Some months ago, whilst sitting in a local beer garden in the late summer of last year (after a fair few pints I imagine!) some friends and I decided that it would be a mighty good idea to do The National Three Peaks Challenge this year …
And so, out came the diaries and the scratching of heads. The “hmm’s” and the “Er, how hard will this be exactly?” quandaries… and a few “ok. how hard will the training be?” queries.
But a further group meeting at my house to discuss the intricacies of such a challenge on a National scale (over more wine) was all it took to have this thing nailed down.
We were doing it.
Nine deposits were soon rounded up and paid, charity chosen, and the provisional pencilled-in date turned into pen one. And let me tell you, once something turns to pen in my diary there really is no turning back.
BOOM!
I know, exciting.
Ok. So what is The National Three Peaks Challenge? I hear you ask..
Well, whilst most of us may have heard of The Three Peaks Challenge, not many know exactly what’s involved (myself included when I first agreed “Oh yeah, that’s an amazing idea! I’d LOVE to!”)
Basically, the challenge is this:
3 mountains. 1 minibus. And 24 hours to ascend and descend (and travel between each peak too)
And the order that we are going to tackle this, is as follows –
1st Mountain
Ben Nevis. Scotland. (1345m)
2nd Mountain
Scafell Pike. Cumbria . (978m)
3rd Mountain
Snowden. Wales. (1085m)
We plan to hit Ben Nevis on the Saturday morning, followed by a quick hop in the minibus to Cumbria to climb Scafell, with Snowden bright and early on the Sunday morning.
(I say bright and early, because in my imagination, this will be a truly beautiful Summers morning high up in Wales. It wont be raining, or overcast, and we will all take a moment to stand on the mountain and witness a remarkable sunrise. At this point we will probably hug, cementing our lifelong friendships and Three Peaks bond. Or something.)
Yes, you have to walk through the night, and yes we will probably all seize-up terribly and be rendered crippled during each stint on the road. But hey ho. It’ll be grand.
Completing the task within 24 hours is no easy task so I’m told, with many experienced and competent groups failing by to make the time frame by as little as 5 minutes. With traffic, weather conditions, possible injury and toilet stops all threatening to waste valuable time.
Speaking of ..er … toilet stops – The boys of the group are already freakin’out about where they might go for a “number two” …
My answer to that? “No where. That’s where. There will be no time“!
We are all super excited about it and have been enjoying our group training walks immensely – There is literally nothing nicer than getting out into the great outdoors with great company, moving your body, and ending with a lovely pint somewhere wonderful. See now, with that kind of training, this is basically my idea of heaven – what’s not to love?
We plan to ramp the training up a little more over the next two months, incorporating some week night evening hilly walks together too, as well as some longer weekend ones. Although we are all fit enough, we have to make sure that our legs are used to climbing and descending rough terrain (The downhill bit is apparently hardest on your legs).
I will update you all nearer the time with training progress, logistic details and perhaps, most importantly, the burning issue here, lets cut the crap : What am I gonna wear? !!
Fear not, all will be discussed in vital detail. But lets just say that I have a thing for technical/outdoorsy type clothes and have already purchased my super-duper Sweaty Betty compression leggings and they. Are. Awesome!
Thank you for reading, Anna x
Have you done the National Three Peaks Challenge before? did you manage to complete it within the 24 hours?
I’d love to hear your stories in the comments box below.
If you’d like to consider doing the challenge for yourself, we have booked a private group organised tour through the National Three Peaks Challenge website HERE.
Please consider voting for ZmG in the BiB’s awards (brilliance in blogging) using this button below. I’d really love to be considered for the Beauty & Fashion category 🙂 Many thanks x
