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How to walk Ingleborough

Directions to be used alongside a map and compass.

Ingleton

1. Beginning from the Ingleton Community Centre Car Park, head out the eastern exit, heading onto Back Gate. As you walk past the community centre, it will be to your left as you leave the car park. Turn left onto Back Gate.

2. Continue along this road until you see a fork ahead, High Street. Turn right here, heading in the direction of White Scar Cave (signposted). Continue along High Street, until there is another fork. This time take the left fork, which continues upwards in the direction of White Scar Cave.

3. To your right, you will notice a signpost that’s signposted Ingleborough 2 1/2 miles. This is your path! It heads up a wide access track, that’s rocky. Look to your right, you will see the post box to one of the most remote houses EVER. Crina Bottom. It’s located completely off-grid 1.5 miles away from the road. You will be walking along the access track, which is also the Pennine Journey national trail.

4. Head up the hill, then follow this rocky track as it continues uphill. After around 1km, the track heads at a right angle to the right, continue until you reach a gate through to the open fell (open access land). At this point, you will see Crina Bottom up ahead on your left. Here, you will continue, passing the property to your left, then continuing up the path as it heads up the side of Ingleborough. It is visible in the distance.

5. The path is relatively steady until you reach the final ascent where the path steepens to the summit. After just over 2km, you will be at the top and see the trig point, large cairn and seating area to the left.

6. If you want to visit the true summit of Ingleborough, it’s not the trig, cairn or viewpoint seat, but it is the far less conspicuous moundy bit, obvious only by the topography, it being higher than the rest of the plateau around it. Ingleborough is like an vast rocky football pitch. Flat, rocky and virtually featureless. Very tricky to navigate in the cloud (as it often is) and can be particularly disorientating!

7. Once you have admired the views (you can see all the way to the Lake District, Morecambe Bay, the rest of the fells of the Yorkshire Dales and beyond!) then head back the way you came, taking care to use the cairn to find the top of the path you arrived on, which is pretty tricky to see from the top!

8. Head back the way you came because having attempted two more circular walks, the final consensus is that the linear route is the best for kids!

Route last walked July 2024

Clapham

Please make sure you bring your map! We also recommend the OS Maps app.

1. Beginning from Clapham pay and display, head out of the car park and take one of the many bridges to cross to the far side of the beck. Turn right and walk up towards the Sawmill Cafe and the beginning of the Ingleborough Estate Nature Trail. Here you can either head into the trail (an admission charge applies) and walk through the grounds of the estate, or you can continue past the cafe, on the road (passing a farm on your right), to find the public bridleway/ footpath behind it. It is signposted Ingleborough Cave/ Gaping Gill/ Ingleborough. Follow the sign along the clear track.

2. Whichever route you choose will take you to Ingleborough Cave (show cave, there is an entry charge which you can pay at the Sawmill Cafe). Continue past the cave, crossing the bridge and then head along the wide track taking you to Trow Gill. The path bends round to the left before heading over a stile into the gorge. You will regularly see climbers here!

3. Continue through the gorge, as the rocky path rises and then narrows as it leaves Trow Gill. The path continues to roughly follow the line of the wall as you continue upwards.

4. When you reach the double stile in the wall, then head through this and continue to follow the wide path as it heads towards Ingleborough. After a short distance, you will see an offshoot to the right. This path takes you to Gaping Gill. If you fancy a peek at the opening to the pothole, then go and take a look (you can only go down Gaping Gill on winch day)

5. Once you have checked out Gaping Gill, head back to the main path. This is clear and well walked, as it heads up to Little Ingleborough.

6. Continue to follow the path as it heads up to the summit of Ingleborough.

7. The summit is wide, flat and covered with rocks! It can be very disorientating on the plateau in cloud, so be prepared (as Ingleborough is often shrouded in cloud, when the others are cloud free!) To head back from the trig point to the return route, retrace your steps and look for the cairns. Be aware that a lot of these cairns mark the sheer drop on one side of Ingleborough, you are looking for the clear route down, heading in an east-north-east direction (16 point compass) The path is well walked and obvious - anything else, and you may be heading in the wrong direction! In good visibility, what you will be doing is retracing your steps to the point where you reached the plateau and then heading back down.

8. Follow the path as it reaches the clearly flagged route down until you reach a waymarked path split. You don’t want to take the route you came up on, so ignore that. Of the remaining two options, the left takes you on the descent to Chapel le Dale or along the ridge walk, the right will take you in the direction of Horton in Ribblesdale and Pen y ghent. It is the Y3P trail and it’s very well walked. You need to head right here.

9. The path continues to descend towards Horton, until there is a split just after the ruin of an old farm building. Here you need to head right. The path will bend in the direction of Clapham (the left hand route is the Y3P route that takes you to Horton)

10. Follow the obvious and wide path. You will head through limestone pavement a plenty here until you reach another crossroads.

11. Here you need to follow the Pennine Way waymarker. the path is wide, clear and grassy and you will see a huge cairn ahead on the rise of a hill.

12. Come down through the gate, following the Pennine Way waymarkers until you hit a stony track. Follow this until it reaches a plantation, turn right, then head downhill under the dark tunnels until you reach Clapham again!

Last walked April 2025