Whernside from Ribblehead

Whernside is the highest point in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and in North Yorkshire, at 736m, with an Ordnance Survey trig point on a summit that Wikipedia places on the boundary with Cumbria. It rises about three kilometres north-west of Ribblehead Viaduct, which is where the walk starts: the Midland Railway began the 24 arches in October 1870, laid the last stone at the end of 1874 and opened the Settle to Carlisle line to passengers in May 1876, with up to 2,300 men living in camps called Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol and Belgravia, and more than a hundred of them losing their lives. The viaduct was Grade II* listed in November 1988 and the line was reprieved from closure in 1989, all on Wikipedia’s account.

go4awalk gives the loop as Ribblehead, Blea Moor, Force Gill, the summit, then Broadrake and Ivescar farms back to the viaduct, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Three Peaks notes describe the same climb: a path beside the railway, a crossing beside an aqueduct, then a signed path from Grain Head that climbs slowly on to the ridge. The descent is the stepped Bruntscar path, repaired in 2019 when, Grough reported, a helicopter lifted about 130 tonnes of gritstone, donated by the owner of Ingleton Quarry, on to 200m of eroded path between the summit and Bruntscar. Grough put the traffic at about 60,000 walkers a year, Three Peaks challengers included.

go4awalk gives 12.5km with 480m of ascent and about four and a half hours, and notes that mobile and wifi coverage is limited. The national park authority lists Ribblehead station on the Settle to Carlisle line, the Station Inn for refreshments, and only limited parking in designated lay-bys; Ingleton is the hub down the dale by road.

The long steady route to the Dales high point suits a walker who can navigate with a map. It is not a walk for anyone relying on a phone to find the way, and for a day below the tops the Ingleton waterfalls trail is the alternative. To stay in the Three Peaks, Ingleborough is the second highest and Pen-y-ghent the shortest day.