Friday 18 March 2011

Day one - Clapham to Ingleborough

Good morning. I see you have all been blogging, that's good, I had a quick nosey round last night. What a surprise to see my mush on Lovely Grey's blog, and what a lovely write up. She has a wonderful way with words, I love the way she sculpures her posts, like a craftswoman with knife or a chisel, every post is a work of art. Not like my own, chuck a few words in a pot, mash them up and toss them onto the screen, ha ha. Check out her blog using the link on the side bar, haven't yet worked out how to put the linky in the post.

I'm back in my usual position, in front of the computer with Lilly cat on my knee. He is keeping me warm in this freezing cold house. I am fighting off the urge to put the central heating on, not easy when I have just enjoyed tropical temperatures in the hostel. I just had a thought, maybe I could live permanently in a hostel :0)

Anyway, back to the job in hand, what was I up to while I was away. First of all it was such a lovely morning when I set off, so I stopped off at a small pretty village called Clapham, a few miles past Settle on the A65. You may remember I walked to Settle when I hosteled at Malham, a few months back. I had it in mind to trek up to Ingleborough after I have read so much about it on http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/.
It is the second highest of the famous three Yorkshire peaks, at 2373 feet. There is some more information on the area with more pictures at
www.yorkshire-dales.com/clapham

Here I am standing on a decking area across the road from the New Inn, looking across at the stone bridge.

This is St James's church. Just as I was about to set off along came a group of school children all gabbling away excitedly, I decided to linger for a few minutes to let them get ahead of me.

Next to the church is where the waterfall comes down, which flows through the village.

There is a flatter walk alongside the Beck through Clapdale Woods to Ingleborough Cave, which the children took, I followed the wide steep track alongside.

Here I have a choice, climb the stile or stroll through the open gate. When you are out walking you must follow the country code of closing every gate you pass through, but in this instance the gate was already open and there was no livestock around so I decided to leave it as I found it. I love the many ways there are of building stiles, such a simple idea of combining the sleepers with the stone, though I think the bottom one could do with replacing.

Here I am at the entrance to the cave, the children are gathered on the grass waiting for their tour to begin. I haven't time to join them, I want to get to the top and back before we start losing daylight.

The next bit is through Trow Gill, a narrow gulley between the rockfaces.

Getting ready for the scramble up, there are a lot of loose rocks and stones to negotiate, best not to put a foot wrong, to fall would be a disaster.

A quick turn around to admire the view, beautiful.

The next interesting feature is Gaping Gill, a steep drop where all the water comes down off the hills and falls into a hole into the ground. This water then flows down through the caves, down the waterfall beside the church at Clapham, and under the bridge through the village.

The start as it comes down, I sat awhile and listened, almost silence except for the sound of rushing water....... pure heaven.

It gathers momentum....

Almost there as it tumbles over the rocks.......

And the final drop where it cascades down into the hole in the ground.

I'm watching the time now. As I was a bit late starting, I must not lose sight of my goal to get to the top. This bit is easy, the slabs are to protect the ground from millions of pairs of stomping feet. Thankfully there are only a few people about today, I would not like to be here at the weekend or holiday time.

Dunnit. Sadly the sun is not shining as brightly as it was when I set out, and I have had to put my jacket and wooly hat on (see pic on previous post). The mist has impaired the views, they are not good enough to take a photo, so you will have to imagine them. Perhaps refer to the web site I mentioned.

I must set off down, time is cracking on and I have another hour to drive to the hostel. I was hoping to descend by a different route, but I'd better not risk it, best to take the quickest way down and retrace my steps. Whew that was close, just got back to the car at 6.30pm as it started to get dark.
I haven't worked out any distances yet, I'll post them later, but for now that was a lovely walk.

15 comments:

  1. How beautiful your photos are Ilona. I once camped at Clapham with my sister, her son and mine. My son was two or three! That was twenty years ago. Must get back up there soon, it's not so far away. Thank you for reminding me. Enjoy.

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  2. Thanks for your kind words. In the spirit of mutually praising each other's blog I have to say that you're a far better photographer than I am! x

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  3. Gorgeous post today. I have a friend who has moved to Clapham, I've not been able to get there to see her, so it is lovely to see a couple of photos, now I can picture her there.

    Very atmospheric pictures, you are turning into a talented photographer.

    Sue xx

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  4. Fab story and pictures, as usual!

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  5. I love that part of the world, which has mostly been experienced on wheels of a bicycle. Beautiful scenery and great photos, as usual.

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  6. more great photos and what fantastic scenery x

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  7. Thank you for a great walk. We have done the lower walk, through the woods from Clapham to Ingleborough. I would love to see the top of Gaping Gill.
    I remember a strange grotto , a Victorian folly, set back from the path through Clapdale Woods.

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  8. oooh, I just love going exploring with you, MQ! thanks for sharing these fabulous pics and the play by play!

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  9. Wonderful photos. I haven't been up there for years. Thanks for the tour Ilona
    Twiggy x

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  10. Hi, Ilona, hope you can help. Like you I follow the blog frugal in cornwall (jane) and cant open her blog any more. Could you try and let me know please? Its only today, though, so dont know whats happened. Kind Regards.

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  11. Hi mollymay. Sorry, I don't know what's going on with Jane's blog. I can't open it either. I saw that she posted yesterday, I went through a link on Cyberkim's blog, but you still get the message that it has been removed. All I can think of is that she has accidentally deleted it. Not a lot we can do but wait.

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  12. Thanks for that Ilona. Kind regards, molly

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  13. Ah good it's not just me then. I haven't been able to access Jane's blog either.

    Ilona, thanks for a great 'travel blog'. I love the way you seem to unearth all those wonderful quirky places. I went out and photographed some spring flowers this morning and afterwards as a reward I sat at the top of Highdown Hill with a flask of coffee enjoying the weather. I thought of you and your travels. Looking forward to more of the same!

    Linda xx

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  14. Hello Linda. I've just had a look at Pansy kitten on your blog. I love a happy ending story. Glad you like my travels. I have my camera at the ready all the time, just in case.....

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