Selside, Park Fell, Ingleborough, Gaping Gill, Sulber, Yorkshire. Fri 05 Oct 2007

It was sunny and cold when I arrived at Selside, north of Horton-in-Ribblesdale. It was 7:15am and the sun hadn’t risen yet. The only place to park is along the lane that leads to Alum Pot but a police notice warns of vehicle contents thefts in the area. I left my car as near to the road end as possible. I headed north up the road to the well marked footpath that cuts left up the fell side. The grass was still wet with dew and as I started the easy climb the sun rose over the summit of Pen-y-Ghent behind me. At Bent Hill Rigg the path follows a gully between the limestone outcrop then through a gate and into a field where the path levels off and heads towards the houses at New Close. There was nobody about as I passed the farm buildings. Just past New Close Houses the path turns left and up Park Fell.

Ribblehead railway viaduct.

The map and signpost show it heading along the base of the mountain but I wanted to go up it. A lesser path can be seen following the wall steeply up towards the summit. This is the path I followed and as I got higher a nice view of the Ribblehead railway viaduct appeared. The steep climb soon eased off and I could see a wall ahead and trig point on the summit of Park Fell behind it. My obvious choice of route was by the trig point but anyone heading for Ingleborough would be better turning right and following the NW edge of the mountain.

I went directly over the top where the path is extremely boggy in places. Igleborouh was now in front of me and after the wet area had been left behind the walking became pleasant and easy. I was in this area many years ago and wanted to check if a spring was still where I remembered it. It was, just at the start of the last steep climb to the summit of the Ingleborough plateau. On the summit I was treated to some wonder full views. The path to the stone shelter is indistinct and rough. In bad weather it is very difficult to find and a compass is needed to find the shelter. Today I had no problems and as I arrived a couple of walkers were coming up from the Ingleton side. I crossed the plateau to the east and found a couple of the pre-Roman Iron Age hut circles.

Park Fell towards Ingleborough.

East side of Ingleborough towards Park Fell.

Previous excavations were fairly evident. I joined the descent path to Little Ingleborough but just below the summit I found a nice sheltered area between the rocks to sit and eat my lunch. In the shelter the sun was warm and the views of Pen-y-Ghent were great. As I continued my descent more people were about and I met quite a few coming up. At Gaping Gill I had a look down the hole, venturing as near as I dare, and then back up on to the path towards Trow Gill. At the top of the Gill I turned left and followed a minor path east to meet the main path again at Long Scar. For the next few miles I wandered along the wide green track which was level and easy underfoot. At Sulber there is a cross roads where I continued on and back to Selside. The track where I had parked my car was deserter when I arrived this morning but now was almost filled with parked cars.