Whernside
from
Ribblehead
21st May 2025
8.2 miles / 13.2 km
516 m ascent
Moderate
10.8 Naismith miles
Whernside
Step by Step | OS Map | Downloads | Gallery | Fly through
The Yorkshire Three Peaks are a marketing triumph, and perhaps something of a distraction: They are indeed in the Yorkshire Dales, and there is no doubt that each of the three make a great walk in their own right. Whether they are best combined and walked as gruelling challenge is more open to question.
Within the group we do have some super-fit heroic types who tackle all three at pace to raise money for charity, but they were unavailable on the day, so we sent the B* team to walk Whernside, taking as long as it takes, with plenty of stops to enjoy the views and have a chat. Add a glorious sunny day, and this is Dales walking as it should be. [* Bentham]
Step-by-Step
We start at Ribblehead – there is free roadside parking close to the junction between the B6255 Ingleton to Hawes road and the B6479 coming up from Settle, or better still arrive at Ribblehead station by train so that you can have a beer at the Station Inn as a reward at the end of the walk. If you are using satnav to get there try Low Sleights Road, LA6 3AS as an address, or if your device accepts What-3-Words tags, use claw.views.haircuts. The corresponding OS grid reference for the paper map is SD76467912.
If you do arrive by train, you will of course be getting off at Ribblehead Station, and in doing so you might pause to note a few points about the station.
The rail line to the vast building site that was required to construct the famous viaduct existed from the 1870’s although its sole function at that point was to allow the transfer of building materials and navvies. A traditional station – in the sense of a formal passenger facility followed somewhat later when the viaduct was completed.
It was opened in 1876 by the Midland Railway Company, to a design by their chief architect John Holloway Sanders, and was initially named Batty Green Station. Once the station opened, and the area became more accessible, it became more generally known as Ribblehead, and the Railway company officially adopted that name in 1877.
Despite now being so well known as part of the tourist economy of the Yorkshire Dales, the station was not always seen as an asset – and was closed by British Rail in 1970. Parts of the station, specifically the north bound platform, were demolished to make way for sidings for quarry traffic, apparently spelling the end of the station.
However, a strong public campaign to save the entire Settle to Carlisle Line persuaded British Rail to reopen the station in 1986, initially just using the Southbound platform. This station is now leased by the Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust, who have completely restored and refurbished it providing a new northbound platform, with the enhanced site reopened to public use in 2000. The station now includes a cafe, resident caretakers, holiday accommodation, a small shop selling memorabilia, and a visitor centre which includes exhibits about the history of the line and the fight to keep it open.
As well as being a transport hub serving the (admittedly sparse) local community, the station was also important as a place of worship for the people involved in the construction of the viaduct: Monthly religious services were held in the station’s waiting room by the Vicar of Ingleton and were accompanied by a harmonium concealed behind a billboard in the waiting room. This was thought to have been brought to the station by a missionary who served as a minister to the construction gangs when the railway was being constructed in the early 1870s.
We start the walk by taking the path from the B6255 North toward the Viaduct, passing the plaque noting the site of the Blea Moor Common Construction Camp, where 2300 labourers lived, worked, and inevitably died – it is thought that deaths exceeded 100, some from accidents, many more from disease.
Many visitors to Ribblehead will (rightly) be impressed by the vast viaduct, but perhaps not notice the remains of the temporary township, and network of narrow gauge railways that existed here.
Although the trackwork and buildings have all been removed, the earthworks associated with the track bed are still clearly visible in the landscape.
To see a BBC Time Team episode exploring the living conditions endured by the Navvies, click here.
The 2½ mile section of tramway between what we now call the B6255 and Force Gill was constructed in just one month and small steam locomotives ran on the rails. The two steeper sections (from Force Gill, over Blea Moor, then down to Dent Head) relied on cable operated inclined planes. These were powered by a pair of stationary steam engines, one installed at the top of each incline. At the summit on Blea Moor, a short section of relatively level track linked the two inclines, providing a continuous route from Ribblehead to Dent Head.
As we approach the viaduct, we have a choice as to which way round to tackle this circular walk. The most common choice is anticlockwise, staying to the east of the railway and heading toward the signal box at Blea Moor. On this occasion, we opted to take the clockwise route – this has the advantage of taking the steep southwestern end of the Whernside ridge as the ascent, leaving us the gentler path from the signal box as our return route – altogether gentler on the knees.
So, we head toward the centre of the viaduct, passing the memorial to the many who lost their lives in the construction, and then continue under the arches to follow the track round toward Gunnerfleet Farm, where we cross the Winterscales Beck (absolutely empty on the day of our walk), before turning left to follow the track with the beck on our left.
To see some drone footage of the viaduct, click here
After only 50m, we see a fingerpost for the path up to Ivescar on our right. We follow this path for 300 heading for the farm, where we meet a broad track along the base of Whernside – we head left here through a gate to continue along level ground through meadows. We are on the Dales High Way at this point.
We follow this path for the next 500m, heading toward the next farm at Broadrake, and enjoying views to the Viaduct behind, and Ingleborough and Simon Fell ahead and to our left. All the time along this section Whernside looms above us on our right – for now through the going is easy.
Once at Broadrake, we walk past the front of the house and take the gate where the track continues along the base of Whernside, then just 100m later we arrive at a barn, where our path heads right, and up the steep ascent. The Dales High Way continues at a lower level here, heading to Chapel-le-Dale, so make sure you pick the Pennine Journey path uphill.
We climb relentlessly for the next mile or so, and at times the going is quite steep – more than a 30% slope in places. The route is of course very popular, so tens of thousands have made this climb, creating erosion as they do so. Much work has been done to stabilise the ground by adding large stone steps – and as always there is a trade off here between creating an un-natural environment and losing the route altogether. The recently installed stone is now starting to weather down and look less artificial.
It would be easy to give all your attention to the rocky climb in front of us, but it is worth pausing from time to time to look back and see how the view changes as we climb. Before long (weather permitting) we have views across to Morecambe Bay, and the edge of the Lakeland Fells, a view of the Cam Road (a Roman road) over toward Hawes, and eventually Pen-y-Ghent giving us a view of all three peaks at one time. We continue to climb, until we eventually arrive at a gate onto the broad plateau – the top of Whernside is surprisingly flat, and from there we take the path to the right of the drystone wall until we arrive at the peak marked by a trig point at 736m – it’s on the opposite side of the wall so is easily missed.
To read more about Whernside click . . .
At this point we crossed the wall at a stile to take lunch on the far side enjoying views over to Dentdale and Rise Hill – all of this had been hidden until this late stage. Click here to see a panorama shot.
The journey down takes us back to the Ribblehead side of the wall along the ridge, where we head left with great views down to a body of water (unnamed) at Greenset Crags on the right below us, and a group of four tarns to the north collectively known as Whernside Tarns. There is a path (The Pennine Journey) through these down toward Whernside Manor in Dentdale – another time perhaps?
Once the Pennine Journey path peels off, we head round to the right and start the descent – not as steep as the climb, and for the most part step free. This takes us east for the next 800m or so until we arrive at a finger post where we pick up the Dales High Way heading south toward the railway.
To our left as we walk down here is the railway – within Blea Moor tunnel, a 1 ½ mile (2.4 km) excavation between Ribblehead Viaduct and Dent railway station. Building this tunnel was an undertaking comparable in size to the much more obvious viaduct. Construction took more than 4 years, and as at the viaduct, many lives were lost. Blea Moor Tunnel was built with the aid of seven separate construction shafts sunk from the moor above. This permitted sixteen gangs of workers to be used during construction (one from each open end and two from the foot of each of the shafts). Four of the shafts were subsequently filled in but three were retained for ventilation purposes and are still used as such today – we have a good view of them along with the spoil heaps around them as we descend.
We continue down a clear and obvious path for a while now, and although it’s not always apparent, our path runs no more than 100m from Force Gill – it’s to our right as we walk downhill. On the day of our visit, the Gill was almost dry, but after heavy rain it’s a sight worth seeing. Unfortunately, there is no path directly to it, but there are views back to it from the drystone wall that runs to the side of the path.
About ½ mile after joining the Dales High Way, we cross the railway line and have a good view of the entrance portal to the tunnel on our left, and a glance to the right here shows that Force Gill is also carried over the railway in an aqueduct to merge with the Little Dale Beck, which then runs alongside our path for a while. Options to cross it include a footbridge and a stepping stone route – both somewhat redundant on our visit.
From here, the rest of the walk is simple, and straightforward, we simply follow the railway line back toward the viaduct and then follow our outbound path back to the cars. As we do so though, take a moment to find the path curving off to the left which was part of the narrow gauge railway system for the construction site, and as you do, keep your eye open for cavers emerging from the ground in bright red boiler suits – there are a number of caves and potholes to our right along here and they are often used for educational trips.
