There are several 'variations' of this challenge. But the one we were following was 'up and down the highest mountain in Scotland, England and Wales non-stop in 24 hours'.
We had been out on a 22 mile route-march two weekends before along the South Downs Way as the final training session. As a result of which, Grant's knee had ballooned, locked up and refused to bend for several days. Grant did the right things and withdrew and our first reserve was drafted in.
I manage to fit in a sneaky 60 miles on the bike to fetch the minibus, Dick (brother and main driver) arrives, we pack, collect the rest of the team and spend the whole day making our way to Balloch for the overnight stop in our spacious vehicle that was kindly limited to 62mph.
We had a fantastic night at the wonderful Dumbain Farm where Sheila made us feel very welcome and also sponsored us ! We leave Balloch to follow the shores of Loch Lomond north towards Crianlarich making the most of the sunshine. As we get further into the highlands, the mist descends, the rain starts and the scenery disappears into the clouds. We have a brief respite as we visit the Commando memorial for a Team photo.
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Molly, Me, Jemma (daughter), Phil(ippa), Shane, Louise, Andy and Matt.
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The Memorial overlooks the training area used by the Special Forces based at Achnacarry Castle during WW2 and a miniature of which adorns many a shelf of many ex Royal Marines, including myself. A random tourist takes a picture of the Team in, rather appropriate, Combat Stress tee shirts.
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We have lunch, buy a few last-minute essentials in Fort William and then make our way to the start. The plan is to ensure we walk each peak in the daylight, so the start time is finalized as 18:00. We are chomping at the bit by the time we get going and after 20 minutes we were all boiling hot and have already made our way through the first band of mist.
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We make the summit in pretty good time (2:30), get a brace of photos and we are on our way down as there is no time to lose.
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(Some) Snow sits on the Ben for most of the year and there was a big band just below the summit plateau and fifteen feet (5m) cornices remain at the top of Zero and Point Five gullies. The summit is also dangerously close to the north face of the mountain and used to be tricky to navigate in the old days - before someone built an extra million cairns. Love 'em or hate 'em, they assist people who can't read a map or don't carry one and probably save several lives each year, especially on Ben Nevis.
Coming down is harder than going up sometimes and a couple of the team were slow(er) that the others. Three of the guys went ahead to get sorted out and, hopefully, speed up transition once the rest of us got back to the minibus. It took almost as long to get down as it took to get up in the end; but it happens. Unfortunately, as we approach the minibus, it looks like the only person there is Dick !! Shane's phone rings and it appears that the others have taken the wrong path and are in the wrong place. We arrange for them to carry on to the road and we will drive round - it will probably be quicker. We quickly change, drive round the Glen, can't see them, get another call - they had turned round and were back at the original finish point - we drive back and pick them up.
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Midnight. One mountain down, one hour behind schedule.
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I suggest that I drive the first leg, partly because I may be too tired to help later on and partly because I know the route and am reasonably familiar with the road. Two hours later (and only one Italian Job moment later), we are in the 24hr services in Dumbarton, getting coffee and visiting the porcelain. No more time lost.
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It's a long way down the M6 from Glasgow to Carlisle at 62 mph and another long way from the motorway to Wasdale Head for the start of Scafell Pike, but we arrive safely and are off again.
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Tough work to get the legs going after six hours in a minibus, but we are soon in the groove. We pass the same 'fat-lad' we passed on Ben Nevis in roughly the same place - three-quarters of the way up. He is operating well outside his comfort zone and has a look of quiet determination on his face. Good effort matey, whoever you are. One of our guys had twisted his knee on Ben Nevis and was hobbling a bit, especially coming down, so we got back to the minibus in dribs and drabs and had used up the whole allotted four hours getting this one 'ticked'. Very few photos were taken here but I did find one of Louise, half way down, waving at Matt and myself to 'hurry up'. Some of the others must have the summit photo somewhere. Navigation was very easy because visibility was good and there were soooo many people on the hill doing the same / similar challenge you could just follow the group in front.
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Another, thankfully uneventful, five-hour drive (at 62mph) followed and we arrived at Pen y Pas with (just) enough time to complete in 24 hours if we got a wiggle on.
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Snowdon is the last and Snowdon is the easiest. Unfortunately Snowdon is also the most accessible, so the (roughly) three-hundred other people we saw / passed doing a similar challenge on the other two mountains were joined by another hundred or so day-trippers / weekend walkers and as a result Snowdon, and especially the Pyg Track, was congested.
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Paul, Veronica and Peter join us for the last one as we battle past endless groups of Three-Peakers barging their way past in order to achieve the 24 hours. We lost 15-20 minutes on the way up as a result of giving way at certain pinch points to people going in the opposite direction. We passed the fat- lad again who admitted that they had no limiter on their minibus and they had Lewis Hamilton driving it. Good on him though, he would complete it and perhaps within the time too.
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We climbed into the mist, join the queue for the summit photo and then we are off. We literally had not a second to lose.
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We had always planned to go down the Llanberis path. It is longer but less technical on tired legs, easier for Dick to pick us up and, as it happened, we avoided virtually all of the other 300 people, result.
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After only twenty minutes, we were back below the mist and heading into the sunshine again with Llanberis in the distance next to Llyn (Lake) Padarn.
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We were slow again though. Getting down that hill with those bad knees was troublesome but we got to the finish in 24:06 roughly. After everything that happened it was a good result and there was definitely a great sense of achievement.
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As is usual after such events, we had a quick shower, a steak dinner (at the wonderful Glyntwrog Inn, Llanrug), two beers and then went straight to the nightclub and stayed until 02:00 / were asleep by 21:30 - you pick the happy ending !
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HUGE thanks to Jemma (front-centre) who decided to organize this on behalf of two very worthwhile charities, we raised a considerable amount of cash for Combat Stress and Alzheimers - just over £5000 including Gift Aid. Thank you also for inviting us all to be part of the team.
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A massive thanks to the whole team who gave up their time to do this. It's not cheap when you pay your way and, even though kind donations paid for the minibus and the two overnight stops, the whole team shared the costs for meals, drinks, equipment and diesel. We also had to share the cost of a replacement spare wheel which was stolen from underneath the minibus at some stage during the weekend - BASTARDS !
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Finally a massive thanks to Dick who drove the bus and supported us for the whole weekend. Behind every success is someone doing the less-glamorous jobs, without whom it would never happen...
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Now, after failing to cycle to Paris in 24 hours last year, we decided to go back and do it again. We succeeded the second time.
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Three Peaks re-visited ? Watch this space, you never know !
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STATS
Miles driven 1339
Miles walked 26 (hobbled, limped, you get the idea)
Sleep deprivation 37 hours
Height climbed 11200 ft (3407 m)
Money Raised £5000
