Austwick, Gaping Gill, Ingleborough, Ingleton, Yorkshire
[ 14.8 km] Wed  13 Jan 2010

Drove to Ingleton to catch the No 581 bus at 07:45am. I arrived at the Information Centre in good time but the cap parking prices were extortionate, £3.50, to park for the day. So I drove to Old Road and left the car near the Chapel. It was difficult walking back into the village as the roads and footpaths were treacherous with frozen snow and black ice. At the Information centre School Students began to arrive and when the bus came I thought it was just a school coach. The 581 number was on a board propped up inside the front window. I paid the £1.40 fare to Austwick where we arrived about 15mins later. O.S. grid ref: SD 7675 6842.
It was still almost dark when we arrive and I was the only one to get off the bus. My walk didn’t start well as my first footstep off the bus was onto black ice and I finished up flat on the snow covered grass verge.

There was no damage but I did feel foolish. I stopped briefly by the village cross before setting off carefully along the icy road. The Post Office and General Store was open and a nice cheery glow came from its interior lights. I hadn’t gone far up Main Street before realising that I needed my ice studs. I stopped briefly by the School while I strapped them to my boots then continued. I turned left up Townhead Lane and was very glad of the studs on the steep climb. At the top I turned left along Thwaite Lane which was quite deep in snow but farm vehicles had been able to get through. The weather was gloomy and overcast and I wondered how long it would be before I was walking in cloud. Further along the Lane the snow became deeper until the only way forward was on foot. At Thwaite Plantation I turned right and followed Long Lane which also became increasingly deeper in snow.

Approaching the Trow Gill area the snow was deep and difficult to get through. My original plan was to head up to Sulber but the going was far too difficult so I went for plan B and headed NW towards Gaping Gill. When I reached the wall and stile the snow was more wind blown and not as deep so was easier to get through. When I reached Gaping Gill I was ready for a sit down so climbed down to the snow covered river and found some shelter in a snow hole to eat my sandwiches. The Gill entrance was a mass of snow and icicles and I didn’t have any intentions of having a closer look. The black hole in the middle is 105m (345ft) straight down.

In comparison to the going so far the continuing path up the fell towards Ingleborough was a doddle. The wind had kept most of the snow off and the trudge up was straightforward. The steep bit up to Little Ingleborough took some time as the snow was very hard and the ice studs didn’t give much grip on steep ground. By now I was in cloud as I expected and the wind began to get much stronger. I reached the Ingleborough summit plateau in total whiteout with the ground covered in frozen snow, a screaming wind of minus 5degC and little visibility.

Straight on was the descent route through the snow. There were plenty of tracks to follow and I was soon out of the cloud with a view down towards Ingleton and the buildings of Crina Bottom. There were vehicles and other stuff around at Crina Bottom to indicate it was occupied, but here was no vehicle access due to the snow. As I walked down the Fell Lane track a group of fell runners overtook me. A lot of the higher section of the lane was full of snow between the walls and will take a long time to disperse. I reached the B6255 and walked the short way back to my car.