So I'm back from my whirlwind adventure! My legs are aching, my sleeping and eating patterns are shot and I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole thing.
The last thing I wanted to be saying in this post was that I didn't manage to complete the challenge, but the truth is, personally, I didn't. I don't want this post to be gloomy and depressing. The challenge was amazing and as a team we climbed the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales in 27 hours and 40 minutes!
At 7 am on Sunday morning myself, Ben and four friends set off in our beastmobile for Fort William, Scotland. This drive was a challenge in itself, a 10 hour drive and an hour and a half traffic jam later we arrived in Fort William. I'd never crossed the border into Scotland before and now I can't wait to go back. The scenery is amazing. It reminded me of New Zealand, just slightly wetter and more gloomy.
After staying in, sadly, a pretty grotty hostel for the night we got up on the Monday morning reasonably refreshed and rather apprehensive for the evening to come. We spent the day in Fort William shopping for last minute supplies and waterproofs! It didn't stop raining all day and we knew we were in for a wet climb that evening. At two minutes to five we posed for the opening photo and dead on 5 pm our challenge began. Ben Nevis was waiting!
About an hour into the climb I felt really unwell. I've been fighting back a cold for the past week and kept it at bay until Monday morning. Perfect timing. I motored on through it up Ben Nevis but I definitely slowed us down. It was getting dark and cold and we all wanted to get to the top and make our way back down as quickly as possible. My friend has a piccie of us all at the summit which I'll post as soon as I get hold of it. We reached the top in about 3 hours 40 minutes and thought it would be a nice two hour descent back down. We were so very wrong. The last part of the descent was really wet and slippery and two out of our five torches broke meaning we had to help each other down. It took as four and a half hours. Ben had gone into panic mode and phoned the police just before we showed up at the car. It was all rather traumatic. So much so, that none of the girls climbed Scafell Pike the next morning. I tagged in for Ben and became driver for the rest of the challenge and the boys motored on.
Here's Ben's little photo diary of the rest of the challenge.
I have to say a huge congratulations to Neil who did all three mountains. And I have no doubt he would have been capable of doing it in the 24 hours. I was very impressed! We all had an amazing experience and although, at the moment, we don't have the urge to attempt the three peaks again any time soon, we definitely have the bug for the outdoors.
This was by far the hardest thing I have ever attempted. It made me realise how fit you need to be, how the weather can make such a huge difference and how you need to battle on through being wet and miserable to make the 24 hours. We all took our time getting changed after each mountain when really you need to hop in and get going.
I thought I'd feel disappointed that I didn't complete the challenge. But I don't. It was sensible and safe for me to pull out and it was a real team effort, that between us, we managed it. I really enjoyed the driving anyway. I'll head back with Monkey another time to give Scafell Pike a go and Ben Nevis was an experience I will never forget!
Thank you for all your support and any sponsorship you gave. I'm off to have a go on my new sewing machine. Leisurely activities for me from now on, well, for a little while at least :)
Even if you didn't complete it all it still looks like it was quite an adventure. I love those photos, the mountains are just lovely.
ReplyDeleteThank you!! It really was an adventure. It made me realise that I really need to discover more of the UK. Some parts are really beautiful.
ReplyDelete