The Yomp - Yorkshire Dales

In order to get some practice with poles I travelled up to Kendal on 6th June, stayed at the excellent, friendly Caravan Club club site and then crossed to the West Yorkshire Dales to Kirkby Stephen to use the Yomp Mountain Challenge as another training race

The Full Yomp is a 23 mile Course mainly over open fell land and peat bog and tussock with over 1100 metres of climb and descent. It was an opportunity to practice with poles, hill climbs and test out some of the gear that I was hoping to use for the race. The fell route is clearly marked with flags (ribbons on electric fencing poles)

The race is run in memory of the Yomp that the Marines had to take across the Falklands to engage the Argentinians at Port Stanley

The easiest way to describe the route is to say that it follows the watershed of the Upper Eden Valley, going almost due South from Kirkby Stephen, over Wild Boar Fell at 708m and then Swarth Fell, before dropping down a thousand feet to cross Mallerstang at the parting of the waters where rain to the North flows down the Eden to the Irish Sea, and to the South into the Ure and eventually into the North Sea. Carrying on round the edge of the scarp bounding the East of Mallerstang, topping out at 709m on High Seat summit, the highest point on the Yomp, we are not only on the Mallerstang watershed, but also the spine of England’s watershed, all the way to the mysterious 9 Standards Rigg, (which at 662 metres is the highest point of the Half and Short courses) before heading back down to Kirkby Stephen again.

Sheep on the moor

plenty of Climbs

The mysterious 9 Standards Rig in the background ..

Yomping ..

Course Profile ..