Breathless Hikers

The start of the 2026 mountain season, and we kicked things off strong with a firm favourite: Ingleborough. We’ve been up Ingleborough before, I’ll pop that route at the bottom of the page for anyone who wants to compare past suffering, but today’s route was definitely the best.

This time we started from Clapham, parking up in the village car park where I was immediately delighted to spot a toilet. Honestly, nothing sets the tone for a good day out like knowing you’re not starting the walk already planning a wild wee. A walk that begins with a toilet is a walk destined for greatness.

Suitably relieved (literally), we crossed the river and followed the signs for Ingleborough Cave. Instead of taking the standard path, we opted for the Nature Trail, which cost a couple of quid each but was absolutely worth it.

The Nature Trail turned out to be absolutely lovely. We wandered past a small lake, then followed the stream. There were tiny bug/fairy houses tucked into the trees, an old Victorian folly looking dramatic for no reason. 

This is also where Myah started to whine a bit, so out came her walking sticks. And I’m going to pause the jokes for a second, because this matters.

Six months ago, Myah was incredibly poorly. She spent a month in hospital, had major surgery, and at her worst she could barely walk. I was pushing her around the wards in a wheelchair. To see her now, tackling a 10‑mile hike with a mountain in it, is nothing short of incredible. I’m so unbelievably proud of her. She’ll roll her eyes if she reads this, but tough. She’s earned the praise.

Anyway, we carried on until we reached the entrance to the show caves. Naturally, we celebrated this milestone with an ice cream, because that’s what elite athletes do.

Then it was onwards to Trow Gill.

Now, Trow Gill is seriously cool. The gorge narrows in around you, the walls rise up dramatically, and it all culminates in a little scramble that makes you feel far more adventurous than you actually are. Louise, ever the tactician, pointed out that it would be an excellent place for an ambush. Thankfully, no goblins, bandits, or disgruntled sheep appeared, and we made it out unscathed.

From Trow Gill, the path levelled out beautifully and we made excellent time heading towards Gaping Gill. If you’ve never been, Gaping Gill is… well… a hole. A very big, very dramatic, very famous hole, but still fundamentally a hole in the ground. Apparently you can get lowered into it when the caving club is running their winch meets, if dangling into the earth’s crust is your idea of a good time, I, however think I have seen a horror movie about this.

As my exceptional photography will demonstrate, it mostly looks like… a hole. A deep one, granted, but still a hole.

We took a decent rest here, partly to admire the geology, mostly because we knew what was coming next: the steep pull up to Little Ingleborough. A few snacks were consumed.

And then we began.

This section sucks. There’s no polite way to put it. Imagine a StairMaster set to “vengeful” and left running for far too long. Burning thighs, heavy breathing, and the faint hope that all this pain will one day result in a bum of steel. It was the steepest part of the entire route, but the good news is that it made for a surprisingly quick ascent.  I find that in moments of intense height gain, it’s very noisy hearing myself pant up a mountain.

There are a few cairns dotted around this area, and we managed to tuck ourselves behind one for a sheltered lunch spot.

From here, the route up to Ingleborough was ok. A grassy ridge, a steady incline, a few more steps and then suddenly you pop out onto that brilliant, wide, flat summit plateau about 250 metres from the trig point and shelter. It was a bit windy and noticeably cooler up top, but that just meant one thing: snack time.

Today’s summit treat was a homemade lemon drizzle cake, courtesy of Myah.

Refuelled and slightly sticky with sugar, we began our descent, taking a different route, of course, because we are firmly committed to the concept of circular walks. We headed east, picking up the path that eventually leads towards Pen‑y‑ghent, with a solid five miles still ahead of us.

All was going well for a couple of miles… until Myah decided she had officially had enough. Unfortunately for her, we were still very much in the middle of nowhere, so the only option was to keep walking. Character building, I believe they call it.

Eventually we reached Nick Pot, where we turned south to join the Pennine Bridleway. And honestly, I loved this section. The ground was soft and spongy underfoot, the kind of terrain that makes your knees feel like they’ve been given a second chance at life. There was loads of limestone pavement to admire, and we even passed a cairn at Long Scar.

Eventually we reached a gate that led us onto a lane scattered with big, ankle‑hating rocks, the kind that make every step feel like a personal attack. This section absolutely sucked to walk on.

Thankfully, salvation appeared in the form of the Nature Trail path below us. The moment we spotted it, we all had the same thought: Nope, not doing this rocky nonsense any longer. So we dropped back down to the familiar trail and followed it all the way to the car.

By the time we reached the car park, our route clocked in at 10.84 miles, a long one, but genuinely beautiful from start to finish. Stunning scenery, varied terrain, a summit cake break, a proud‑mum moment, and only a small amount of whining (mostly from the children, occasionally from the adults).

It’s absolutely a route I’d repeat. Preferably on a day when my legs have forgiven me.

https://hiiker.app/hikes/england/north-yorkshire/ingleborough-walk

Park Fell, Simon Fell and Ingleborough 8.46 miles

I’m too tired this evening, but I’ll add some pictures of this route.

https://hiiker.app/hikes/users/park-fell-simon-fell-and-ingleborough–136589499