No veg.....just 3 mountains......

.....and 24 miles! This weekend saw me and 3 pals do the Yorkshire 3 peaks which involves doing the seriously major peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough in less than 12 hours. I managed it......just.....in 10 hours and 50 minutes on a scorching hot day yesterday. It was a truly magnificent day in truly magnificent surroundings. There is one drawback and that is that you have to go to Yorkshire which is frequented by Yorkshiremen. A Yorkshireman is basically a Scotsman that has had any vestige of compassion and generosity ripped out of him, often via his arsehole.

After a few bevvies the night before it was a ridiculously early start for breakfast before the challenge.

A 7.15 start and the sun is only just above Pen-y-Ghent. We climbed up the right hand face.......quite a climb and it follows part of the Pennine Way.

Ian, Gary and Al on Pen-y-Ghent summit laughing at me feeling sick. 2 pints of Old Peculiar the night before were not sitting well with me. And a distinct lack of training meant I was struggling even this early on.

I was amazed at how many people were doing the challenge. There were thousands doing it and you were never more than a few yards from other people although my pal always seemed to be following women for some strange reason.

After a pit stop and a long awaited crap at the Station inn (never mind Touching the Void that was a real touching cloth moment) we walked beside the incredible Ribblehead viaduct and up Whernside. This is a real long slog and is the highest of the 3 at 2400'+.

A hazy view down on the viaduct from Whernside summit.

Ingleborough is the 3rd and final summit. I thought this looked the most daunting....

.....and it was! The route up was very steep in places.

But we all finally made it. Here I am on the final summit Ingleborough plucking up the strength for the 5 mile trek back the campsite in Horton in Ribblesdale. Isn't it weird how you can sometimes look dead fat and quite bald when you've done strenuous exercise for several hours. Must be some sort of optical illusion?

Dan (allotment diary) threatened to join us but chickened out the big Yorkshire pussy! His allotment was down there somewhere (view south from Ingleborough) so I had a piss on the summit in the hope it will contaminate his pumpkins eventually!