“The Seven Peaks Walk”
by C. Large
It was late in 1953 when I first heard rumours that the club was proposing to tackle a seven peak walk. The plan was to include, in addition to the usual three peaks, the summits of Buckden Pike, Great Whernside, Fountains Fell and Great Coum. To do this involved a journey of some forty miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing.
My first impression of this proposed walk was that it was only for the tigers and not for those who, like myself, are content with a mere 20 to 25 miles in a day. When the list of meets arrived for 1954 a week-end in May had been fixed for the walk. Arrangements were to be made to stay at Buckden on the Friday night. The participants were to leave early next morning and finish the walk at Dent in the evening. The older members planned to provide refreshments at selected points en-route, and generally keep up the morale of everyone taking part. Nearer the time of the meet all those who were to be present received a brilliantly conceived table, with all the distances worked out, compass bearings, and an estimate of 12 to 15 hours total walking time.
When the appointed week-end arrived, I could not get Saturday morning off work, so I arranged to travel to Dent on Saturday afternoon with Nevil Newman. We met at Leeds station on a beautiful spring day thinking how fortunate the walkers would be with such glorious weather. A change was necessary at Hellifield and it was here that we met Bill Lofthouse who had been travelling on the same train. Both Nevil and I thought he would be doing the walk that day but he also had had to work that morning. Nevil and I had been planning to walk over the hills to the north of Dent ; we were both secretly thankful it had been necessary for us to work. But when Bill joined us he was full of the idea of doing the walk in reverse on the Sunday. Nevil and I were still not impressed with the idea when the train jerked to a stop at Dent station. It was now about 6 p.m. A cloudless sky with a mellow evening sun shining on the bright green fields enhanced the pleasure of the walk down the valley.
Talk on the way to Dent still centred on the Seven Peaks. I was out of practice, Nevil had been having trouble with one foot, and neither of us felt up to it. Bill was keen to tackle it and tried his utmost to persuade one of us to accompany him. Eventually we came to our destination, the George and Dragon in Dent. No one had arrived yet but we were soon joined by Harry Stembridge and Fred Booth. They had been giving sterling service providing refreshments for the walkers.
We got all the news from them, the times of leaving, the points where each one was last seen and the physical condition of each. At tea everyone present tried to persuade us to tackle the walk and our opposition gradually wilted against such determined pressure. Theproblem of transport back from the other end arose but this was soon dispelled by the offer of Harry Stembridge to leave his car in Kettlewell for our use. With such generosity as this who would dare refuse ?
The first point to decide was our time of departure. We knew the others had left about 6 a.m. and the shortest time taken was 14½ hours. If we left at this time it would mean a late arrival in Kettlewell and driving home in the dark feeling very tired. Eventually we asked the lady of the house to call us at 3.15 a.m. thus allowing us to leave on the first light of dawn at 4.00.
The next question was what route to take. Would any variations be necessary ? We had already decided to finish at Kettlewell so some alteration would have to be made to do this. The map showed that the obvious way from Arncliffe was over Old Cote Moor to Starbottom and then up Buckden Pike, leaving Great Whernside to the last. After a short reconnaissance to make sure of the road out of Dent on the way to Great Coum, we turned in to get some rest before our early call in the morning.
At 3.15 hrs. we were duly called and given a breakfast of bacon and eggs. With a packed lunch reinforced by a few bars of chocolate and a thermos flask of tea, we set out at the appointed time of 4.00 a.m. It was a fine morning with the first light of dawn showing in the east. The first part led along the road into Deepdale for about 1¾ miles. Here we turned off on to the fell and started our first ascent. This was taken easily and the only difficulty was deciding which hump was the summit. This conquest served as a stimulant for us on our way down to the head of Kingsdale where we had a rest and a bite of food. We were soon at grips with the west flank of Whernside hoping to see the sunrise from the top ; we reached the cairn about 6.30, but clouds were beginning to build up in the east ; up to now the sky had been clear.
The next step was to reach the Hill Inn. We all knew this part of the journey well and it was soon done. All seemed to be still slumbering at the Inn so we did not call in but pressed on taking the track round the back. Ingleborough was reached without incident except that the sky was almost completely covered with clouds when we reached the summit.
On over Simon Fell and down Sulber Nick into Horton where we hoped to get a meal and see the first signs of life since leaving Dent. We got to Horton about 10 a.m. but had to enquire at four places before any refreshments were forthcoming ; and then only bread and jam with tea, but very welcome in view of our meagre rations. The sky was getting ominously dark and it started to rain when we were by Hull Pot on our way up Pen-y-Gent. Up to now all three of us had been moving very well and Pen-y-Gent was no exception ; the summit was reached at 11.50 a.m. Fortunately the rain was only slight but heavy enough to make us realise how unpleasant it would be if it persisted.
We knew that once we set off we had to reach Kettlewell to collect the car and we would have little time to waste if the walk was to be completed. Fountains Fell was clearly visible and our route easily spotted. A short dash down the steep east side of Pen-y-Gent brought us to Blishmire House, the start of the next climb. The pace we had set was beginning to tell now. Fountains Fell was taken at a crawl followed by a steady downhill walk via Darnbrook Beck to Darnbrook House. Here we reached the start of our longest stretch of road walking. Before starting on this we had a rest to wash our tired feet and change our socks. At Arncliffe our way deviated from that taken by most parties the day before. We had to find the track over to Starbottom instead of Kettlewell. It was located without difficulty and we were soon making our way through the heather of Old Cote Moor, looking eagerly for the first glimpse of Wharfedale. The weather had improved since leaving Fountains Fell, giving hopes of a fine evening to finish the walk. On Old Cote Moor, Nevil started to have a recurrence of his foot trouble and consequently was walking rather slowly. He finally suggested that Bill and I should leave him at Starbottom. We were to continue the walk while he would make his way down the valley to the waiting car at Kettlewell. The track we were following petered out above the steep wooded hillside overlooking Starbottom. There was nothing else for it but to go down through the steep part. Our objective was clearly visible but to get to it we had to struggle along, tripping over rocks, continually scratched by tree branches until we reached the easier going in the fields of the valley bottom.
At Starbottom we bade farewell to Nevil, arranging to meet him in about four hours’ time. Before he left we had a check on food supplies. All the sandwiches had been eaten leaving us with two oranges, three bars of chocolate and two glucose tablets. Nevil left his share with us and departed down the valley. We ate half a glucose tablet each and set off at a cracking pace up the long shoulder of Buckden Pike. Going was good on a cart track which we left after almost two miles’ walking and from there it was easy work to reach the top. The next stage was strange to both of us but we intended making for the highest point on the Park Rash Road. We followed a wall on the first stretch but finally had to leave it to cross open moorland with no signs of tracks, intersected by innumerable small streams and peat haggs.
This proved to be the most tiring part of the whole journey, hard going any time but after thirty miles of hill walking almost too much for a tired body. For a long time Great Whernside seemed to get no nearer as we stumbled our way across seemingly unending moor, getting more tired every step and wondering if we had not been too hasty with our estimate of four hours for this part of the walk. We were spurred on to greater efforts by the sight of the road coupled with the knowledge that only one more top was left to conquer. Great Whernside presents a steep rocky flank to the north and it was up this side we had to go to reach our objective. Our feet were aching as we struggled upwards. A dry stone wall called for an almost superhuman effort to climb over it. At last the ground flattened out into the long level summit ridge, and all we had to do was walk half a mile on a rocky path to the cairn.
We had made it at last. Sitting down at the top eating our remaining food we enjoyed a magnificent view of the hills we had covered that day. All was laid before us in a glorious panorama with the pale evening sun going down towards our starting point. It is an exhilarating feeling at the end of a long days walk to be able to look back over the ground covered and to wonder how one managed to walk such a distance. Time was pressing, we had to be on our way, there was still 2¼ miles to be covered to reach Kettlewell. Every step now jarred the whole body and the road on reaching the village made us thankful that such a small amount of road walking had beennecessary that day. We reached the car at 7.45 p.m. to find Nevil asleep in the front seat. It had been a long time since we left Dent that morning and a long distance covered. I had completed a walk I had never expected to do when I set off for the meet. Here we were in Kettlewell, tired but well satisfied at having just completed what must surely be one of the finest hill walks in England.
SEVEN PEAKS WALK
AVERAGE TIMERS (INCLUDING STOPS FOR MEALS)
(Done by 12 members – May 15th and 16th 1954)
| 1st Party | Hrs | 2nd Party | Hrs | |
| Cray | 0630 | Dent | 0400 | |
| Buckden Pike | 0700 | Gt. Coum | 0515 | |
| Gt. Whernside | 0835 | Whernside | 0628 | |
| Fountain’s Fell | 1230 | Ingleborough | 0821 | |
| Pen-y-Gent | 1350 | Pen-y-Gent | 1150 | |
| Simon Fell | 1635 | Fountain’s Fell | 1253 | |
| Ingleborough | 1705 | Buckden Pike | 1720 | |
| Whernside | 1950 | Gt. Whernside | 1850 | |
| Gt. Coum | 2125 | Kettlewell | 1945 | |
| Dent | 2215 |