We’re back, unscathed apart from a few stiff legs, and we did it! We conquered our three peaks, although sadly not all three of the mountains.
We made an excellent start, leaving base camp at the foot of Skiddaw before dawn on Saturday. The first half an hour was hard work and those of us who were new to hill walking (even the fit ones) were surprised at how tough it is until you get into your stride.
We made great time, leaving some fantastic views back over Keswick and Derwent Water behind us as we climbed into the cloud to reach the summit in time for a spot of breakfast.
A quick run back down the hill meant we’d bagged our first mountain in under three hours.
The next one was harder. Helvellyn is a steep hill and the rock steps on the path mean the ascent is like walking up stairs – for two hours.
The whole team reached the first peak of Lower Man, and all struggled on through the thick cloud and rain to the summit of Helvellyn itself, thus reaching our third peak and achieving what we’d set out to do.
We all made it back down the hill having completed the ascent and descent within four hours. The first ones down ran the last leg, finishing inside three and half hours!
Having climbed two mountains and reached three 3000 foot peaks all but two of the team were still fired up and ready to tackle our third mountain, Scafell Pike. Unfortunately it was not to be. Time to complete the ascent in daylight was limited so we decided to change our starting point to one that would require less walking, but a was a longer drive than our original plan.
We set off, not exactly clear of our new route and hoping that sat-nav would get us there. Unfortunately we lost the sattellite connection on some hair-raisingly narrow mountain roads in Langdale. Then, somewhere over the Hardknott pass one of our cars began to run dangerously low on fuel. We had to temporarily abandon our journey to the base of Scafell Pike and leave the mountains in order to find some petrol.
Having refuelled and got some decent directions we realised that we’d run out of time to begin our ascent of Scafell Pike. There was no way we’d get up and down before nightfall. So, dejectedly, we headed back for our hotel and a well earned meal.
Scafell Pike will be there another day – and we will be back!
We’d like to thank everyone who has helped and supported us on this trip, especially those of you who have been kind enough to make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support in support of our efforts. It’s still not too late to donate if you would like to.
Our next trip? Who knows? Possibly Hadrian’s wall, maybe the British three peaks challenge (Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis). There has even been talk of jumping out of an aeroplane – but that’s just silly.
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