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The challenge is that over the summer holidays me and my Daddy are walking the Yorkshire Three Peaks. We completed Ingleborough a few weeks ago and today was set to be our second day and Whernside was today’s target. My Daddy carried me up the 3 Peaks before my 1st birthday, so now my challenge is to walk them all before I start year two at school, in September 😊
It was a very early start as it was due to rain in the afternoon. Daddy got me up at 06:00, I was still tired but very excited. I tried to close my eyes in the car but couldn’t sleep. When we got close to the start of the walk, we had to stop, and I had to open two gates as daddy drove through them. Before we started walking, we sat in the car and I had my breakfast: I had cereal and milk that Daddy had packed for me.
As we started our journey up the mountain, it was raining a little bit and the wind was very strong. We could not see the top of the mountain because the cloud was covering it; this made it cold and I even had to walk with my gloves. It was uphill and very steep in parts. We had to cross a few bogs at the start and, luckily, we managed to do this keeping our feet dry. Like when we walked up Ingleborough, Daddy had packed some snacks and we stopped on the way up for breaks and I even had chocolate before 08:00 in the morning! On one of our rests, we looked at a beetle on the floor: Daddy picked it up and it was colourful underneath. About halfway up Whernside, we went into the cloud; it felt damp and cold in the cloud and I had to put my hood up. We could not see very far at all, we just had to follow the path. We got to a really steep part, and I chose to climb up the rocks because I love scrambling on rocks.
We soon could see the trig point in the cloud and, like on Ingleborough, we started running to touch it. I felt excited when I had got to the top of Whernside, but when I looked around there was no view at all because we were still in the cloud. We took some pictures on the top and then had a sandwich. It was only 08:30 and I said to Daddy “Mummy and Emily will only be just getting out of bed, and we are on top of Whernside!” As we were sat at the top, we heard some voices coming out of the cloud and a family arrived that were walking all the 3 Peaks in one day.
We had to walk back the same way today because we had to get back to the car as we hadn’t been dropped off in the minibus this time. Walking down was trickier than walking up because it was very very steep. We had to walk slowly and lean back so we didn’t slip. Some parts were a gentle slope and grassy and we did a little bit of running.
When we got further down the mountain, we came out of the cloud and we could start to see the path back to the car. It was still only 09:00 and we had already been to the top of Whernside and most of the way down, so I said “What are we going to do for the rest of the day… NOT walk up Pen-Y-Ghent!” and Daddy said that was a great idea. That was when the day changed into a two mountain day! We wondered if we would see the family from the top of Whernside on Pen-Y-Ghent. We got back to the car to start the second part of our newly formed challenge.
We drove to the start of our second mountain of the day, Pen-Y-Ghent. I have done it before but couldn’t fully remember what the journey entailed. At the start of the walk, we strode along a track and through lots of cows. I climbed up some rocks to stay out of the way of them! The cloud was still low, and we could not see the summit of the mountain. It was less windy than on Whernside and a little bit warmer, but it was still a shame that we could not see any views. This time on one of our rests we saw a caterpillar and I picked it up - it felt soft and fluffy. We had another break just at the bottom of a very steep rocky part and I had another chocolate biscuit.
I really enjoyed the next part of our walk because I love scrambling on the rocks. Instead of walking up the path, we looked for the rockiest route so we could scramble our way up. I led Daddy and showed him which way to go; this was the best part of the journey up Pen-Y-Ghent. We were in the cloud again while we were scrambling, and I could not see where the path was going but Daddy pointed me in the right direction. After the scrambling, we got to the path and we were nearly at the top. I was starting to feel tired but really looking forward to getting to the top as it would be the final mountain completed.
Like on Whernside, we were walking in the cloud when we got to the top. We noticed the trig point in front of us in the distance, so what did we do? We ran towards it and this time I won and got to the top first! It was cloudy on the top and we couldn’t see anything, but I felt really proud of myself for walking two mountains in a morning and completing my summer holiday challenge to get to the top of all the Three Peaks. Daddy was also very proud of me as well for keeping going and showing resilience, even when I was finding it hard.
The walk down from Pen-Y-Ghent was steep and rocky again, so we had to be very careful. As we were walking down, we passed lots of people coming up and the cloud started rise. When we were most of the way down, the cloud had almost gone and we could finally see the top of the mountain and where we had just been. On the final stretch of our walk, it was starting to rain, and me and Daddy started to plan our next challenge and what this might be.
I am delighted that I managed to complete my challenge of walking the Three Peaks during the summer holidays with my Daddy. Some parts of the challenge were very difficult, but I kept on going, with a little bit of encouragement and some sweets, and I am so glad I did. I loved racing towards each trig point and the feeling when we got to the top of each mountain. My favourite mountain was Ingleborough because of the scrambling at the top.
I can’t wait and am looking forward to my next challenge. I am not sure what it is yet but I think it might include some more mountains!
Grace and Dad's Mountain Summary
Ingleborough (723 meters) / 8 miles / 4hrs 50min
Whernside (736 meters) / 3 miles / 1hr 30min
Pen-Y-Gent (694 meters) / 4 miles / 1hr 50min