Ingleborough

Ingleborough is the middle of the three big hills that make up the Yorkshire Three Peaks, at 723 metres, and the one most people pick out first on the horizon thanks to its flat, table-like top. It sits within the Yorkshire Dales, and on a clear day the summit plateau gives a clear sense of just how much limestone country spreads out below.

That flat top is down to what the hill’s actually made of, stacked in layers like a cake. Limestone forms the base, and limestone dissolves slowly in rainwater over centuries, which is why the fields around here are pocked with sinkholes and why the ground below holds some of the most extensive cave and pothole systems in the country. Above that sits a band of softer shale, and capping the whole thing is a tough layer of gritstone that resists weathering far better than what’s underneath. Wear away the soft stuff round the edges for long enough and you’re left with exactly this shape: a flat head on a broad hill.

The summit plateau also carries the remains of an Iron Age hillfort, one of the highest in England, its bank still traceable on foot around the rim.

Most people meet Ingleborough as one leg of the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, alongside Whernside and Pen-y-ghent, usually tackled as a single long day, though there’s no obligation to do it that way and it makes just as good a hill on its own. The paths are well used and mostly easy to follow, but the tops catch weather quickly even when the dale below looks settled, so check the forecast and carry warm, waterproof layers whatever the season.

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