Leeds Office and the National Three Peaks
Tue 29th July 2008
John Chia, John Eyton their girlfriends, Erica & Asia along with Peter Wilson, accompanied by Simon Dennis as driver & cook took on the Challenge of the tallest mountain in Scotland, England and Wales to help raise funds for Respect 2008+
Following a fantastic scenic drive up to Fort William, Ben Nevis was the first to be ticked off, romping up and down it in an impressive 4hrs 28 (against an average of 5-6hrs!). Unfortunately, despite some promising breaks from the weather on the ascent, the team were greeted on the summit by a blanket of cloud accompanied by a cold blustery wind and the occasional snow drop. Back at the car-park the team tucked into a cracking Chilli that Pete claimed to be “the best in a long time” (Let’s face it after that walk, he could have been fed anything and still said that!!). Then it was back into the cars for an overnight drive down to the Lake District, giving the walkers the chance for some rest.
Winding through the depths of the Lake District avoiding the sleeping sheep, the parked up vehicles of fellow challengers marked our arrival at mountain No.2 -
Scafell Pike- at 3:30am. Grabbing torches and more munches the team scaled Scarfell Pike as the sun attempted its ascent into the cloudy sky. Sadly the descent of Scarfell marked the down-fall of one of the team, reducing him to a limping hobbling pace and with it the morale of the team, that even bacon butties failed to restore.
The winding lanes and sleep deprivation took its toll on more members, almost claiming two more victims, but with some swift substitution of drivers we sped on down to Wales (observing speed limits of course!). Donning waterproofs, the now four-strong team took Snowndon within their stride. The sun made its most notable breakthrough of the day back at the car park, where the team arrived in “a little” over the targeted 24hours – but victorious none the less.
Clocking up another 150miles back to Leeds, (more than 1,000 miles in total), perhaps the more impressive statistics are the 22.5miles walked and 9,640 feet of ascent – no wonder there are a few tired bodies in the Office this morning! But hopefully as the aches and pains wear off, the money will continue to roll in!!
Off course, all of this couldn’t have been achieved without some help – so a fantastic thank you to;
- Enterprise Car Hire (Leeds) – for the loan of the vehicle.
- Abu Baker Supermarket – For more than enough food for the weekend.
- Fuel for Adventure – For the Energy bars to keep us all going.
