Ingleton is at the heart of the ‘Three Peaks country’ but there is also a very famous, and intriguing, literary connection. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mother lived at Masongill through which the trail passes on its way to Ingleton. At this time the vicar of Ingleton was the Reverend Todd Sherlock and as the area below the splendid viaduct by the church is called the Holmes, need one say more! One of the famous attractions of Ingleton is the Falls Walk and this stage uses the initial climb up the falls, passing Thornton Force to meet, at Twistleton Hall, the Pennine Journey route as it comes down from Whernside on its way into Ingleton.

At Twistleton two alternative routes are offered. The main route continues along the minor road up the valley to Chapel le Dale. Here the late 17th Century St. Leonard’s Church contains a memorial to workers who died during the building of the Settle-Carlisle railway and the viaduct at Ribblehead. The alternative, for those who within the Trail wish to ascend the Three Peaks, uses the Pennine Journey route in reverse to the summit of Whernside and then crosses the valley to meet the main route on its ascent of Ingleborough.

The summit of Ingleborough, which in Walks in Limestone Country AW mentions as ‘probably the most ascended mountain in the country outside Lakeland‘, is a broad plateau on which is a 15 acre Iron Age hill fort in which were found traces of a small 7th Century part stone-built building and flint tools from the Early Neolithic period. From the summit the trail heads to Horton in Ribblesdale passing through a magnificent limestone pavement with improving views of Penyghent which overlooks the village.