While usually I'm fairly active, working out 2-3 times a week, I wouldn't call myself a fitness fanatic, but every once in a while, I like to push my body to its limits. For example this summer I took part in the 3 peaks challenge in the UK, where you climb the 3 highest peaks in Scottland Wales and England. Now granted, we aren't talking about Mt. Everest; or even the peaks in the Swiss Alps, but Ben Nevis (Scottland) Scafell Pike (England) and Snowdon (Wales)are a good distance up there at 1344m, 978m and 1,085m respectively. The other part of the challenge is to climb them all within 24 hours including travel time.
The plane was to leave the airport at 7am on Friday the 16th of June, not even 1 week after I returned from the states. My alarm clock went off at 4am and I was off to the bus stop at 4:30 in the morning. The early morning was so peaceful with a deep blue hue. I wish I was more of a morning person, because this stillness in the morning is a real joy.
Arriving at the airport I met with the other trekkers who signed up for the trip and headed off to Scottland. I've never been to Scottland before, but at the beginning of the challenge, there was a little tavern where we had some soup and got ready to start the expedition. It was lovely. The sun was shining and I got to chat with some native Scottish people (with accents like scottie from star trek).
Ben Nevis was the biggest of the three mountains and it was rainy. It took a good 5-6 hours to go all the way up and down. The beginning of the trek was nice and pretty, but soon it was rainy and wet. Near the top of the peak, there were 7 zig zags of pure broken rock. It was freezing cold and the wind nearly pushed me over several times! I was so cold and tired, one of my colleagues and I rested near the top and in order to keep us going, pretended we were sunbathing in southern france with fancy cocktails in our hands.
Unfortunately, (the story of all our treks) it was so cloudy up top, that we couldn't really see anything at the top of the peak. You could have missed it except for the fact that there was a big monument and you would start going downhill again.
After our trek up the first peak, we climbed down enjoyed a meal and then drove overnight (trying to sleep) to the lake district in England to climb Scafell pike. Everything was drenching wet, so we had to dry out our boots with newspapers (they never got fully dry) and change all of our clothes from head to toe.
Scafell peak started off pleasant enough, but very soon started raining again. It is a very steep climb with lots of loose rock, which in the rain is quite slippery. It actually didn't take too long since it was such a steep asent but it was very taxing and I definately fell a couple of times. Here I am drenching wet at the end of the climb:
Another 5-6 hour bus ride and change of clothes followed this great expedition. I tell you, after climbing 2 different mountains, and barely getting any sleep, the last thing you want to do is go on a 5-6 hour bus ride in soaking wet clothing, but it's all part of the challenge. This time we drove to Whales in Snowdonia to climb mount Snowdon. Unfortunately, our bus got a flat tire about 15 minutes away from the base of the peak. This set us back about 20 minutes thanks to the super fast tire swap of our expedition wise peak guides and we were on our way up another peak. This was by far my favorite mountain. I'm not sure if it was the fact that it was sunny, or that there was some scrambling, or the fact that I had gotten to know my fellow climbers better, or if it was just that I knew that it was over after this one, but it was very beautiful and it was unlike any other experience I've ever had. By the end of the trek, I was running down the hill to make it to the van. Here are a couple of pics from Snowden:
On the Peak of the mountain:
Other Pics:
I would like to say thank you to everyone who donated to the charities on my behalf. we raised nearly £500 for Afrikids and the Marine Conservation Society. Please consider donating if you have not had the chance:
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