Marc’s Musings and Random Rants

Due to the decent weather I decided to go for a walk this morning. See if you can spot the unintentional mistake!

Stats

• Distance: 20.85 km / 12.92 mi
• Journey Time: 3h 31m 7s
• Altitude (m): min 111 max 153 tot 42

View in Google Earth

We went for a pleasant walk in Harrietsham, Kent yesterday. The County Council have put together some very good walking guides which you can send off for or download directly from their website. Each route includes a mini Ordnance Survey map with the route, as well as written and photographic descriptions of each junction so you really can’t get lost!

All but one of the descriptions/photos were accurate (a stile had mysteriously disappeared) but fortunately someone’s parents had recently done the same route so we had inside knowledge of where not to go! Even the three-hour estimated length of time to complete the route was accurate, but we did have a few breaks.

The weather was also pretty amazing for September, especially after the misery suffered the week before.

Last year I took part in and completed the Care International UK 24 Peaks Challenge 2005. I also said that I would never do it again, but last weekend off we went again to the Lake District to try and beat our time in the First Title Group 24 Peaks Challenge 2006.

Unfortunately, the weather had different ideas. When we started at just gone 6am (don’t you just love 2:30am wake-up calls?) it was actually quite pleasant, and in the photo I managed to take I think the sun is out. Then at around 7:30, the sky darkened and the waterproofs went on, never to come off.

Courtesy Care International UK

Think gale force winds, horizontal rain, 20m visibility and you’re a fraction of the way there. It was thoroughly miserable for everyone who took part, but there was always the target of completing the event of climbing 24 peaks, each over 2400 feet, within 24 hours. However, even this became an impossibility when the event was called off on the Saturday afternoon with our team, Urban, just two peaks of that day’s ten to go. Fortunately we heard about the day being cancelled when bumping into the (very strong, and leading) India team who had managed to get lost on Great End after overtaking us earlier, as our radio had ceased to work by this time. We therefore descended with them and the mountain guides waiting for us with some other teams (but not a ‘lone walker’ who had apparently left his team as they were too slow!) further down the mountain.

This did mean that we got back to the hostel in Grasmere slightly earlier than we would have done otherwise, but still meant we wouldn’t get much more than 4 hours sleep that night before getting to the starting point for 5am on Sunday. At least we had some “better” weather to look forward to…

Or so we thought. Although we started our ascent of Red Screes in the drizzle, the conditions gradually deteriorated with the summit of Fairfield being particularly hazardous, just before the event was called off completely after our descent from Seat Sandal. Even though it was only 10:30 by this stage, apparently the conditions at Helvellyn were absolutely treacherous and the organisers had no choice but to cancel, with us having just one major climb (Dollywagon Pike, which India managed to complete before having to backtrack to get to the escape route) and eight smaller ones left. Again, it was quite lucky that we bumped into another team to find out the event was cancelled as our radio had packed up by this stage.

Courtesy Care International UK

So that was it. We had managed to complete just 13 of the 24 peaks, but this was all we could have done in the circumstances, even though we all wanted to continue due to the effort we had put in both on the weekend and in training for the event. I think we would have finished in the top three teams, but ultimately everyone was given the same time of 24 Hours on their certificates, presented at the (unimproved, dubiously four-star) Low Wood hotel that evening.

To top things off there were only a couple of amusing moments worth mentioning, including two people attempting to tackle Scafell Pike wearing jeans, looking like they had got lost on their way back from the Leeds Festival. The other was when we passed some Asian youths also on their way to the same peak (after our day had been cancelled), without even a map. They did have a long pole and one had fluorescent orange trousers though!

I suppose there’s always next year >:O

It’s all over!

Our team completed the 24 Peaks Challange on Sunday in 23 hours 33 minutes, dispite losing over an hour-and-a-half on day two due to navigational issues (aka getting lost). I have put some of the photos up in the gallery but will add to this entry later.

In less than two weeks I, with a dozen or so other people from work, will be taking part in the Care International UK 24 Peaks Challenge 2005. This is the biggest event in the Challenge Series calendar and is taking place in the Lake District on 3 and 4 September. It’s all to raise £10k for the above charity, which our fundraising (through quizzes, raffles, corporate donations etc.) has already exceeded to date.

The event itself is a grueling task, walking/hiking/climbing 24 peaks, each over 2400 feet, within 24 hours. There are 13 teams entering this year and our team also has a support crew of six or seven to cook and drive for us!

I have been training for this event at the gym for over five months and the team have done a couple of tough weekends in the Peak District (snow, blizzards, 0°) and Brecon Beacons (sun, sun, 30°). However, none of this training can prepare you for the real thing – especially the mental willingness to get through the task.

If you would like to sponsor the team, you can do so through the specially set up Just Giving website. If you mark your sponsorship as ‘Gift Aid’ then tax is reclaimed from the Inland Revenue and added to the donation total.

Wish me luck!