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I am aiming to walk the "3 Peaks" over 3 days, 17th - 19th August. That's Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon, respectively the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales. Yes, I know it's not as challenging as doing it in 24 hours, but as I'll be doing all my own driving between the climbs (almost a 1000 mile round trip from my home in Newcastle) this is as much as I can manage...especially at my age and lack of physical condition!

 

I have been wanting to do this challenge for a few years now, but one can only procrastinate for so long, and now is as good a time as any! As well as helping myself, however, by getting a little fitter and losing a bit of weight, I also wanted to help a good cause.

 

The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is close to my heart, having lost a few family members to cancer in it's various forms, and for various reasons Sir Bobby was very important to me too.

 

Sir Bobby was a regular visitor to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. I have been too, though not as often as the great man,  since my late father was a frequent in-patient during his final years. My father was a great man in my eyes too, and after he died I did see some similarities with Sir Bobby, such that whenever I saw him he made me think of my father. Sadly, both were taken from us far too soon, but they do at least leave us with some great memories.

 

Sir Bobby, in his later years, rejuvenated the "Toon" as manager of the "black and whites". Because of the intervention of one of football's greatest servants, as a Newcastle United season ticket holder, I had the pleasure of seeing my club once again competing with some of the World's greatest clubs at the top of the Premiership, and in Europe, albeit only for a few years. Few of us doubted at the time that we were benefitting from a true football genius, and it was such a sad day when Sir Bobby was removed from his position as manager. Despite the way in which this was done, Sir Bobby remained a true gentleman.

 

One of Sir Bobby's lasting legacies was to set up the "Sir Bobby Robson Foundation" and it is for this reason, in his honour, and in dedication to my late father, as well as other family members who's lives were brought short due to cancer, that I would very much appreciate your support, by donating to this great cause. Through the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Charity (Reg. 1057213) the Foundation focuses on the early detection and treatment of cancer and the clinical trials of new drugs that will eventually beat it.

 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

So please dig deep and donate now.

 

Many thanks for whatever you can donate... as they say "every little helps". In the meantime, I'll update you all with my progress. Hopefully, the weather and my aged joints will hold up, though the long-range weather forecast currently shows "heavy rain" for all 3 climbs - just my luck! It won't stop me though.

 

Thank you to all those who have generously donated already. For those that haven't yet, please give whatever you can spare.....pay day is just around the corner. Meanwhile, here is a summary of my challenge, for those that are interested:

 

Mon 16th Aug 2010:

Drove to Fort William at 6pm, straight from work, arriving at 10.45pm - aprox 260 miles. Journey not bad until I got across the border into Scotland, then it began to rain, so by the time I passed Glasgow it was getting dark and I saw nothing of the mountainous regions as it was pitch dark by then! No time to eat or do anything at the Ben Nevis bunkhouse where I was staying, other than to make my bed and lie in it!

It took a while to get to sleep though, as my mind was still active....and the bloke in the next bunk snored like a trouper!

 

Tue 17th Aug:

Reality set in.... I now had to climb the highest mountain in the UK, having done no real preparation and not having done any hill climbs for over a year, but there was no backing out now! The weather was still poor with low cloud and light rain, so visibility was not very good.

I set off at a good pace, but then suffered for it as the rain fell a little heavier and I quickly ran out of steam due to the fairly steep ascent! About a third of the way up I felt as if I had no energy left, and for the first and only time I started to doubt whether I'd make it...I couldn't believe how out of condition I was. However, I persevered and pushed on, I wasn't going to let the challenge beat me!

The rain wasn't as heavy as I'd expected from the forecasts, and came in waves, but thankfully stopped before I reached the summit. The cloud meant that I had no indication how far the summit was away, but I can tell you the climb seemed to go on forever, and seemed pretty steep all the way, so I constantly needed to push myself! However, after about 3hrs and 15 mins (poor really) I finally reached the summit!!! The elation soon put my exhaustion to the back of my mind and despite the poor visibility I was soon snapping away with my camera to provide the evidence that I'd made it!

I hoped to make a quick descent from the summit, but soon realised that it wouldn't be as quick as I'd hoped. Although the single path was fairly straightforward, it was mostly rocky and steep, so I soon developed a large blister as my feet pounded down on the rocks. However, about half way down the cloud lifted, the sun got out and I was treated to fantastic views of Fort William and the surrounding lochs below me! I could see for miles, looking along the valley and the surrounding mountains, so kept stopping to take photos. I soon forgot about the pains in my feet and knee (recent cycling injury)!

I finally got back to the bunkhouse after 3 hours of decent...and headed straight for the adjoining inn for a well deserved pint of local real ale. It hardly touched the sides as I looked back up the mountain and thought about my achievement so far. Not much time for dwelling on this though, as I only had time for a quick shower and coffee before setting off on my drive down to the Lake District. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and the drive would take 4 hours or so.

By the time I set off the sun was well and truly shining and I was treated to fantastic views of the Scottish highlands, right the way from Fort William, past Glencoe, Loch Lomond and down to the Borders. An absolutely joyous drive and I had to stop numerous times to take photos!

However, all this took up time and in the end I only just made it to my destination (YHA Honister Hause, just outside Seatoller) in time. The staff were only on duty until 10pm and I didn't get there until minutes beforehand, so had no time for a meal on the way! I had to have a quick bowl of soup and some bread before making my bed and getting a decent night sleep!

 

Wed 18th Aug:

I chose to walk to Scafell Pike from Seathwaite, aprox 1/2 mile from the car park at Seatoller, which added 20-30 mins to my walk, with the rain starting to fall again! The walk took me along the valley bottom before climbing up to the top of the valley at Sty Head. Again, as I was unfit, it felt quite draining as I ascended to the steeper section of the walk, but I felt quite relieved having reached Sty Head, albeit that this was short-lived, once I realised I was only about half way to Scafell Pike!

The second half of the walk was certainly more challenging, as at this height the wind got up, visibility was much poorer and the rain, although relatively light, continued to fall. In addition, there were sections of this walk, going along "The Corridor", where there was no discernable path, the route taking you along nothing but rock. I realised here that if the visibility got much worse I could have great difficulty following my route! As it was, visibility was just good enough to make out the small cairns, about 10/20 yards apart, that marked the way.

The last couple of hundred feet of the climb required a descent down a rocky slope prior to a steep scramble back up the other side - a rocky section that reminded me a little of the ascent of Helvellyn via Striding Edge. It looked a little daunting at first, but I was soon spurred on after someone who passed me coming down informed me that I was nearly at the summit, which was just at the top of this section! Prior to this, due to the low cloud cover, I wasn't certain that there wouldn't be another 'summit' to climb beyond this one, as I had found earlier on my ascent.

Again, I had a great sense of euphoria at reaching the summit, and quickly obtained the photos I needed to prove my achievement, enlisting the help of fellow climbers whom I met at the summit. This climb had taken me only 2hrs 15mins (from Seathwaite, though 2hrs 45mins from Seatoller car park). 

I couldn't rest on my laurels, however, as I only had a relatively short break before I needed to descend the mountain, as I then needed to drive down to Wales. However, as I'd decided upon a full cooked breakfast at the Youth Hostel, to 'fire me up' for the climb, I wasn't very hungry once I'd reached the summit. I did drink plenty (or at least as much as I could, from the supplies I carried), however, I was becoming quite dehydrated due to the physical exertion and the fact I was wrapped up to protect me from the elements. 

Again, the descent was not as fast and easy as I'd hoped, since it took almost as long to pick myself down the rocky sections and steep rock paths as it did to climb them. I only saved about 15 mins on the descent, with just a few pauses to take photos as the clouds lifted a little, so it was late in the afternoon before I was back at the car park, changed and ready to drive off on my journey south.

Before I did so, I called into a local pub to have the obligatory pint of real ale (Jennings Cumberland, one of my favourites) in celebration of the successful 2nd climb of the Challenge.  Once again, however, there was no time to stop for a meal, as I had another drive of almost 4 hours to reach that night's destination, the YHA at Pen y Pas, which I didn't reach until 10pm.

 

Thu 19th Aug:

No cooked breakfast this time - I'd found the going a bit heavy the day before on a full stomach, so just had a light breakfast today. This time however, the day was much brighter, so I had some good views on the way up and took a few more photos than the two previous climbs. However, the summit of Snowdon remained stubbornly behind cloud, at least for most of the day.

I'd read on a notice board at the car park (where, incidentally, it cost £10 to park for the day - daylight robbery) that the route I'd chosen, "Pyg track", was "the most rugged and challenging of the 6 routes to the summit of Snowdon". I soon found out why!

I'd been told that Snowdon was the easiest of the 3 Peaks, which was the main reason I'd chosen to climb the 3 Peaks in the order that I had. But to me, certainly via this route, it didn't seem that much easier, although the ascent did only take me 2 hours 15 mins, though because of the exersion on the previous 2 days I did feel more lethargic on this climb. To me it still seemed quite a long, steep, climb and had it's moments, especially where you had to go on all fours to negotiate some rocky sections where there was no discernable path.

The climb got steeper as I got closer to my goal and Snowdon and the adjoining mountains looked magnificent, though the summit stubbornly remained behind cloud. I did take a few photos, but put my camera away as I climbed the very steep section that took me up to the final ridge. It was on this ascent where I had the bizarre experience of hearing a steam train from within the cloud cover above me near the summit itself - very weird! 

Tantalisingly, the cloud at the summit did lift very briefly after I'd reached the top and had a coffee in the Summit cafe (also very weird)! Consequently, I took quite a few photos during this brief time as I was able to experience the full beauty of this and the surrounding mountains - the views were superb. This only lasted about 15 minutes or so, as the clouds soon closed in again and the heavens opened, turning my descent into quite a tricky one - having to take care on the wet and slippery rocks that formed most of the path. More so where there was no path at all, just very large rock slabs! I was more aware than ever of my dodgy knee, feeling every step as my foot jolted down on the rocks. I wasn't going to let that overcome the feeling of elation however that I had achieved my aim and climbed the 3 peaks....wahoo!

However, the rains continued to fall throughout my final descent, all of two hours, and virtually the whole of the subsequent drive home - another 4 hours! The drive wasn't particularly pleasant with the continuous heavy rain and heavy traffic, so I was very happy to finally arrive home.

I had found all three days quite challenging, with the climbs and the subsequent drives to the next location taking longer than expected. I didn't manage to get to my destinations until 10pm-11pm each night, and had to settle for a hot soup and some bread as my one meal of the day, other than a cooked breakfast in the Lake District. Breakfast/lunch was otherwise just peanuts or crisps and a cereal bar and Lucozade. I did try and drink plenty on the climbs, but I found afterwards that I hadn't drunk nearly enough to replace the fluid I was losing, as I was completely washed out and dehydrated for 2 or 3 days after completing the challenge! It was certainly worth it for the sense of achievement though and it gave me time to reflect fully on what I done!  

 

Fri 20th Aug:

Well....I've done it! Due to lack of signal I couldn't update this site at the time, but I completed my personal 3 Peaks Challenge yesterday afternoon! Yes! 

 

Ben Nevis was my first climb on Tues, followed by Scafell Pike on Weds and Snowdon yesterday! By the time I'd returned home last night I'd driven 984 miles in the process.

 

If I'm honest, I don't think there were too many occasions during his lifetime where I'd made my Dad proud, but if he were alive today I think he would have been! Here's to you Dad!

 

I have to give the girls back at the office my special thanks this morning, as they did me proud and decorated my desk area to mark my achievement, even making me a special "3 Peaks cake" to mark my achievement! It was washed down very quickly with some celebratory champagne! 

 

I would like to give my final thanks to all those who very kindly sponsored me and left very generous donations to a great cause. It makes my challenge all the more rewarding knowing that the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation is benefitting from my efforts and your kindness.

 

Kind regards

 

Michael