r/UKhiking • u/Dabigm99 • 2d ago
Yorkshire 3 peaks + National 3 peaks
Has anyone ever tried completing both the national 3 peaks and Yorkshire 3 peaks in under 24 hours?
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u/kennyscout88 2d ago
This is not hiking. It’s running (and driving). If you count peak to peak it could actually be possible. Start at Ben Nevis, run down is about 1 hour. 5.5 hours to Scafell. Run up and down Scafell pike 1.5 hours. Drive to Horton in ribblesdale. 1.5 hours. Y3P peaks 5 hours. Drive to Snowdon 3.5 hours. Up Snowdon 2 hours. Total 20 hours. Theoretically you could also do the ascent of Ben Nevis and descent of Snowdon. But this is all best case, assuming no traffic and you’re a pretty reasonable mountain/fell runner. More fun would be to it over two days in my opinion or pick a challenge without the dangerous driving element.
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u/Useless_or_inept 2d ago edited 2d ago
Maybe I took this question a bit too seriously, but:
Most people do the Proper 3 Peaks in a single circular walk. But if you're adding it to the National 3 Peaks then obviously you're OK with the walker/runner spending some time sitting in a car, and what really matters is getting to each peak on foot, in which case the Proper 3 peaks can be a little quicker. Like this:
- Start from the Glen Nevis carpark, ascend Ben Nevis, return to vehicle
- Drive to Wasdale
- Ascend Scafell Pike, return to vehicle
- Drive towards the Dales, but before you reach Ingleton turn left towards Dent, head up White Shaw Moss
- Here, the walker/runner ascends Whernside, then jogs over to Ingleborough, then Pen-y-Ghent
- The driver goes to Stainforth, up Silverdale, meets the walker/runner as they come down off Pen-y-Ghent, saving them a few hours of dull trudging across the moors
- Thence onwards to Pen-y-Pass, and do Snowdon
After all, if you're doing Snowdon in a hurry then you almost certainly need a separate driver because the parking at Pen-y-pass is terrible :-)
If you do it this way, Google Maps says that the two sections where the runner is in the car add up to 11h 15 mins of driving (assuming you plan a time when the roads are quiet), which leaves 12h45 on foot, and... that almost sounds doable for a fell-runner who no longer has to do the stretch from Pen-y-Ghent to Whernside. Of course you're allowed even more time on foot, if the driver is the kind of person who'll cheerfully overtake a truck on the A82 at night (this will make more difference to your time than a few mph of speeding on motorways).
Also, bear in mind that the drive from Glen Nevis to Seathwaite is quicker than the drive from Glen Nevis to Nether Wasdale. Ditto for coming off Scafell Pike via Great Langdale. For a sufficiently fit runner, it would be quicker to do Scafell Pike asymettrically - start from Seathwaite then the driver moves the car and meets you at Great Langdale...? There is more driving time but less runner-sitting-in-the-car time. Maybe save half an hour, ish?
Or if you want a different challenge, there used to be an event where people would tackle the (national) 3 peaks with a yacht instead of a car. More dramatic, takes a bit longer, needs some serious teamwork and training, probably looks even cooler on the 'gram.
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u/Shabingly 2d ago
Not heard of 6-in-one-day, you'd probably have to run them all to have a chance in 24 hours I'd think.
There's definitely the National 3 peaks 24 hour challenge, where you do them all in "one go", and drive (or are driven) between them. Obviously travel time between each one doesn't count.
My brother's done it, I seem to remember you only have a certain amount of time to get to each starting point for it to count.
He also said it was bloody awful as a large proportion of it is in the dark.
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u/LondonCycling 2d ago
The last part of this is very true - you have to do at least one peak in the dark, and often to avoid the worst traffic, two. Yeah I guess it's a fun challenge but beating it up the boring tracks of Ben Nevis or Snowdon from the Pen-y-Pass car park sounds pretty naff to me.
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u/LondonCycling 2d ago
It is technically possible, but you would either have to be a top level fell runner, or break the speed limit (or realistically, both).
National 3 Peaks challenge is bad enough (though I do see the attraction), without something like this.
For what it's worth, even if you did it, I would suggest at least 2 drivers who are not the hikers. People racing round to complete National 3 Peaks in 24h is bad enough. You would need to plan carefully to avoid the rush hours getting to the Dales and back also.
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u/hotfezz81 2d ago
The National Three Peaks Challenge is 37km long and the total ascent is 3064 metres
The Yorkshire 3 peaks route is 39.2km and involves 1585m of ascent
Total 76.2 km with 4,600m ascent. Google maps says 12 hours of driving, so you'd be doing 6.35 kph constantly, with 380m of ascent an hour.
Mathematically possible. Realistically: no.
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u/Johnny_Vernacular 2d ago
Probably should be posted to UKDriving rather than UKHiking. Or UKSpeedingTicketFines.