Yorkshire's Three Peaks

8.5 to 10.5 miles and up to 3,175ft of ascent.

Pen y ghent

Wharfedale and Littondale to Halton Gill, the highest hamlet in the dale. Walk to Foxup along the banks of the River Skirfare. Ascend onto the open fell of Foxup Moor and up the grassy slopes of Plover Hill at the northern end of the Pen y ghent massif. Views stretch into Ribblesdale, Whernside and Ingleborough. We achieve today’s target, Pen y ghent, the “hill of the winds” (2,275ft, 694m) before joining the Pennine Way and crossing the alternating limestone and shale bands of the Yoredale Series. We look into the opening of Hunt Pot and the awesome chasm of Hull Pot. The walk finishes by taking an old stony track into the village of Horton in Ribblesdale.

Distance: 8½ miles (14km) with 1,490ft (454m) of ascent and 1,720ft (525m of descent).

Whernside

Our walk up the highest of the Three Peaks begins at Ribblehead Railway Station, where a visitor centre gives information about the Settle to Carlisle railway. We look at Ribblehead Viaduct and remains of the navvies’ township and industrial workings of the 1870s, when the mammoth construction work of the railway took place. We walk beside the Settle to Carlisle railway, crossing over an aqueduct close to the Blea Moor Tunnel entrance. We climb beside Force Gill to the northern end of the Whernside ridge (2,415ft, 736m). Once on the ridge a gentle gradient leads to the summit trig point and impressive stone shelter. We enjoy excellent views across to shapely Ingleborough and can trace the route of the railway on its journey from Horton to the elevated Dent station. Down remote and peaceful Deepdale and along pretty riverside paths by Deepdale Beck and the River Dee we enter Dent, a charming village with a cobbled main street.

Distance: 10¼ miles (15.5km) with 1,495ft (455m) of ascent and 1,975ft (600m) of descent.

Buckden Pike

Our “fourth peak” towers above the village of Buckden in Wharfedale. We trace part of the route of the Dales Way to the attractive village of Hubberholme, visit the church where JB Priestley is buried and search for its dozen Kilburn mice. An attractive “balcony” path above the tree line leads to the tiny village of Cray. We cross Cray Gill, one of the tributaries of the River Wharfe, and climb the broad sweeping zigzags to the summit of Buckden Pike (2,300ft, 700m). The descent is along the ridge to an interesting memorial to some World War II Polish airmen. Continuing on an old miners’ track, which skirts the basin of Cam Gill Beck, we head down to the attractive village of Starbotton. Along the edge of Cam pasture, and above the River Wharfe, we reach our destination of Kettlewell.

Distance: 10¾ miles (17km) with 1,870ft (570m) of ascent and 1,980ft (605m) of descent.

Ingleborough

Starting in the village of Austwick, we gently stroll across fields to Clapham, home to the Cave Rescue Service. Past Ingleborough Show Cave and up the impressive narrow dry gorge of Trow Gill we continue on grassy paths to Gaping Gill, where Fell Beck plunges over a lip and falls 360ft into a massive underground chamber. Then uphill to Little Ingleborough, the southern outlier of the Ingleborough massif (2,370ft, 725m) to the summit plateau, where the remnants of an Iron Age hill fort, including the ramparts, are clearly visible. Descending to the Ingleton-Hawes Road at Skirwith, we head to the River Doe at the top of the Beezley Falls, walking into Ingleton through a spectacular gorge, with numerous waterfalls and swirling pools.

Distance: 10¾ miles (17km) with 1,930ft (590m) of ascent and 2,015ft (615m) of descent.