Ralph Battle's trip report
My trip started very differently to most CUHWC trips, being picked up outside my house at 10:30am on Friday morning. Oliver had made a special request to visit Chatsworth House in the Peak District on his way to Yorkshire, so Sam, myself and Chloe left early on Friday and went for a walk along the River Manifold (which had no water in it) and explored Thor's Cave in the White Peak before continuing north to the Dales. We realised we'd be at the bunkhouse well before anyone else, so we also decided to cook dinner in the bunkhouse rather than stopping at a services. I have to say, travelling up Friday morning, splitting the drive into 2 shorter segments, getting a bonus walk, getting to the bunkhouse nice and early and having a tasty homecooked meal is really nice! We were lucky enough to have a somewhat clear and moonless night so I gave a tour of the night sky to whoever was interested.
On Saturday almost everyone signed up to walk either Ingleborough or Pen-y-ghent. I chose a large and ambitious Ingleborough group which also planned to visit a cave and a waterfall. The group split in 2 halfway, with my half choosing a more direct route back from the summit of Ingleborough. Although we were all pleased to make it to the top, the biting wind made us glad for much more shelter on the way back down. I kept everyone entertained with my usual enthusiasm for rocks, this time directed towards the superabundant crinoid fossils that made up much of the drystone walls, and a stream section with rugose corals and brachiopods. We found navigation across the fields in the bottom of the valley tricky, but were redirected by a local farmer. Morale was kept high by singing, including a full rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, German walking songs and many improvised verses of the cow song.
This bunkhouse had a layout much more amenable to socialising than Ennerdale 2 weeks ago - the capacity was a bit smaller, and there was a central room we all fit in. After my customary bangers and mash, we put this to good use with perhaps the longest ever CUHWC singing session, more than making up for the lack of singing in Ennerdale.
On Sunday, most of the people who climbed Ingleborough Saturday wanted to climb Pen-y-ghent, myself included as it was the only Yorkshire 3 peak I hadn't climbed. We planned a near repeat of another group's Saturday walk. I was feeling energetic, and used up much of that energy walking backwards up the hill. As we got higher the wind got stronger, giving me the opportunity to try out my head gaiter which I'd got for Christmas. It certainly did the trick keeping the wind off, if anything I was a bit too warm. Of all the 3 peaks, this one was the most interesting to climb even though it was shortest, courtesy of a scrambly section just below the top. We finished off the trip with a late lunch/early dinner in Settle.