My Charity Challenge: Challenge One

This weekend has been amazing! I've met some inspirational people and loved every minute of the Three Peaks Challenge.....even those when I was crying!

This being my first challenge, I was slightly nervous but when I got picked up outside my Mum's house by Kinza driving the minibus and I met the rest of the team the excitement started.

The journey up to Scotland was pretty uneventful and I spent the time catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones. Kinza's dad, Simon, had very generously offered to drive for us for the whole challenge and I cannot thank him for not only driving but also for being so supportive and encouraging to us all.

Ben Nevis was our first mountain - when we set out, the sky was slightly cloudy but the weather was generally ok. We started off at a really good, strong pace and I massively surprised myself at being able to keep up. Clearly the training has paid off which was a huge confidence boost.

About halfway up Ben Nevis the cloud closed in and we could barely see what was ahead of us. Then the rain started. The wind and rain were icy which was very unpleasant but it eventually it got to a point where we all agreed that we couldn't actually get any colder or wetter and suddenly it didn't seem so
bad.

Snow on Ben Nevis

We reached the summit of Ben Nevis in good time (having had to walk through snow...in July!!!). Despite being very wet and freezing cold, I was so proud of us all for having reached the first peak. There was a quick group photo (taken by a group of boys who were also doing Three Peaks, who also make a guest appearance later in this blog) and we headed back down.

Ben Nevis Summit

The snow was not as easy to tackle going down and someone may, or may not, have fallen flat on their bum in the snow. I had hoped that the lower we got, the warmer and dryer it would get. No such luck. And, to add insult to injury (injury being the key word here), I managed to hurt both knees on the descent. I'm not sure whether I twisted them or just landed awkwardly but I was in agony. This is where Zoe stepped in - she was absolutely amazing. She was so inspirational and supportive - I don't think I would have made it down Ben Nevis without her.

We all made it back down to the minibus just as it went dark and did a quick change into some warm dry clothes which was heavenly. Then we set off for Scafell Pike, but not before a strange man with a blinding head torch tried to get into the minibus with us thinking it was his!

The team on Scafell

I managed to get a little bit of sleep before we arrived at Scafell Pike in the early hours of the morning. The weather was good - clear and dry but not too hot as it was early. The views were spectacular which made a huge difference to our morale after having such poor weather on Ben Nevis.

View over the lake from Scafell

The climb up Scafell was tough but again, I was surprised with how well I coped. The guys were amazing the whole way up (and back down) and it really did show just how much of an impact being with the right people can make. The support and encouragement amongst our team was fantastic. The support and encouragement from complete strangers on Scafell was unbelievable too and after a short while, we all found ourselves telling complete strangers how well they were doing and how they weren't far from the top/far from the bottom (whichever they needed to hear).

Unfortunately when we reached the summit it was cloudy and we couldn't see much but again, the sense of pride, not just of myself, but of the whole team, was overwhelming. We took a quick photo and headed back down again.

Scafell Pike Summit

My knees were sore from the outset and only got worse coming down but the sense of achievement after reaching the top of Scafell Pike more than made up for the pain. We managed to complete Scafell in a really good time which meant that we had a small amount of time to do some stretching and to soak our feet in the icy cold fresh water flowing down the mountain.

Before long we were on the road again heading for Snowdon. It was difficult to sleep on this leg of the journey as it was day time and absolutely boiling. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic for a bit which was annoying but we were kept entertained by listening to the Wimbledon commentary on the radio. I say we, as if (a) I was actually listening, and (b) I knew what was going on!

When we reached Snowdon there was glorious sunshine and the team were in high spirits after finding out that Murray had won! The heat made the miners track up Snowdon very challenging but the knowledge that this was our last mountain gave us all renewed energy. For me, Snowdon was the most mentally challenging climb, not only because I was exhausted at this stage, but also because you can see the summit the whole time and it never seems to get any closer until the last 45 minutes of the climb.

Reaching the top, as a team, was a brilliant feeling and not something that will be forgotten in a long, long time. The views were stunning - despite it being a very clear day, an absolutely stunning layer of cloud had formed just below the peak and it felt as though we were walking on the clouds.

The clouds surrounding Snowdon

We spent some time at the top of Snowdon reflecting on our achievement and taking photos. We even got our friends from the Ben Nevis summit to take a group picture for us again.

Snowdon Summit

The descent was slow and long but, as we reached the car park, we were greeted by a gorgeous sunset which just gave us that final boost of hope and energy to complete the challenge.

Sunset at the foot of Snowdon

Completing the Three Peaks has been a huge achievement for me and I could not have done it without the fantastic group of people I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with - they helped make a challenging, painful 24 hours into a thoroughly enjoyable experience and not something that will be easily forgotten. They have also given me inspiration for my future challenges. Thanks guys!