Ribblehead - Ribblehead Viaduct which was designed by engineer, John Sydney Crossley, is 440 yards long, and 104 ft above the valley floor at its highest point. It is made up of twenty-four arches of 45 ft span, with foundations 25 ftdeep. The north end of the viaduct is 13 ft higher in elevation than the south end. 1.5 million bricks were used in the construction and some of the limestone blocks weigh over 8 tons. The first stone was laid on 12 October 1870 and the last in 1874. One thousand navvies built the viaduct and established shanty towns on the moors for themselves and their families. They named the towns after Crimean War victories, well-to-do districts of London, and biblical names. There were smallpox epidemics and deaths from industrial accidents. Around one hundred navvies were killed during its construction. There are around 200 burials of men, women, and children in the graveyard at Chapel-le-Dale dating from the time of its construction.

Although Whernside is the least shapely mountain of Yorkshire’s famous ‘Three Peaks’ it is, at 2414ft, Yorkshire’s ‘Everest’, and for that reason alone she demands to be climbed via the suggested 7.5 mile [blue route] route which involves only 1,404ft of ascent.
An alternative slightly longer 9.5 mile with 1,854ft of ascent [red route] ascent of the more scenic summit of Ingleborough (2133ft) is also highly recommended.

John Bell, Bob Dixon, Lynn Ford, Anne Marie Forster, Michelle Kelly, Josie McGinley, Kishor Raichura, Alan Ross, Ian Thomson & Ronnie Willison travelled to Ribblehead for an ascent of either Ingleborough or Whernside in ever improving weather conditions.