We Did it! The 3 Peaks Challenge
We did it! What a great feeling and sense of achievement it is. 24.2 miles and a total of 5,000 feet climbed and we managed it in 10 hours and 22 minutes and didn’t get lost once. Both Nicky and I feel like we have been in a boxing match with a psychopathic dwarf as our legs feel as if they have been truly punished. You can hear us as we carefully climb each step of the stairs in our house as though we were tip-toeing across a hot plate and letting out little gasps of pain. So as you can imagine the next few days will mainly consist of stretching.
The day itself
We chose to camp in the Peak district for our challenge rather than stay in a hotel or hostel as we really felt it was more appropriate for such an outdoors challenge. We had the choice of two campsites and the dilemma of choosing between the two: the worse campsite was closer to the start point and the far superior campsite was a short drive away. We opted for the drive as we were not ready to rough it that much you can see the Knight Stainforth Hall Caravan and Camping Park here.
On the morning of the climb we chose to get up at 6am as we felt with a possible 12 hour walk 7pm was the absolute latest we would like to return by. It was soon apparent that we were not the only ones crazy enough to get up at this time and climb 3 peaks. The campsite was a buzz of bleary-eyed people all with the same ambition. After a few minutes we were in the car heading for the start point, the Pen-y-ghent Cafe. It was a beautiful drive through amazing countryside. The only downside was that for the whole drive we had the first peak Pen-y-ghent looming in the distance, challenging us like the playground bully.
The 1st peak – Pen-y-ghent
Having signed off at the cafe at 7.05am we headed off feeling rather surprised at the number of people taking part and who were also up at this time. All of them seemingly much better dressed and prepared than we were. It has to be said that it really did strike me that walkers either have a great sense of humour or just a love of very bright colours, for their walking gear as we all snaked our way through fields up to the first peak resembled a United Colours Benetton advert.
The first part of the first peak was all through fields until we reached the base of the steep climb. That turned into a very steep path that required us to use our hands as well as our legs for the majority of it. It was quite exhausting, however at the same time it had the added benefit of focusing your eyes on the ground so that the climb went relatively quickly and it wasn’t long before we had reached the summit. After grabbing a quick photo as proof, we were off again on a gentle descent down the side of Pen-y-ghent with the next peak seemingly a speck in the distance… well it would have been a speck if the thing wasn’t so massive.
The Walk to Whernside
This was going to be a long walk and having completed the first peak in under an hour and a half we were feeling upbeat and ready for it. What we were not ready for was the map being absolutely useless (or was that you being useless? – Beeble). Paths weren’t where they were meant to be and really boggy ground made the going very slow indeed. Thankfully we had a long line of brightly coloured walkers to follow. We decided to stop following one of them after he made the typical “man” mistake of thinking he could make a simple leap over a bog. Either his legs were shorter than he thought or he was over confident – but as the majority of his legs disappeared into the bog he suddenly realised that the next 20 miles were going to be slightly wetter than he thought. In true “man” fashion he wiped himself down and bounced off as though it was all part of his master plan to tackle the 3 Peaks. Thankfully Nicky and I decided that his master plan had some flaws and took a different, drier route. As we neared Whernside we passed a huge viaduct which was impressive but the massive man-made structure really paled into insignificance next to the might of God’s own creation: Whernside.
The 2nd peak – Whernside
I have to say that in all honesty it was Whernside that caused the greatest differences in our opinions during the walk. Nicky hated the ascent which was less steep than Pen-y-ghent but relentless and went on for ages. Whereas I found it much more to my taste and could get into a rhythm. The views were amazing, but as we neared the summit we had gale force winds to contend with. Of course if Mother Nature was on our side the wind would have been behind us like a mother’s hand helping her child take the first few steps, but no, Mother Nature thought the climb wasn’t challenging enough and decide to throw all her weight directly into us making the climb far more difficult and hazardous with a very steep drop to our left nearly the whole way.
Undeterred we made it to the peak, had our obligatory photo taken and chose not to rest for fear of being whisked away like a kite in the wind. This is the exact point that our opinions changed again: whilst I had been quite happy with the incline the decline was not to my liking. It was very steep and covered in loose rocks; for me it required all my concentration to place my foot safely each time, often I was forced to sit down and use my hands as well. This I found mentally and physically exhausting and it started to play havoc on my left knee. It is not often that I will get away with likening my wife to a mountain goat but that was what it was like watching. The Ballerina of the Cliff Face was skipping down the slope as happy as you possibly can be after 14 miles of hard graft. However in my defence I would like to point out that I was carrying both our bags at this point as allegedly Nicky’s back was getting painful from carrying it for so long (hmmm unlike a man to come up with an excuse – Beeble).
The walk to Ingleborough
Without a doubt this was the shortest section as both peaks were very close, however it was also the hardest section. Not because the terrain was treacherous, not because the weather had turned and not because we were exhausted. No my friends, it was far worse than all of that. It was the most difficult part because it passed the only pub on route and as we passed it we could see people sitting, laughing and chatting round an open fire. How it called to us, how it wanted us to enter, take our shoes off and forget about all this nonsense of climbing the 3 Peaks! Don’t worry we were strong – after all we had a mission to complete and nothing gets between a personal trainer and their goal. On we pressed as we neared the start of the final climb of Ingleborough……. having made a mental note of where the pub was for the next day.
The 3rd peak – Ingleborough
Ingleborough loomed in the near distance, its peak hidden by a cloud and in all honesty we were not feeling as if we were on the homeward stretch. Far from it, in fact this looked as though it was the hardest out of the three and its looks were not deceiving.
After a nice gentle climb through fields we were faced with what seemed to be the steepest part of the day and as we looked up at the near vertical “path” that made its way up Ingleborough we could see the cloud that had settled quite calmly at our destination had decided to do what clouds do best and that was rain. I don’t know if it was because we were tired but that seemed like the hardest rain I have ever felt and it drenched us right through even proving that water proof clothing could be defeated. Well and truly drenched we made our way up the climb, fighting against the now gale force winds. The cloud, on seeing we weren’t beaten decided to take it up a notch and deliver us a bombardment of hail all at once. Very painful and we were starting to think that someone didn’t want us to make it. However we soldiered on and made it to the flatish area before the last easy climb whereupon it decided to snow! I can’t tell you how drained we felt but it had really been taken out of us and morale was very low. However we were victorious and made it to the final peak where the cloud was so thick that you could only see about 10 feet in front of you, which actually made locating the peak marker very difficult. Success and surely an easy decent and stroll back to the cafe to clock-in as heroes.
The Final Stretch
If you are planning to take part in the 3 Peaks Challenge then please do not under estimate the final stretch to the cafe. While it feels as if you have done it all and it is just a short walk from the final peak, it is anything but short. Be prepared for another 2 hour plus – albeit flat – walk, it is when you are at your most exhausted and you should consider the same amount of rest stops on this stretch as you should give yourself on the rest of the walk. It just seems to go on and on, although it is actually quite a pleasant stretch with views as far as the eye can see. However we did not really appreciate them as the walk had gotten a little testing. Once back at our final destination our spirits lifted and we were celebrating a truly great achievement with a rather nice bottle of bubbly.
Thank you to all who sponsored us and made the journey even more worthwhile. We are leaving the sponsorship open for another week just in case any of you fancy rewarding us for our hard work and helping the great charity the WSPA. Please do donate as any amount will really help. Now time to rest and put my feet up, until the next challenge.
May 16th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Wow – that looks like a long – fun hike. I had to look it up and discovered it is in the UK. Hello from over the pond.
Anyway I used to hike in Joshua Tree National Park when I was a kid and am hoping to be able to take it up again.
Great post and very motivating.