Ingleton

Ingleton is a village of 2,186 people at the 2011 census, on the A65 between Skipton and Kendal, and Wikipedia gives it 17 miles from both Kendal and Lancaster. It once had two railway stations at opposite ends of its viaduct: the Midland’s opened in 1849, closed, and reopened in 1861 until 1954, while the London and North Western’s opened in 1861 and closed in 1917. The viaduct is all that remains of the railway in the village, and the Ingleton coalfield, which Wikipedia says worked for 400 years, shut its last mine in 1940.

Why base here

Ingleton is the base for walkers who want Ingleborough and Whernside with a day of waterfalls between them. The Ingleton waterfalls trail starts at the Broadwood car park and ticket office in the village, and Wikipedia dates the walk to 1885. Ingleborough, at 723m, is about four miles north-east of the village, by Wikipedia’s reckoning, and the other Three Peaks summit in the parish is Whernside, which at 736m is the highest point in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The honest limit is the railway: there is no station, so a traveller coming by train is choosing Settle, or Bentham 3½ miles away, and finishing the journey by bus.

On foot versus by car

Of the walks listed here only the waterfalls trail starts in the village, a 7km clockwise circuit that takes in Pecca Falls and Thornton Force, and a ticket is needed. Ingleborough can be climbed from Ingleton as well: Walking with the Taxi Driver starts at the car park beside the Tourist Information Centre, goes by a walled lane at Crina Bottom, and returns by Chapel-le-Dale in about 9.9 miles with 591m of ascent. The route this site lists, the 15.4km circuit from Clapham past Trow Gill and Gaping Gill, needs a bus or a car to reach the start. Whernside starts beside Ribblehead Viaduct, which Wikipedia puts six miles north-east of Ingleton, and the national park authority designates only a few lay-bys there for parking.

Practicalities

DalesBus lists the Craven Connection 580 series between Skipton, Settle, Clapham, Ingleton, Kirkby Lonsdale and Lancaster, and the 583 between Bentham, Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale, both Monday to Saturday; the stop is at the Community Centre. Stagecoach runs a Saturday-only service from Kendal. The route to Ribblehead is the DalesBus 80 between Lancaster, Ingleton, Ribblehead and Hawes, which DalesBus lists on summer Saturdays only, and a summer Sunday and bank holiday service, the 832, runs between Hawes, Ingleton and Kirkby Lonsdale. Outside those days, Whernside from Ingleton needs a car, or a bus to Settle and a train north to Ribblehead. Walking with the Taxi Driver lists the two village car parks as pay and display.