Our reason for undertaking this seemingly pointless explosion of effort was to raise money for a trip we are planning to take to Romania in December taking food and clothes etc to distribute to those in need. Our friends had been generous and all that stood between us and the money we needed was one very early morning and 3 mountains. The alarm went off at 5am! At five thirty we were in the car and on our way to Horton in Ribblesdale- the dales village where it all starts. We arrived at 6.30am but by the time we finished faffing around, meeting up with the rest of the team, visiting the loo etc it was 6.55am and we were twenty five minutes delayed on our starting time. Nonetheless spirits were high as we set off into the grey dawn and up the first mountain. Pen-y-ghent, however, was not in such a great mood. The fog was thick and the winds were high when we got to the top, but with one mountain down and only two to go we were still feeling pretty confident about our endeavour.
Once we reached the bottom of the first mountain we began the treacherous journey across the bogs..... sinking, wading, leaping, slipping and falling- this was no stroll in the countryside. Thankfully the fog prevented us from seeing just how far away the second mountain was. We eventually reached our rest stop two hours later than expected. The second mountain, Whernside, has a more gentle ascent however the weather that greeted us when we reached the top was outrageous! Thick fog and gale force winds battered us as we tried to navigate our way along the ridge that runs along the summit. Walking sideways and being blown into the wall was exciting for the first 5 mins but after twenty it was no longer funny! Finally we staggered into the shelter that marks the top and hid behind the wall- Phew, 2 down!!
The descent from Whernside ought to have been a pleasure considering the hideous weather conditions we were leaving behind and the promise of being two thirds of the way there, but unfortunately injury struck! Hannah, who had persevered without complaint despite acquiring serious blisters within the first hour was now suffering with a serious knee injury and could hardly walk down the hill. Limping and wincing with every step i tried to help her hobble down to safety.
Enter the hero.
Feeling sprightly and good natured and upset that Hannah was upset Lindon stepped up to save the day. Knight in shining armour- he would give Hannah a piggy back down the hill! It was a lovely idea but unfortunately it resulted in a second knee injury and we had to leave both Hannah and Lindon with the support team at the bottom.
We were five now and we were tired. We'd been walking for 9 hours already and we still had one mountain to climb. With a distance still to go before we even reached the base of Ingleborough, plus a long long walk back to the car it was starting to feel like a bad idea. I was particularly worried about the daylight situation, we were never going to make it back before the sun set in 2 hours time, thank goodness i'd put torch on the list of important things to bring!!!
The ascent to Ingleborough is short and sharp.......at least it would have been short if we hadn't had to stop for a rest every three steps. The summit was, once again, insanely windy and foggy and so despite climbing three mountains that day we enjoyed exactly NO panoramic vista's. Instead we were lucky enough to receive an insight into what life would be like on pluto......cold, bleak and lifeless. It appeared that anyone else climbing Ingleborough that day had sensibly set off home a few hours ago to make sure they didn't get caught out in the dark.
We began our descent home feeling satisfied.....we had done it....... 3 mountains, one day......lots of money .....and all for a good cause. Now all we had to do was stumble back to the car and we would never have to use our legs again!!!
Unfortunately stumbling back to the car took forever!!
It was SO dark!!! You know when you go the the beach at midnight and it's completely dark. There's no street lights for miles and you look up into the sky and you go "woah"..... "look at all those stars!!!" As long as your lying on your back looking up at those stars it's beautiful right? But then you try and find your way back to the car and you can't see a thing, at all, and your stumbling and tripping and you can't remember where the path was.......
Oh well at least we had torches..........
Or so i thought........ Mine had a dead battery, Jimbob had dropped his on the way down the last mountain and it no longer worked, no one else had read the list of important things to bring and so it turned out that between the 5 of us we had my back-up emergency wind up torch and Steve's iphone. Brilliant!
It took some time and we got a bit scared but with the help of sonar technology (i.e Lindon shouting "hello" from the car and us walking towards his voice) we made it back. Thirteen hours and twenty minutes after we set off. Not exactly a world record speed wise but a world changing example of team spirit. We had helped and encouraged each other all the way and together we have raised about £1500, enough to make our trip to Romania a reality!!
