3 Peaks Challenge - What an experience! £468 RAISED FOR THE MURRY FOUNDATION!!!!

The journey started Friday eve with what turned out to be a 12.30 hour drive from Bournemouth to the foot of Nevis.  We each took our fair share of driving on the way up to make sure we all got at least a couple hours sleep that eve.  The journey went well and if you discount Stu claiming to park in a car park spot which was actually the middle of a road and a slight detour along the wrong way of the M6 the drive went without any glitches. 

2pm Start base of Nevis

Once we had arrived at the Nevis Youth Hostel we had planned to check in, grab a bed and get some more kip.  But an un-friendly Scot and a too honest Andy meant that we weren’t allowed in as we hadn’t booked.  So we retired back to the car where we tucked into some food, tried to sleep and waited for 4pm when we had planned to get going up Nevis.  After a couple hours we were so eager to get going we moved our start time to 2pm, and then started the challenge at a lightning speed powering up Nevis.

Halfway up Nevis

Nevis was the most physically challenging of the climbs and after setting an early pace that was in hindsight to fast we started to suffer from cramping 1/3rd away from the summit.  Stu was epic as his legs were cramping every 100yrds, but he along with Wayne and myself pushed to the top of our 1st mountain in 2:45 hours, this gave us a 15min rest break before heading back down.  We made the most of being at the highest point in the UK with Stu and Wayne both taking the highest Pee's and Andy the highest moon in the UK at that time :-) !!! The decent was smooth as we kept up a solid pace which enabled us to leave Nevis and set on our way to Scafell Pike in the Lake District 15mins to the good.

At the summit of Nevis

After a 7hour drive we arrived at Scafell Pike at 1:45am and set off into the darkness with only our headlamps to light the way. Scafell was mentally challenging because of the difficulty navigating this mountain at night which lead to us becoming very frustrated as we were loosing time not due to tiredness, but miss-direction.  We found the route poorly marked and with vague paths that start and end at seemingly random points.  In honesty it was a combination of luck and good judgement calls from Stu that helped us find the summit of Scafell, once their we didn’t stand on precession as we immediately turned round and set a swift pace back down the mountain.  Unfortunately we lost 30mins on Scafell, but we were still scheduled for a 23:15 hours challenge completion time.

Views of Snowdon

Next up was what appeared to be the most straight forward leg of our challenge.  However thanks to our Sat Nav routing us through the middle of the Lake District, which left Stu getting his moneys worth out of the car horn 'honking' sheep to clear the road on many occasions, we lost 45mins on top of the scheduled drive time to Pen Y Pass at the base of Snowdon. Just to add to our frustration when we reached Pen Y Pass the car park was full and we were directed 3 miles down the road to a nearby town to park, which left us waiting 30mins for a bus back to our start point at the bottom of the Pyg Track on Snowdon.

Stepping off the bus brought an air of relief for finally making it to the final mountain, even though it was an hour after we had originally been at that exact same spot bantering for a car park space.  With now only 3:15 hours to get up/down Snowdon we didn’t hang about, or think to long on what was required from us, we just got rocking on with it and before we knew it 1:55 had passed and we were standing on the summit of Snowdon.  This was an emotional moment with Stu shedding a tear, me and Wayne breathless at such a beautiful view and at the thought of what we had achieved, and what still laid ahead of us.  We each composed ourselves for our descent which we would need to do in 1.15 hours to complete the challenge to climb the three highest peaks across England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours.

Stu set the pace, with Andy (me) in the middle and Wayne pushing and motivating us along at the back.  Where it was physically possible and safe'ish to run, then this is what we did.  From top to bottom we didn’t rest, but instead ran hard and even after being awake for pretty much 55 hours and having climbed 2 mountains already our adrenaline and re-invigorated motivation kept us going, and going.  After such an amazing journey, some incredible views and a number of adversities overcome the challenge came down to what was literally a sprint finish by 3 immensely drained lads to cross the finish line and complete the challenge in the slimmest of margins..... With 17secs to spare!!

Summit of Snowdon

Both me and Stu collapsed in a heap at the base of Snowdon after crossing the finishing post, with Wayne the only one of us three able to still stand.  The sense of achievement was incredible, and the relief at not letting those who had sponsored us so kindly down.  If we are honest none of us when standing at the summit of Snowdon thought we could make it down in time, and this thought sickened each of us, I think this is why our emotions and feeling of achievement was so overwhelming at the end of the challenge.

1.59,43pm Bottom of Snowdon to complete the challenge

Just over a week on and finally we are starting to feel human again and the thought of what we have completed has just started to sink in :-)  The question now is... whats next??

FINAL TIME: 23.59,43
 
HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SPONSORED US J
 
Andy, Stu, Wayne