Ingleborough via Moughton Scars and Gaping Gill (Horton to Ribblehead) Walk

20.7 km (12.8 mi), with 670/600m cumulative ascent/descent. For a shorter walk, see below Walk Options.

7 out of 10 with 6 hours walking time.

This relatively easy and very varied route across Yorkshire’s second highest top (and arguably its only mountain), Ingleborough, rises out of the verdant Ribblesdale onto the limestone extravaganza that is the easterly end of the hill, culminating in a stretch along the Moughton Scars with their extensive limestone pavements, while overlooking the scenic Crummack Dale, where the Austwick Beck surges out of a cave. Negotiate the limestone pavement on Thieves Moss and rise up to an interim plateau where you follow grass tracks across to the Trow Gill gorge to walk up the dramatic gorge and through the narrow chasm at its top. On to Gaping Gill, Britain’s longest uninterrupted waterfall, where the Fell Beck falls into a cathedral-sized cave system. A three-tiered ascent along an engineered path leads to Ingleborough’s featureless plateau, former site of an Iron Age hillfort and very exposed to weathers drifting in from the nearby coast.
On a rare clear day, you have views to Morecambe Bay and can identify up to 42 named hills and mountains. In mist or driving low clouds though, all you are going to identify are: storm shelter, trig point and piles of stones! You descend along a very steep engineered path for 280 height metres to another limestone shelf and wind down into the quiet valley of the Winterscales Beck, which you cross at a usually dry spot and eventually pass under the famous Ribblehead Railway Viaduct to the Station.

A Shortcut on the ascent follows the popular Three Peaks route up Sulber Nick and Simon Fell Breast direct onto Ingleborough’s plateau, forgoing the very interesting features of Moughton Scars, Crummack Dale, Trow Gill and Gaping Gill. This cuts 4.8 km and 180m ascent.
A Short Link Route between the Main Walk and the Shortcut, starting from Sulber Gate, means you can walk along the Moughton Scars above Crummack Dale and yet cut 2.4 km and 120m ascent.
A couple of Alternative Finish routes lead to Clapham village (for a bus to Settle) or Clapham Station for trains to Giggleswick (for Settle) and Leeds. This means you can visit all the limestone and geological features on the ascent route without then ascending to the top, which is useful – and even recommended – in bad weather. Staying on the main route to Gaping Gill and then returning to the turn offs for the shortcuts is recommended if the weather allows (the wind down the gorge may prevent you from going up to the gill on a very bad day though). This cuts up to 7.8 km and 450m ascent.
A late Shortcut, following Low Sleights Road straight to Ribblehead Station, cuts 1.8 km and 25m ascent.
An Alternative near the end of the walk diverts around the crossing of the Winterscales Beck, which – although usually dry at the crossing point – can become too dangerous to cross when in spate.

OS Landranger Map: 98 (Wensleydale & Upper Wharfedale)
OS Explorer Map: OL2 (Yorkshire Dales – Southern & Western Areas)
Harvey British Mountain Map: Yorkshire Dales
Harvey Superwalker XT25 Map: Yorkshire Dales – South West

Horton in Ribblesdale Station, map reference SD 803 726, is 328 km northwest of Charing Cross, 92 km southeast of Carlisle, 63 km northwest of Leeds and 245m above sea level. Ribblehead Station, map reference SD 765 789, is 7 km northwest of Horton Station and 315m above sea level. Both are in North Yorkshire and are stations on the Leeds - Settle – Carlisle Line, with nine trains per day Mon-Sat and six on Sundays. Journey time to Horton is 90 minutes from Carlisle and 70 minutes from Leeds. Ribblehead is 6 minutes further from Leeds.

Saturday Walkers’ Club: The walk is doable as a daywalk from London with an early start and a late return.

Picnic

Lunch Clapham Ending
The Old Sawmill Café Riverside, Clapham, LA2 8DS (01524 237 788).
The New Inn Old Road, Clapham, LA2 8HH (01524 489 569).

The Old Hill Inn Low Sleights Road, Chapel-le-Dale, Ingleton, North Yorkshire, LA6 3AR (01524 241 256). The Old Hill Inn is located 4.3 km from the end of the walk.
Philpin Barn Snack Bar Philpin Farm, Chapel-le-Dale, Ingleton, North Yorkshire, LA6 3FH (01524 241 846). Philpin Farm is located 3.9 km from the end of the walk.
Station Inn - Ribblehead Low Sleights Road, Carnforth, North Yorkshire, LA6 3AS (01524 241 274). The Station Inn is located 200m from the end of the walk.
Ribblehead Station Visitor Centre and Tea Room Low Sleights Road, Carnforth, North Yorkshire, LA6 3AS. The Tea Room is located on the Leeds bound platform.

Northern Glossary

beck: stream, brook; brig(g): bridge; -by: habitation; cam: bank, slope, ridge; carr: marshy woodland or shrubland; clough: narrow valley, cleft in a hillside, ravine, glen, gorge, cliff, rocky precipice; crag: steep rugged mass of rock projecting upward or outward; currick: cairn, pile of stones, often locations used to keep watch for Scottish raiders; dale: valley; -ey: island, dry area in a marshy place; fell: hill, mountain slope (especially rough moorland); firth/frith: long, narrow inlet of the sea or estuary; force/foss: waterfall, rapids; frith: area of peace, protection, safety, security; garth: small grass enclosure adjacent to a house; gate: way, street; gill/ghyll: small narrow valley or ravine; hagg: part of an area of woodland, especially on a sloping bank; holm(e): island, inland promontory, raised ground in marsh, river-meadow; how(e): barrow, small hill; hush: (Roman era) mine on steep hillside, using dammed up water to wash away topsoil and boulders, revealing the underlying lead or ore veins; ing(s): meadow(s), especially water meadow near a river; keld/kell: spring or well; kirk: church; laithe/leeath: barn, agricultural building; lang: long; ling: heather; lonning/lonnin’: lane or track, something less than a road, more rural than a street, usually short; mell: sand dunes; mire: bog; moss: bog, marsh; ness: headland, promontory; nick: shallow notch, cut or indentation on an edge or a surface; pike: spike, sharp point, peak; rake: slant, incline; rigg: ridge; scar/scaur: cliff, rocky outcrop with a steep face; seat/set(t)/side: summer pasture or dwelling place; seaves: rushes; shaw: hurdle, gate; sike/syke/sitch: small stream or gulley, gutter; stang: pole, shaft, stake, wooden bar; stoop/stowp/stoup: post, gatepost, distance marker (milestone), standing stone; -sty: ascent, ascending lane or path, narrow pathway or course; tarn: lake or pond (especially in an upland location); thorp(e)/t(h)rop: village or small settlement; thwait(e): village or small settlement; toft(s): small farmstead with enclosed land, later applied to a village or small settlement; wath: ford; whinny: gorse, furze, thorny vegetation; -wich/wick: village or settlement.

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Aug-24 Thomas G