Trig Points: Pen-y-ghent - SD 838 734; Plover Hill - SD 849 752
Walked: 17th December 2010
Distance: 14.5 km (9 miles)
Time taken: 5 hours
Start/Finish: Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Yorkshire Dales
Weather: Very cold (-7 degrees on summit), clear, bright with hazy winter sunshine, excellent visibility, patches of snow on the ground and extensive ice cover.
Height gain: 520 metres
Summit Cairns: 694 & 680 metres
Map: OL2
Route: From the car park at Horton-in Ribblesdale, I followed the road to Horton Church, then took the lane passing the school heading out of Horton to reach Brackenbottom Farm. I then followed the obvious, well-worn path up onto Pen-y-ghent via its steep southern ridge, which was extremely icy and required use of an ice axe. From the summit, I followed the wall northwards across the broad ridge towards Plover Hill, losing 70 metres of height, before gently rising up onto the rounded fell of Plover Hill; the highest point is marked by a small cairn of stones, although there is no obvious high-point on this moorland fell-top. Just beyond this small cairn is a superb view down into Littondale. NB: there is no way of crossing the walls safely to reach this cairn - when I walked this route I could simply step across the walls due to the high snow drifts! From the top of Plover Hill, I followed the public footpath down to join Foxup Road, with a short but very steep (and icy) stone-pitched path down a near-vertical escarpment - easy in normal 'summer' conditions, but treacherous in winter! I then followed Foxup Road (rough track) all the way back to Horton, passing Hull Pot along the way, with its frozen waterfall. OL2 map and compass required for this walk. Public footpaths and bridleways all the way.
Photos of the walk
These photos are in order, and the files are named. Copyright Mark Reid 2010
