vandals here for 25 years! 
After another luxurious picnic lunch, with fine if grey views, we headed on up the lane below the grey-green bulk of Whernside. A left turn by Ellerbeck along the flat and frozen path across Scales Moor took us to a fine vista back to the Ribblehead Viaduct, and across to the frost covered northern slopes of Ingleborough.
Sheep shivered, and hopefully avoided slipping down the 'pots' that litter this area. 
There was no sign of any snow despite the illusion - it's just frost.
Photography was difficult on this grey day; we snapped away but were unable to capture the ribbon of red that graced the horizon above Morecambe Bay. Later this red light turned to purple after the sun had set - memorable, but too distant to record the image.
There had been many folk on Ingleborough, but our fine route back to Ingleton was deserted until we reached Twistleton and joined a procession of people on the latter stages of Ingleton's famous Waterfall Walk, the charge for which (£4.50 for an adult) seems exorbitant, but as we joined in the middle of the route we avoided any payment.
It was dark and slippery in the chasm that the well constructed path negotiates beside the River Doe before drifting past a quarry and along side roads into the village, but Sue did manage this pleasing image of Beesley Falls. 
Bernie's Café in Ingleton provided good value tea and cake to fuel us for the journey home.
This was a slightly more energetic route than some of our recent strolls, but a very pleasant one and extremely simple to navigate - the 19 km with 800 metres ascent took us just under 5 hours, excluding (brief because it was chilly) stops. Here's the outline.
BTW - I'm afraid we failed to clear the litter shown in the top picture. So much for that resolution, but we may persist with bottles and cans, etc.
4 comments:
I love this walk - and know it well! Best wishes for the New Year.
Nice route that. Have been up another way and will have to try that way some time. Good photos as well.
Hello Solitary, hello Martin, Thanks, and Happy New Year to you both. Yes, it was a pleasant and contrasty route, one that we haven't been on for ages as we tend to approach Ingleborough from Chapel-le-Dale and descend to Horton as part of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks walk. That would be a great day out just now, in these firm conditions.
We've only made a few visits to the Dales since starting the blog. Must go more often, and to the Howgills and to Bowland.
I was up here on 27th Dec - up from Chapel-le-Dale to the summit, then NE to the end of the ridge and back round the bottom. A bit whiter than your pix, and cold too - especially as I forgot to take my hat and gloves ;-) Happy New Year!
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