The Jeweller’s Window A CHRONICLE OF RESCUED DAYS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 8

The Jeweller’s Window A CHRONICLE OF RESCUED DAYS

The Three-Peak Walk [Specially written for “The Press" by ARNOLD WALL] May 6, 1932. A friend of mine, an Alsatian whose father was a Professor at the University of Manchester, told me how an Italian friend of his, when he got his first glimpse of Manchester, burst into tears. Not many of us are as emotional as that, but it must be admitted that the industrial cities of northern England are pretty grim. Yet some beautiful country lies quite close to their borders and many residents of Leeds know the “Three-Peak Walk” in their neighbourhood. “

It sounds heroic but of course the peaks are not alpine: they are Whernside. 2414 ft, Pen-y-ghent 2300 ft, and Ingleborough 2373 ft, and roughly in a triangle they can be comfortably climbed in one day. The w'alking is nearly all on grassy or heathery hillsides, not on goads, and you pass from field to field over the drift .one walls which do the office of hedges In that County. I was accompanied t>n this walk by my friend jlugh Stewart, then on the gtaff of Leeds University, and it was a gloriously hot and funny day. We had spent the right at the village of Chapel-le-Dale, below Whern|ide. situated in a limestone County full of caves and jiueer “sink-holes.” ~ , Starting at 7.15. we topped JWhernside at - 8 25. ' Pen-y. gherrt at 12.30. and after lunch St Horton. Ingleborough at 5 t>m. Back tn Leeds by 6.30 The distance approximately 30 miles, walking time nine hours. plants observed: Primulas and saxifrages. How methodical I was!

JHouut Arthur Plateau January 29. 1921 —Twice S>nly have I had an 18-hour day; once, in May, 1893, on the tour of Mont Blanc, and bn this day in 1921. I was Accompanied by F G Gibbs, pf Nelson, a fine all-round tscientist who was our guide and organiser; M G O Pascoe, a famous walker and climber; 1 and Hugh Stewart, my colleague at Canterbury College Both Gibbs and Pasco were well up m the “sixties”; Gibbs was surely handicapped by old injures to his feet: S’ewart too suffered from foot trouble resulting fmm German activities at Messmes So it was fcot easy going for any of us Starting from Heath s Accommodation House, and accompanied by young Heath and a packhorse, we reached the hut at the northern end of the plateau iust below Mount Peel at 4000 ft after a long tramp in heavy ram and mist The night was stormy and we were very cold in ’he hut Luckily we woke to a fine clear morning, but snowblanketed the whole landscape, and 1 had difficulty in collecting the plants I wanted Pasco- Stewart and I set off for Mount Pee) at 530 and reached the summit 6000 ft. at 6 pm. I had to descend some distance to hunt for plants under six inches of snow Gibbs had breakfast ready for us and we recrossed the plateau, about six miles long, mostly through heavy bush, by blazes made by Lions long before The day was now- hot and very fine We lunched between 2 and 3 pm on the rocks iust below the final slope of Mount Arthur and reached ■”<• summit. 6200 ft. about 3 pm We were all very thirsty as I was the only member of the party

Who carried a water, bottle, and that, among four, did not go far. Gibbs gave me invaluable help, for the flora was very familiar to him and I was thus able to collect nearly all the rare plants which I was seeking in this area. The journey back to Heath’s was very arduous and trying to all of us. Stewart and I got back by 10 p.m.; Gibbs and Pasco an hour later. "The end of a perfect day.” ;Not only did I get the desired rare specimens, but I even discovered a new one on the final approach to the top of Mount Arthur—a tiny Colobanthus. My debt to F. G. Gibbs was incalculable.