Pictures - The 3 Peaks Challenge

Not all that exciting really as I was shagged and soaked most of the time so couldn't be arsed taking photos!

There was apparently a 600m drop here, I didn't fancy getting any closer to take in the view!

From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

Taken on Scafell Pike. Soaked through, pissed off, freezing cold and generally, not a happy bunny.
From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

On top of Snowdon at about half four in the morning. After only 2 hours sleep in the previous 24 there was little sense of achievement at this point. I just wanted to get out of my soaking, stinking clothes and go to bed!

From 3 Peaks Challenge June 2008

The Three Peaks Challenge - Tips

To anyone reading this and considering doing the three peaks themselves I would offer the following thoughts to consider:

• Do it in a group. You’ll then have people around to egg you on when you feel like quitting and congratulate you on reaching the peaks and completing the challenge.
• If you have the freedom, try and plan it when the weather’s nice.
• Start Ben Nevis at about 17:00 and you’ll get a good 5 hours sleep before having to climb Scafell Pike.
• Make sure your waterproofs are waterproof before you start the challenge.
• Make sure your drivers know exactly which route you’re taking.
• If possible, walk each of the routes prior to the challenge. Although you don’t really need a map for any of the routes, knowing which path to take when the route splits saves you having to faff around getting the maps out and figuring out where you are and which way to go.
• Have your food in an easy to reach pocket. Having to stop and take off your ruck sack every time you feel hungry means you just don’t bother which in turn means you’ll be suffering later on.
• Make sure your support team know what food and drink you want when you get down off the peaks.
• I found there was a mobile phone signal (Vodafone) about half to 1 hour before getting down from each peak. Phone and let your support team know when you’ll be back so they can have the food cooked and everything packed away prior to you getting down.
• Have enough clothes with you so that you’ll always have something dry to get into when you get down off the mountain.
• Wear proper sports underwear. I used the Helly Hansen boxer shorts which dry off really quickly. Had I worn normal boxers I imagine I’d been chaffed red raw with how wet I got.
• A pretty obvious one but, wear proper hiking boots. With how tired I was feeling I’d have probably broken my ankle a few times on Snowdon had I been in trainers or walking shoes.

The Three Peaks Challenge - Snowdon

A couple of hours sleep is all that I could manage between Scafell Pike and Snowdon unfortunately. By the time I reached Snowdon I was starving hungry as well as weak and feeble. We got to Pen-y-Pass car park at just before 02:00 to find it jam packed. There were two coach loads of people just finishing the first stage of the three peaks challenge. The way I was feeling it was a not very pleasant surprise to get out of the car and find a hog roast had been prepared for those finishing the first of their three peaks. I felt famished and just didn’t have the time to stop and beg for a hot pork roll. Gutted.

The forecast had been for heavy rain over Llanberis but luckily the weather was fine, just touch misty. Snowdon turned out to be an absolute killer. I knew the route fairly well so wasn’t too concerned about getting lost but it felt like I had to stop every ten minutes for a rest. The pyg track turned out to be a real hard slog. I was absolutely shattered and felt like curling up and falling asleep at every ten minute stop. I met one group of people coming down who were just starting the three peaks. They had somehow managed to lose one of their team and were asking whether I’d seen anyone else on the way up. Hopefully they found him as he definitely hadn’t passed me.

The higher I went the colder it got and the worse the visibility got. My headlight wasn’t really helping as it was like using your full beam in the fog. Luckily at about 04:00 it was light enough for me walk up without the torch. All I remember from reaching the summit is how tired and cold I felt. I unfortunately don’t recall any sense of achievement, just a desperate need to get off the mountain, get a cup of tea and get home to bed.

I had decided to come down the Llanberis path as the pyg track would have finished my knees completely. Coming down this route was, thankfully, completely uneventful. I had a few nice views but unfortunately the cloud cover had ruined any chance of a decent sunrise.

I finally made it down from Snowdon in 3 hours and 37 minutes which actually amazed me considering how slowly I thought I’d gone up. The total time to up and down all three peaks and travel between them was 23 hours and 30 minutes. My only thought on accomplishing the three peaks was please get me home to bed. Getting a decent amount of sleep during the challenge would have probably put me in a better mood and helped me feel chuffed about completing the challenge there and then. As it was, I had to wait until had a good 8 hours sleep before I felt pretty chuffed about completing the challenge. The fact I did it by myself (the hiking part anyway) does give me a sense of achievement, I felt like quitting so often but managed to dig deep and keep on trudging.

The Three Peaks Challenge - Scafell Pike

We arrived at the National Trust campsite in Wasdale at about 17:15 to be greeted by a National Trust jobsworth. We were stopping for two minutes whilst I got the boots on and then Dad and Sal were heading to the pub for something to eat. On seeing us drive through the car park and round to the exit the NT chap chased after us, advising us once we’d stopped that we couldn’t stop here and should park in next doors car park to get ready. I was non too impressed when I thought feck it, and started getting changed and started to walk through 30ft of National Trust Campsite property. Had my Dad not been talking to him and trying to calm him down I’m pretty certain he would have chased after me and made me walk around! Jobsworth.

So, back to Scafell Pike. In short, the whole experience was miserable. Horrible is probably a better word to use. In order to complete the challenge within 24 hours I knew I’d have to be up and down Scafell Pike in at least 3.5 hours. My knees were aching, I felt shagged and it was chucking it down with rain. 15 minutes into the walk I started to feel a bit better. 20 minutes into the walk my waterproofs turned out not to be waterproof and I felt like shite again.

People on the way down bought the news that visibility was awful on top, it was freezing cold and was raining harder up there than down here! Gutting. On a previous trip to Wasdale I’d walked the Mickledore route and the other route (don’t recall what it’s called but it’s less of a climb but takes a bit longer). Due to the time limits I’d decided to walk the Mickledore route. It wasn’t until half way up this route I realised I’d maybe taken a bit too much of a risk. It also occurred to me I hadn’t mentioned the name of the route I was walking to my Dad and sister. Dickhead.

The route up was awful. The path had turned into a stream as the water gushed down from the top. Unfortunately the gulley I had to climb up had water tumbling down. Climbing up a scree slope in the rain by yourself is definitely not recommended! Every time I put a foot on the slope to take a step up the water rushing down was washing the scree away so for every 3 steps up I’d slip 2 steps back. The gulley was worse. Although where I was standing was not so slippery I had to hold on to pull myself up in some areas. My hands were freezing, soaking and the rocks were getting difficult to grasp. I finally made it o the top of the gulley and although soaked and freezing cold I was just thankful to be on solid ground.

From here on up visibility was very poor and the wind was blowing a gale. Luckily I could see each cairn in front fairly easily so I left the map where it was and followed the cairns to the summit. I spent as much time as it took to take the camera out of the bag and take a photo on the summit. Heading down I decided to take the longer route to Wasdale rather than risk my life trying to get down the scree. Again I just followed the cairns again and hoped I was on the right path. I met up with a couple of of guys who seemed to be pretty concerned about me. I imagine I must have looked a bit of a state at this point. Reassuring them that I was fine I made my way down and go back to the car in about 3 hours 10 minutes. I’ve never before been so grateful to be off a hill and back in the warm.

I managed a cup of sweet tea, a pot noodle and some munchies before passing out for a couple of hours.

The Three Peaks Challenge - Ben Nevis

The peak that I’d spent most time worrying about prior to the challenge was Ben Nevis. I had not even seen it before, let alone climbed it so didn’t have a clue what to expect. I knew the route to the summit ran extremely close to the cliffs and in poor visibility you’d need to use your map and compass. After 7 months or trying I’d still not had chance to test out my navigation skills. Stood on the top next to the cliffs would not be the ideal time to find out they were shite! My knees were the other concern. Although I’d been spending quite a bit of time in the gym prior to the challenge they had still not completely recovered from the thrapping they’d received in Yorkshire. I’d bought knee supports and walking poles but still had a vision of my Dad having to carry me down Ben Nevis after an hour or two!

06:07 on the Friday morning was the start time. I’d had a giant bowl of weetabix and muesli to start me off and had made myself 2 chocolate spread sandwiches to take for the walk along with a few other munchies. To be honest, I was looking forward to the chocolate sandwiches more than the walk as the last time I’d had them was I was 12.

It turned out the tourist track up Ben Nevis was extremely easy to follow. Up to about 600m the weather was fine and warm. Above 600m the weather was just nasty, windy, raining and fairly low visibility. I’d managed one chocolate sandwich before the weather broke and didn’t intend stopping for another one until I was dry again. The walk up to the summit plateau was fairly uneventful, above 600m I’d not seen a thing bar the path in front of me and the only people I’d seen were two chaps running down.

The top was a little more interesting than the rest of the walk thankfully. Although it was only 3 days from July I had to walk through a 50m stretch of snow, the heavens had opened and the wind was icy cold. I’d also forgotten my hat and gloves so was less than impressed with my organisation skills! On route to the summit the cliff edge (with a 600m drop) is about 5 foot away from the path, it’s easy to see how people die every year on Ben Nevis. I spent about 10 minutes on top due to the weather and managed a couple of photos before the fingers froze up.

The route down was again fairly uneventful. I passed a lot more people on the way down and amazed me were the lads wondering up in tracksuit and trainers. The tourist track isn’t difficult but the amount of loose rocks mean the there’s quite a risk of twisting an ankle or falling. Maybe Mountain Rescue ought to start charging if they have to rescue people who are ill equipped to climb the mountain.

A view finally reappeared at about 500m and I could at last take off the waterproof coat. I got caught in the rain earlier on before I had chance to don the waterproof trousers so I was hoping I’d dry off fairly quickly. On the way down I took an un-necessary risk which thankfully didn’t result in too much injury but could have seen the challenge ending early. I’d noticed a fell runner taking a short cut through the heather to miss out the zig zagging path. Further on down the hill I though I’d try out the same trick. I forgot to take into account that the path I was on was stone and the path I was about to tread was mud (and that we’d had a shed load of rain earlier on!). As soon as my second foot touched the mud both feet went from under me. I landed on my backside with walking poles flailing around in one hand an a camera in the other. It was a real Indiana Jones moment as I slid down the side of this bank for about 30m on my ass. Thankfully as I tumbled out of the heather onto the path my only injuries were a bruised backside and a severe bout of humiliation as passers by gave me extremely disapproving glares. My error in judgement also meant I had to walk down the remaining mile covered in mud and receiving odd glances from other walkers.

I finally made it down in a total time of 4 hours 50 minutes. My knees had held out, I’d eaten my first chocolate sandwich since I was 12 and I’d just climbed (well, walked) the highest peak in the UK. Time for a 6 hour drive down to Scafell Pike.

The Yorks 3 Peaks Certificate

The Yorkshire 3 Peaks

The first of 3 charity challenges is now complete and under the belt. I'm a little late in updating the blog as the challenge was actually completed on Monday 12th May 2008 during a week's holiday in Yorkshire.

Full of optimism I decided to complete the challenge on the 3rd day of the holiday just in case I'd horrendously underestimated the challenge and failed dismally. At least if the worst happened I'd have the rest of the week to make a second attempt. Thankfully one attempt was all that was needed.

I started at 06:35 and was as lucky as I could have been with the weather. The sun was shining and it was warm enough to start the walk in shorts. The first half of the walk was fairly uneventful. The scenery was beautiful and between Horton in Ribblesdale and the Ribblehead viaduct not a soul was to be seen. I made it to the summit of Pen-y-Ghent in just under an hour and with no aches, pains or twinges I decided to jog from the summit over to Whernside.

On reaching the Ribblehead viaduct I decided to take it easy and walk to the summit of Whernside and then jog from the summit over to Ingleborough. Sat on the summit of whernside having a banana I felt absolutely fine, still no aches, pains or twinges. And then I started to jog. It was at this point that the pain began in my right knee and I realised that I'd be walking the rest of the route. 150m down the side of Whernside and my knee was in agony. Everytime I took a step down hill leading with my right foot it felt like my knee was about to explode. At least the the left was knee was fine.

I finally reached the base of Ingleborough and found that climbing up hill caused me very little pain at all. I reached the summit of Ingleborough and then faced the daunting task of getting down without bending my right leg. Try walking down the stairs without bending one of your legs just to see how difficult this is. Now try it without bending either leg and you'll know the situation I was in about 5 minutes down the side of Ingleborough.

The next two and a half hours was absolute agony. Walking on the flat or a slight slope was OK so long as I didn't stop. If I stopped or had to take a large step down hill my knees exploded and then the profanity would start (and generally last until I found a slight slope to walk on). I tried walking backwards, sliding on my backside, taking giant steps and taking little steps but nothing alleviated the agony. Watching me trying to get down the hill must have been similar to watching the Monty Python silly walks sketch.

Thanking the lord (which I've never done before!) I finally made it back to the Pen-y-Ghent cafe in Horton-in-Ribblesdale and settled down to a one pint cup of tea with about 6 sugars in!!. The total time taken was just under 8.5 hours. Considering I hobbled the last 10 - 13 miles I was fairly chuffed with the time but a touch disappointed that my 31 year old knees were acting more like 71 year old knees. God help me on the National 3 peaks if my knees react in the same fashion.

Two and a half weeks till the first challenge!

Two and half weeks to go until the first challenge. Had I not been doing the challenges for charity I'd have probably given up ages ago. Thankfully the extra motivation of raising money has spurred me on and ensured I carry out the challenges. Whether I complete the challenges successfully is yet to be seen but I don't foresee too many problems.

Certainly the Yorkshire three peaks should be the easiest challenge of the three timed challenges. Although I still haven't attempted to walk 25 miles I've walked 20 and feel I could quite easily have continued a few miles more. The main concern for this challenge is getting lost and losing time. Having walked the initial part of the route it looks as if it could be quite easy to come off the rough track and head off in the wrong direction. Getting lost isn't too much of a concern (unless it's misty) but I'm hoping to complete this challenge in 9 hours or under (although I get to sign the three peaks book if I manage it in less than 12).

In terms of training this next two weeks is going to have to be fairly tough as I've been slacking the last month or so. The plan for the next week is as follows:

• A 10k run on the flat but off road tonight
• A half marathon off road tomorrow
• A rest day on Wednesday in terms of running but some gym work will be
• needed.
• A Half marathon on Thursday and a 10k on Friday.
• Saturday should hopefully be a quiet day with a 16 - 20 mile walk
• planned around Snowdon on Sunday

In terms of diet I've been horrendously slack for the last couple of months. I've been missing breakfasts having chocolate bars and packets of crisps for lunch and having sandwiches or cereal for tea! It's too easy to put this down to a busy life (as I would normally do). The reality is that I'm just too lazy to make lunch and lack the willpower not to buy crisps and chocolate. Looking at it on paper, I have the diet of a 14 year old! So this week, no crisps, no chocolate and proper lunches and breakfasts. Breakfast will have to start from tomorrow as I was too lazy to get up
early enough this morning to have one!

Training Weekend - Scafell Pike

Last weekend was the first time I'd ventured up to the Lake District and although up there by myself it was a great weekend. Now that I've been there I can see why so many people get lost in the dark trying to find there way to the top.

I made it to the top twice on Saturday. The first time was early in the morning and I took the route up via Mickledore (shown in red on the above photograph - photo borrowed from the Striding Edge). Initially the route follows a stone / rock path which leads up to an area called Hollow Stones. From here Mickledore seemed to be the most direct route to the top. From Hollow Stones the route consists of scree and gravel and certainly isn't the safest of routes to follow, especially as there's a small amount of scrambling to do to get up through a small gorge to a flat area at the top. It took me about 2 hours to get to the summit which included time spent getting a touch lost on the top and slipping around on the ice covered rocks!

Coming down via Mickledore was certainly more of an experience than going up. After surprising myself with such a good time I decided that once through the gorge, I could jump and slide down the scree / gravel. An idea that turned out to be an idiotic one. On the second jump I lost my footing completely and fell on my arse. Not a problem on the flat but on the slope you can see in the picture a bit of a nightmare. I gave myself a dead leg as I slipped down part of the slope and came a cropper on piece of rock that didn't fancy sliding down with me. Luckily I managed to grab hold of pieces of solid rock next to me otherwise I'd have probably ended up with a couple of broken limbs at best. Suffice to say, I hobbled and walked fairly slowly down the rest of the gravel!

Following lunch I decided to make my way up for a second time. From Hollow Stones I followed a a snaking route round to the left in the photo. Although no-where near as steep as the earlier route this seemed to be much more difficult as it's such a long route up. The fact that I was shattered at this point probably made it feel a lot worse than it actually was. Once the main gravel path disappeared this route was a bugger to follow. I tried to use the cairns to follow the safest route but seemed always seemed to end up climbing up something and then having to climb back down to find another route. As I was by myself and there was no-one else heading up this late in the afternoon I decided it was definitely safer to backtrack and find a better route than try and plod on along a route that may result in a fall or twisted knee.

I finally made it to the summit about 5 minutes after a snow storm had started. Sensibly (I thought at the time) I found some shelter and had a bite to eat whilst the storm passed over. Unfortunately this one didn't pass over, it just stayed hovering over the top spewing out more snow than I've ever seen before! After about 10 minutes I decided to head off before conditions got even worse. It is no exaggeration to say this was the worst snow storm I've ever encountered. For the next 40 minutes I couldn't see more than 15 - 20 ft in front of me. Initially I just had a hat on and couldn't take more than a few steps without having to turn my face out of the snow. Luckily I came overly prepared and had a balaclava stashed in my bag. Without it it would have taken me a lot longer to get out of the storm. Although any traces of a path had disappeared the larger cairns were still visible (thankfully there are plenty of them and they're located fairly close together) so I didn't need to rely on my untested map and compass work. Having now seen the conditions I imagine had I been forced to use a map and compass, Mountain Rescue would probably have been called to find me before I could get myself off the top.

After what seemed an age I made it off the top and out of the storm. Surprisingly, it only took me 4 hours and 10 minutes to get up and down and that included 4 or 5 stops on the way up to chat to people, a 10 minute stop on the top and the 40 minutes of slowness during the snow storm.

A week later I'm now pretty confident that the 3 peaks in 24hrs isn't as impossible as I've recently been thinking. So long as I don't get injured and can get some sleep between peaks (and the traffic isn't too bad!) and go as far as to put some money on me completing the challenge within the time limit. (Watch me twist an ankle getting out the car at Ben Nevis now!)

The Carding Mill Canter

Or in my case, the Carding Mill Crawl! This is the first fell race I've ever entered and it nearly killed me! I did however manage to meet my two aims of the day, to finish the race and not to come last. There's not much shout about coming 73rd out of 76 but I finished, that's the main thing. Race results here

I have to say, I have today been astonished, humbled, and I'm sure my mates would say humiliated! I thought I was in for trouble from the off when 70 of the 78 people running went storming off in front of me and I struggled to keep up, I was out of puff and thought I may have to walk for a bit before I'd even reached the first proper hill. The humbling part of it was seeing ladies in their 50s dashing off in front of me and every 60+ year old chap in the race beat me. If I'm half as fit as these guys and gals at the age of 60 I'll be happy. I know for a fact a huge amount of guys my age would struggle to even complete the race which says something about the lifestyle we've all become accustomed to.

I can't say that I actually enjoyed much of the race, I spent most of it cursing my lack of fitness, my stupidity, my naivety and the hills that were causing my grief! However, at the end of it I'm glad I spent the afternoon slogging it out in the hills. This is definitely not going to be my last fell race and the aim for the next race is to get from 4th from last up to 8th from last. In the mean time there's a serious need to hit the gym and the hills to increase my leg endurance and stamina.

On a final note, it concerns me greatly that my legs gave up the ghost and had to walk me round the majority of the race. If traffic's bad for the 3 peaks and I have to start running to beat the 24hr limit I could be in for a big let down if I don't improve my fitness and stamina quickly!

The Dates Are Set!

Amazing!! I've finally managed to organise myself to the point where the dates are now set for the challenges.

1. The Yorkshire 3 peaks - I'm on hols in the Dales so it will be between the 12th and 16th of May (Pen-y-Ghent to the left in case you're wondering)
   
2. The National 3 Peaks - Friday 27th June
3. The Longmynd Hike - Saturday 4th and 5th of October
4. The Severn Way Walk - The walk will hopefully be completed by the end of April.

Training has now begun in earnest and I've started collecting sponsorship for the challenges. This means there's absolutely no backing out now (although a large proportion of people I know still doubt I'm even going to attempt the challenges!).

Earlier in the week I thought things were about to splutter to stop as the two drivers I'd coerced into taking part had to pull out. Luckily my better half and my Sister and jumped in to save me and have offered to share the driving between Ben Nevis and Snowden.

As stated, training has now begun in earnest. I'm running as often as I can in the week up and down the hill in front of my house. I'm looking forward to the clocks changing as I'm having to run in the dark at the moment and heading through the woods still scares the bejeezes out of me. The only benefit is that I get fitter a lot quicker, as soon as I hear a twig break or some undergrowth rustle my legs flip into overdrive and no matter how tired I am I find myself sprinting like Linford until I'm through into the open.

I've planned in a 26 mile hike across the Longmynd, Caer Caradoc and the Lawley next weekend with Roger from work and I'm hoping to enter a few fell running races in the next couple of months. My only plan for the first fell race (the Carding Mill Canter - 1st March 2008) is to finish! Once I see how I get on in that one I might aim for somewhere either above last place or within 10 minutes of the second to last person.

Update - 03/02/08

I keep writing half of one of these updates on my laptop and then forgetting to upload the things. It’s worrying that laziness has set in this close to the new year.

So, the challenges. Things are going well, I’ve been up to Yorkshire to check out part of the route and been walking along the Offas Dyke path fairly regularly to help build up the stamina. Finally I’ve come to realise that I’ll never be able to complete these challenges if I stop every hour for a coffee break. The realisation hit me when it took me 7 hours to walk 10 miles. A pretty dire performance, but to be expected if I spend half and hour out of every 2 sat on my backside drinking coffee and thes rest of the time wondering around looking at the scenery!

The Severn Way Walk is on hold until the floods have fully subsided. I don’t fancy drowning trying to complete these challenges. I’m still short of a team if the Longmynd Hike is to be a possibility. I’ve got one more person to ask and then it’s a matter of searching a couple of 3 peaks websites for similar minded people. I still can’t believe so few people are interested in doing this kind of thing.

Hopefully I’ll be visiting Scafell Pike in the next month to get an idea of how difficult the climb will be. It looks like it’s the navigation that causes the problems rather than the climb itself. Looking at pictures it seems the path just disappears half way up and you just have to make you’re way across a boulder field. Let’s hope I’ve figured out how to use the compass by then.

The date is now set for the Yorkshire 3 peaks. We’re off up to the Dales on May 10^th for a week’s holiday so at some point that week the first part of these challenges should be completed. At least going up on holiday means I’ll be able to meet up with someone half way round and grab some food rather than having to carry everything with me. I’m still quietly hoping I’ll be able to complete the walk in about 9 hours rather than 12. This will mean jogging a fair part of way to make up for any stoppages that may occur but I’m pretty confident by May my fitness levels should be up to the task.