What really happened at the 3pc?

27 September 2021

Saturday, 28th of August

9:30am: The team’s waiting in the Northampton office car park. Matt, why are you wearing trainers?! You need proper trekking boots! George, you have enough pesto pasta to feed a family of five for three months! The drivers and myself are on our way to the office but are getting the seats moved round to avoid any ‘travel sickness accidents’ and it’s proving to be difficult…the vans look fancy and the boots are spacious! Thanks for that! I’m pretty sure I saw Andrew checking the legroom (he’s VERY tall!).

8:00pm: After a couple of timed stops in rather empty-gloomy-grey-sad looking service stations, we arrived at the hotel. It was a long journey but, thankfully Kieran kept us entertained with a very tense ‘I spy with my little eye’. I tried to connect ‘iPhone de Fanny’ to the van but Emily kind of called my music ****. We all run to the restaurant and are welcomed by one of Elvis doppelgangers intoning “Sweet Caroline” as we walk in…much better!

10:00pm: Skinny dipping time for some of us: We didn’t stay too long for obvious reasons, but who couldn’t resist a short swim in the middle of a silent Scotland? Pictures available on request…or not!

11:00pm: Last drink for the last people standing! We need to sleep

00:00am Some of us are lucky when we discovered our room: Kyle got the luxury to watch football in an electric bed! Wait a minute, why are we still awake?

 

Sunday, 29th of August

5:30am After a rather short night and an early rise, it’s time to leave the hotel. My friend, Nik hasn’t had his traditional Italian coffee yet and is still half asleep, but you can feel the excitement and, dare I say, some apprehension within the team. Everyone’s raring to go and the legs need some exercise after the drive yesterday. Kat’s prepared the SatNav and Charlotte’s got the road map in hand…it’s getting serious!

6:00am Ben Nevis, here we come! We start the stopwatch and the walk, our charity T-Shirts on, followed by the insects and led by some super-cool-pink-flashy-shorted guide. The sun’s started to appear, Stephen’s wearing a lovely multicolored ballet skirt and Alex, some very sweet fairy wings…what more could you ask for?

8:00am “Aie, aie, aie”, we’re one man down! “Multicolored skirt” twisted his ankle…nothing too serious but he’s had to turn back! I believe he arrived on time to join the drivers for some proper breakfast, so it wasn’t all bad. We met Will at the top, who suggested to take a shortcut going down: Basically, off-piste skiing – with no ski and no snow.

11:00am The first group of people finishes Ben Nevis! One done, two to go! All the team follows shortly and it’s time for some energy drinks, food, a little bit of stretching and the first comments. Vic gave us all a good ‘how to tape your knees’ session as it’s about going all the way!

8:00pm It was a strenuous drive and most of us didn’t really sleep…Jacob had the honour of having the first sleepy picture taken, obviously very flattering! Reception’s terrible and we lose half an hour trying to find and contact our guides (thanks Alfie for running with me to the nearest hotel to find a working phone, not that we really needed to do more sport). Front lights on everyone: It’s time to climb Scafell Pike!

 

Monday, 30th of August

1:00am It’s dark, it’s stony, and at the top it’s VERY cold but we’ve made it! Scafell Pike ticked! Unfortunately, we lost one more man in the battle…Chris, it’s called karma for filling my phone with crazy selfies!

6:00am It’s been 24hrs already. The fixed 10hrs allocated to traffic have long been and gone: Blame the roadworks, the bank holiday traffic and mountain roads, we’re still on track to finish the climbing in less than 14hrs! Snowdon’s in front of us and the sun’s rising! Let’s do this!

10:00am And that’s it. We. Are. Done. All the team reunites at the bottom and spots some kind of a pub or at least somewhere where you can sit, enjoy a hot chocolate, a beer, a glass of Champagne and even something warm to eat. Time to go now…Van 2 (very creative name), are you still behind us? Only one ‘sensible’ soul to keep contact, thanks Carly!

5:00pm We’re back in Northampton. We still need to drive the vans back tonight and drop the keys off tomorrow morning, but for now…where are the showers, the beds, the…pizza? Somebody said pizza?

What a great feeling that night…we pushed our limits. WE DID IT.

 

After

I can’t write all the little anecdotes, jokes, incredible landscapes and fun moments we had, but I’m sure you get the idea: It was FUN. Tough obviously, but a real adventure, which now seems a bit far away and surreal (if it wasn’t for the pain the following days!). We’re so proud of ourselves!

We raised a total of £4,035 (without Gift Aid) and absolutely smashed our £3,000 target. Thank you so much to all of you, your contribution and support on social media helped us massively! I’m sure you’d have seen some pictures and heard our stories already, but a round up video’s currently being prepared for you to get a real feel for the adventure.

We had our celebration meal on the 16th and had a great time again! Thank you team for the print, I love it! We’re open to suggestions for next year’s challenge and I hope this blog gave you the desire to join us: Don’t miss out!

As Jessica said: “Climb every mountain with a smile”: This doesn’t only apply to the 3 Peaks…

 

 

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