3 Peaks 2 Wheels and a Speedo

Graham, Matt, Rich, Joe, Jim The idea was simple - climb the 3 highest peaks in the UK (Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis), cycle the 400+ miles between them and swim in 3 mountain lakes. The execution of the challenge was no simple task! It was just over one year ago that I came up with the idea for this crazy challenge and now after long months of hard training and a lot of planning, we were finally ready to get started. At 4:42am on 14th June the 4 of us (Jo, Jim, Rich and myself) began the challenge by climbing the first of the 3 peaks, Snowdon (1,085m high) in Wales. We were both excited and apprehensive to get started, it’s really hard to know whether the training had been enough of the right stuff. At this point it was too late to worry, we just had to get our heads down and focus at the challenge ahead.

The morning was fresh as we set off along the Pyg Track, but we were soon stripping off layers as the sun rose and we climbed higher into the mountain. The views of the valley and lakes below were stunning, helped by the fact we practically had the mountain to ourselves bar a few sheep. The gentle track quickly turned into a steep climb to join the Rangers Track at the top of the ridge. As we scrambled to the top the clouds closed in, the wind had picked up and the temperature had dropped quite considerably. We summited 1 hr 37 mins after setting off, but there was no beautiful view to reward our efforts as visibility was down to zero.

Happy to have quickly ticked off the first of the peaks, we took a different route back down the mountain, along the Llanberis Path, back into Llanberis 3hrs 16mins after starting.

Top of Snowdon Back down at the bottom of the mountain we were met by Graham, our awesome support crew. He had my swim stuff ready so I could do a quick change and jump in the lake, the others had elected not to join me on the swims. Although they did provide support cover from a canoe. It was an amazing swim, the water was pretty fresh (around 16c) but dead calm and the view of the mountains surrounding us just made it such a great swim.

Out of the water, a quick turnaround (a nice breakfast inside us) we hopped on the bikes. Our spirits were surprisingly high, even with the prospect of 125 miles ahead of us. The weather was fantastic, with the sun shining down and blues skies making it almost a dream ride. Especially as we swooped down to the coast and along the Welsh seafront all the way to Conwy. We had, what we expected to be the first of many punctures, about half way through the first section and another not long after that. The heat made it ever more important that we stayed hydrated and not get too carried away, which inevitably we did, going too fast and attacking hills a little too enthusiastically at the start of a 4 day event. We would pay for it in the coming days. We had a few brief stops to fuel up, with Graham laying on a fantastic selection of food, including his secret weapon of peanut butter, jam and marmite sandwiches (great fuel but not such a great taste)! Coming away from the coastal paths the ride started to become more of a slog, especially as we moved on to dual carriageways and had wind and traffic to negotiate. We wended our way through Liverpool and Preston which was a bit of a shock to the system. The traffic made it tough going at times and losing our way on a couple of occasions and adding extra distance was not ideal. We finally arrived in Lancaster 15 hours after starting, legs aching and very tired but also very happy

to have made it through such a tough day.

The following day we allowed ourselves a bit of a lie-in (which we would later regret), leaving at around 7:30am for the first section - a 40 mile ride through the Lake District. We kept mainly to country lanes which were more of a challenge than the previous day, more hills and generally more work for tired legs. The weather had started to turn as we got going, it was cold and wet from the start. We arrived at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel around 10:15am for a quick turnaround to get changed, re-fuel and start the climb up to Scafell Pike (978m high). The legs were really feeling it now, glad to be off the bike but the thought of climbing another mountain was not the most inspiring thought. The route we had chosen to climb Scafell Pike had a long lead in through the valley. The path climbed slowly, taking us up and then down a number of ridges. Which is always a little frustrating going up to go down to go up. As we climbed higher the clouds closed in around us and once again the wind picked up. By the time we had been going for a couple of hours visibility was seriously limited making it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of us. The ground under foot changed from a nice easy path to a stony track and then into large boulders and rocks to make a route over. The rocks were slick and wet making it slower going as we had to be careful not to injure ourselves.

Due to the lack of visibility we went off track a couple of times, climbing what we thought was the final peak only to realise we were still a way off course. Finally after 3hrs 15mins we made it to the summit, once again nothing to see due to the cloud cover. We headed down the mountain via a different track into the village of Seathwaite, where Graham was waiting with the bikes and more food. The whole climb took almost 6 hours, because we lost sight of the track a few times on the way down and had to take it steadily. We were now well behind schedule and still with a swim and 60 miles to do on the bike.

Top of Scafell Pike Another quick change, back on the bikes for a short 5 miler to Derwent Water where I had my second swim. The weather was getting worse by the minute, but I hadn't realised quite how bad until I got out towards the middle of the lake and caught the full brunt of the wind. Waves were being whipped up on the surface making it a really tough swim. The guys in the canoe, supporting me, were really struggling to keep control of the boat and taking on water as the waves crashed inside the boat. After 15 mins or so I turned and headed back to shore, it was really hard going because I was now swimming into the wind and the waves. I didn't feel like I was making any progress, the waves kept swamping my arm strokes and sapping my energy, but I eventually managed to battle my way over to the relative shelter of the bank and finally back to the starting point. That was not a fun swim!

Just as we got back into our cycle gear the heavens opened and we were in for a couple of hours of heavy down pour, I felt drier when I was swimming in the lake than I did in the downpour on the bike! I was worried that I wouldn't be able to warm up from the swim because I was soaked through. Finding part of our route closed due to road closures did not help the situation, it felt like the rain was never going to stop. All of the negative feelings were washed away after a long climb and we came across THE BEST CYCLING ROAD IN THE WORLD, EVER. It felt like a just reward after the slog we had just gone through and as if by magic, to top it off, the rain stopped. It was a beautiful smooth surface that was perfectly undulating, steep drops running into steep climbs, with momentum and a little pedal power we were able to glide through these country lanes at a really fast pace with very little effort. It was a dream.

We had a much needed stop just before Carlisle, my energy levels had suddenly crashed, but luckily we were less than a mile from the next stop. I stuffed my face with jelly babies, chocolate, bread and hot soup which Graham had prepared for us. Not the best combination of food, but it seemed to do the trick. Thankfully the sun came out briefly to help dry us off a little. With 30 miles still left to go it was a struggle to stay motivated, but once we were in motion it was just about keeping moving forward. As we crossed the border into Scotland the heavens opened up again, soaking us through - you literally couldn't write this stuff! We put in a good pace through the final 10 miles, in the dark. We were all very keen to get to bed. Eventually we arrived in Lockerbie around 10:30pm, 13 hours after setting off. Thankfully the hotel owner had kept the kitchen open making us a lovely hearty meal and then we crashed for the night. Day 3 was the 'easy' day, just 125 miles on the bike. It was cold and wet throughout the day and the lack of anything to break it up (no mountains to climb or lakes to swim) made it a different kind of mental challenge. The changing scenery helped a little, but the roads weren't quite as interesting with long stints on rough main roads where we were exposed to the wind and traffic. I did, however, manage to avoid what could have been a very painful accident. As we were cycling along a long stretch of uneven road my bike started to make a jangling noise. I mentioned it Jim, thinking it was the bottle cage and said I would tighten it up at the top of the hill we were climbing. He said best to stop and sort it out so i didn't lose the screw. So I stopped, tightened it all up, only to have the rattling sound continue. It was then that I noticed that my front wheel had come undone and was bouncing around inside the forks. If I'd left that or not noticed it I dread to think what could have happened! Needless to say I obsessively checked my wheels at every stop after that.

For the second stint we had a great route which took us through the countryside on the outskirts of Glasgow, it was a nice change to be back on the country roads. There were some steep climbs but that was preferable to the rough main roads. The rain was ever present, making it hard to see. Once through Glasgow and Paisley we crossed the River Clyde over the Erskine Bridge, which now felt like the home stretch, even if there were still about 40 miles left to go. When we hit the bottom of Loch Lomond, whilst we were tired, we were happy to know that we only had the length of the Loch to go to the end of the day, about 20 miles. Jim had a wheel pop as he hit a stone on the side of a very busy road, which could have been very interesting. One more quick fuel stop and then we put in a really good final hour to take us to the end the day and around 10 hours in the saddle.

We were all very happy to make it to the final day, which started with a swim in Loch Lomond for me. The lake was the coldest of the 3 and to make the most of sleep time I got in about 15 mins after waking up, but wake up I did! The boys joined me on the water in the canoe which helped to clear their heads for the final push. I was in the water for just under 40 mins, it was lovely to have the top of the lake to myself and no wind or waves to contend with this time.

The last leg of the bike began with 30 miles climbing up into the Highlands, with driving rained and a head wind most of the way, just to add to the challenge. It was really tough going, but the steep climbs on the bike helped to keep the body temperature up to combat the cold. There were a few nice long runs downhill as we climbed steadily higher. The big downhill we had been waiting for - 10 miles downhill into Glenn Coe, was actually depressingly hard work. We had been building this up in our minds for the past few days. Once we hit that big downhill it will be plain sailing from there, we had thought. However, we had a full on headwind and had to pedal harder than if we'd be going uphill. As we slowly got closer to Fort William the weather was looking more and more moody up in the mountains. The last few miles seemed to go on forever, it's always the way when you get close to the end. Eventually we arrived at the base of Ben Nevis and were just happy at that stage that our time on the bike was finished - 417.8 miles of cycling, done.

The climb up to Ben Nevis (1,345m high) was by far the worst of the 3. There were loads of people going up and down which made it slow going trying to get past and the weather was awful. Strong winds gusting up to 50mph and a constant heavy rain. Within half an hour we were all soaked through, even though we had waterproofs, there was just no way to keep the rain out, our clothes saturated and boots filling with water made the going much harder than it needed to be. The ground changed from stone steps to gravel to loose stone making it hard going. Seeing people coming down soaked through and cold didn't help either as we could see what was ahead of us, but on we trudged.

Nearing the top there was still snow on the side of the mountain and yet again visibility was really poor. We had been warned that the path passed very close to two crevasses, so we had to be careful as it was hard to see the path. The crevasses appeared out of nowhere, very glad we had been forewarned. After 2 hours 37 mins we hit the last of the 3 summits, we were cold wet and very tired but very very happy indeed. The journey down was much quicker, but still miserable and not helped by our legs and knees making it clear that they had had enough of this punishment. But we made it to the bottom of the mountains 4 hours 52 mins after starting, all smiling and extremely happy to have completed such a monster challenge of a challenge.

Top of Ben Nevis

3 highest peaks in the U.K. climbed 417.8 miles cycled +5 miles swum Job done!