1 down 2 to go

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge is a walk in the park, its a walk and its in the National park but it is anything but easy. We set off with a target of achieving the 25 mile 5200 ft challenge in less than 10 hours and made it with just 5 minutes to spare clockin out at 07:33 and arriving back at the car at 17:28 with aching feet and limbs the likes I have never experienced before. We might have done better but for some cramps slowing us down a couple of times.

Pen-y-Gent is an impressive start to any walk and for the first mile is mostly hidden by the lower hills but pretty soon it towers above you leaving you wondering how you’ll ever get to up its steep slopes. Just as we start the ascent a snow shower passes through just to let us know that the tail end of winter is still lingering on and refusing to let go, so it’s heads down follow our fellow 3 Peakers and before you know it you are on the windswept summit with time to catch your breath and take a few photos as evidence of the achievement before the downhill slog and the long walk to Whernside

People had warned me that the toughest section would be the long section between Pen-y-Gent and Whernside and there not wrong it seems to go on forever. We shared the day with a lot of others all eager to conquer the 3 peaks but the most surprising were the crazy people who were out in force for the annual 3 peaks fell race. Just as John and I were contemplating the best route up Whernside the leading runner came running past us at a pace I couldn’t consider and then shortly followed by a train of hundreds of crazies running in his footsteps to run directly up the shear face of the hill, well if it was good enough for them we said.... so we set of behind them only to experience a trudge up the steepest of slopes which left the calves burning, but it was hard to be critical or to complain as the never ending snake of runners kept coming by but even these hardened athletes had to slow down at the almost vertical ascent as we approached the summit. Having reached the summit it was a bit of an anti climax and very non-descript and windswept emptyness which makes you wonder why anyone would want to climb to the top of it, at least with Pen-y-Gent and Ingleborough there was a sense of achievement once you got to the top and there wasn’t the ankle breaking, knee twisting paths on the way down, again I applaud the runners not only for running the 25 miles up the same hills we slogged up but for running on such poor surfaces my hat goes off to each and every one of them.

After we descended from Whernside we were faced with a 5 mile or so trek to Ingleborough which is where the cramps started in the inner thigh enough to make an old man cry but with so far still to go the only way to deal with them was to walk through it and hope they didn’t reappear as we ascended the “staircase” up to the top of the rock strewn summit of Ingleborough where we take a moments pause to take the obligatory phots and to celebrate the achievement of climbing the three peaks,before starting the 6 mile ascent back to Horton village. Sadly they the cramps started again within 4 miles of the finish but with the end in sight and a well earned beer awaiting us there was no stopping

So apart from recommending that they remove Whernside from the challenge and calling it the “Twa Peaks” what have I learned:

25 miles is a long way especially when carrying excessive unnecessary weight, so for the Nationals and Kili  I will reduce the weight of my pack to the bare essentials
Previously I just take water with diluted squash to provide a bit of sugar and flavour as a means of rehydration, despite drinking all of the 2 ltrs in my camelback and a half of the reserve bottle I still suffered cramps probably because I sweated a lot of salts and minerals so a larger 3 Ltr reservoir is required and use the of sports rehydration drinks will be a must especially for kili where I expect to leak a lot in the heat

Ice packs applied to my worn out knees are very useful after long walks, the ice bag I bought from the Physio Room is a godsend saves on having to eat all those defrosted peas

And most importantly it is possible and no matter how crap it feels as you plod on you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll get there

3 Peaks – Bring it on