Because It's There
Twistleton Scar End, Ingleton
Part two of our adventure into the Yorkshire Dales saw my trusty Sherpa Eddie Norgay and I head south west to Ingleton for Twistleton Scar. A major accent carefully planned down to the smallest detail although spreadsheets were not required this time.
We parked the car at base camp in sight of our goal on the more difficult west face before changing wellies for boots (it's not easy driving in wellies so note to one's self for future expeditions). After a gruelling walk along difficult to follow paths and across fast flowing rivers we reached camp 1, which was identifiable by an ice cream van, that had driven up the same path but from the east side. We needed to fuel our bodies ahead of the final accent - apparently they don't stock energy bars so we had to make do with a couple of 99s!
We left the day trippers to circumnavigate around the ridge and headed for the switchback path that leads to the plateau and our goal. Clearly this was a very difficult climb as my Sherpa, weighed down with all our photography equipment plus two tripods (Mrs R had declined this trip) was feeling the strain and stopped momentarily to catch a breather.
I pressed on, against the howling winds... no wonder the day trippers had faltered at this final hurdle! Upon reaching the summit I surveyed the landscape - not a single solitary person could be seen, apart from my trusty Sherpa making the final push up the infamously dangerous section simply known as "the path". I unpacked my Union Jack and planted it firmly between some cracks declaring this peak for Queen and country as well as naming the area - The Lancashire Dales, after all, it is on our side of the country.
Since our accent was unsupported, we both knew our time on the summit was limited due to the thinness of the air and so we took our photos of the limestone pavement and wind ravaged trees before making the long decent back to back camp, which surprisingly you can see from the top.
People may ask why we undertook such a dangerous expedition to summit one of the most difficult accents in the UK but as George Mallory once said about Everest... because it's there!
Many thanks to the Yorkshirephotoexplorer a.k.a. Sue for the info and excellent directions. Found it no problem and parked on Thornton Lane (approx postcode LA6 3PL for future reference)
Note: some fabrication of the facts may have crept into the telling of this story but the ice cream van bit is true... ask my Sherpa.
Because It's There
Twistleton Scar End, Ingleton
Part two of our adventure into the Yorkshire Dales saw my trusty Sherpa Eddie Norgay and I head south west to Ingleton for Twistleton Scar. A major accent carefully planned down to the smallest detail although spreadsheets were not required this time.
We parked the car at base camp in sight of our goal on the more difficult west face before changing wellies for boots (it's not easy driving in wellies so note to one's self for future expeditions). After a gruelling walk along difficult to follow paths and across fast flowing rivers we reached camp 1, which was identifiable by an ice cream van, that had driven up the same path but from the east side. We needed to fuel our bodies ahead of the final accent - apparently they don't stock energy bars so we had to make do with a couple of 99s!
We left the day trippers to circumnavigate around the ridge and headed for the switchback path that leads to the plateau and our goal. Clearly this was a very difficult climb as my Sherpa, weighed down with all our photography equipment plus two tripods (Mrs R had declined this trip) was feeling the strain and stopped momentarily to catch a breather.
I pressed on, against the howling winds... no wonder the day trippers had faltered at this final hurdle! Upon reaching the summit I surveyed the landscape - not a single solitary person could be seen, apart from my trusty Sherpa making the final push up the infamously dangerous section simply known as "the path". I unpacked my Union Jack and planted it firmly between some cracks declaring this peak for Queen and country as well as naming the area - The Lancashire Dales, after all, it is on our side of the country.
Since our accent was unsupported, we both knew our time on the summit was limited due to the thinness of the air and so we took our photos of the limestone pavement and wind ravaged trees before making the long decent back to back camp, which surprisingly you can see from the top.
People may ask why we undertook such a dangerous expedition to summit one of the most difficult accents in the UK but as George Mallory once said about Everest... because it's there!
Many thanks to the Yorkshirephotoexplorer a.k.a. Sue for the info and excellent directions. Found it no problem and parked on Thornton Lane (approx postcode LA6 3PL for future reference)
Note: some fabrication of the facts may have crept into the telling of this story but the ice cream van bit is true... ask my Sherpa.