Some friends of mine were attempting the Three Peaks challenge - to visit the three highest peaks of England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours. I volunteered to drive...
Friday: James arrived an hour later than planned at 10am, but we were able to pick up the car (Renault Espace, 2.0L diesel) and be on the way fairly quickly. Although it has seven seats, we took one out to give us more floor space between the middle seats - dead easy to do and we were glad we did!
I had all the car bits organised - screen wash, etc - and left all the walking stuff to the others.
I drove up to Neil's (whom you've met), just this side of Gloucester. Him and a friend, Andrew, loaded up and we went on up north, picking one person up in Birmingham (just off the motorway). We stopped for a break on the M6, and then James drove for a bit to pick up the sixth member neat Penrith. We swopped drivers again just after Glasgow, so I had the more interesting stretch up past Loch Lomond where we stopped for dinner, and then on up to Fort William. We got to the hostel just after 10:30, so not too late.
Saturday:
We were all up and about at 7am, and a short drive across to the base of Ben Nevis saw the guys off at 9am. We had arranged that I would be back at the drop point 30 minutes before the expected arrival time - which gave me four hours to kill. I went back into Fort William and parked, and had a wander around town and some breakfast. Not a great deal to see and do, but I did end up with a stowaway who was to end up sitting on the dash board for the remainder of the trip. Harry, as he became known, the hairy coo, enjoyed his tour of the UK! I filled up with fuel and checked the car over while I had a chance (first fuel stop - £85!)
I went back up to the drop point an hour before the guys were due back, and read for a bit. James and Tim got back first, after four hours, having run most of the way down the mountain. Tim got the little cooker going to make some tea, and Neil, Andrew and Nick arrived an hour later having take a slightly safer pace back down due to Neil's knee.
Although the weather had been mostly dry at the bottom, it had ben wetter higher up in the clouds. We stopped in Fort William for food, and around 3pm we were on our way (about an hour later then planned)
The leg down to Scafell Pike went well. Glasgow had been a concern as we were going through on the motorway around later afternoon, but we had a clear run. Weather cleared up for me as well, and we made good time. I broke the journey after a couple of hours, at services south of Glasgow.
We came off the M6 at Penrith, and after a quick stop for toilets, went across to Seathwaite, 8 miles south of Keswick. This put us to the north of Scafell Pike, and is one of the two popular routes for this event. The weather was pretty miserable when the guys left me at 8pm, but on th eplus side I was able to stay in a layby at the drop point instead of moving back up to the next village. Seathewaite is basically just a farm and camp site. Lovely spot - mountains on three sides and a 100ft (at least!) of waterfalls coming down behind. The guys were due back around midnight (nightfal being at 11pm) which wasn't ideal, but not a major issue.
I got some sleep, being wakened only at 11:15 by a lady looking for her colleagues (another group doing the same as us) only to surprise her when she realised she had the wrong car. We got to know several groups over the weekend, this being one, and with most people using either black MPVs or white minibuses it is easy to make a mistake in the dark. Their group turned up soon after, having turned back early due to weather.
Just after this, Neil and Andrew arrived. They had turned back early as well, with the other three continuing on. James, Tim and Nick arrived at midnight having been foiled close to the top due to the weather.
Knowing at least two other groups had also turned back meant we didn't feel too bad about not quite reaching the top, and given the safety isuses it was the right decision.
One group, known to us only as the Flora Hi Vis group (they were in two minibuses with Flora on the side, and all wore high-vis jackets so were easy to spot!) arrived half an hour after we did and were still up there when we left. The only other small group of four that we had known about returned safe, leaving on the hi-vis group (a large group who seemed to know what they were doing) and another largish group as the only ones we knew being still on Scafell.
Sunday:
Leaving Scafell at midnight meant a later drive than planned (still about an hour or so behind schedule - but we had allowed for an hour once we reached Snowdon so to start at day break). Straight down the M6, to Liverpool, and along the A55 across North Wales. At this time of night we had very little traffic(!). A quick stop off after two hours (near Liverpool) to get me some fresh air, but otherwise a good run.
Our route took us through Bangor down to Llanberis where I dropped James and Nick off to take the safer route up alongside the railway. The others I dropped off a few miles away at the Youth Hostel on the A4086 to take the Pig Track up (although they would come back along the railway route). I waited here and got some sleep for a few hours, then moved back to Llanberis to await everyone.
No sooner had I arrived there and I had a phone call from Nick saying the three of them had reached the top and would be down in a couple of hours. James and Tim then called to say they were nearing the bottom themselves. I picked them up, then a little later fetched the others. Tired, we all went to a cafe for a big fried breakfast.
Around 11am we were on our way out of town. A quick stop for fuel (our second) was none too soon as the fuel light came on. £100.01 worth of diesel filled the tank to the brim! Heading back across the A55 we got caught in the road works near Chester (which we had blown through at 3am!) which was stop-start and took ages.
A detour into Manchester so we could drop Tim at a station, then back to Birmingham (via a detour to pick up Andrew's son and avoid the M6 delays) where we dropped Nick, Andrew and son, then dropped Nick at his home. With only James left, we had a clear run home and were back in Bristol at 6:30pm..
Kirra spoilt us rotten with a lovely cooked dinner (which we needed after all the snacks we had been eating!)
All in all a good trip. Pretty tired today, of course!
James and I dropped the Espace off this morning before I came to work. That car was great. 1,260 miles and it didn't miss a beat (or, I hasten to add, get so much as a scratch!). A little lack of guts at times with only 2L, but we did have six people and a lot of kit. We averaged 35 mpg, and 42 mph on the trip. Can't remember how much fuel we used...about 42 gallons I think. What was great was that I only paid for my hostel cost and the food - the guys split all the other costs between them as I was doing them a favour with the driving! I can see the fuel cost starting to make this event prohibitively expensive for future years.
Great fun was had by all, depsite the weather and the aches and pains!
I'm sure there will be more anecdotes in time! Alas no photos as I didn't take my camera. Some beautiful views through Scotland - I'd love to do the same trip with more time!
