Dedication

Just a quick blog on the teams dedication. Shelley recently went on holiday to Turkey, her appartment was at the top of Cardiac hill. All good training.

I can assure you that she won't be doing the challenge in flip flops though.

Snowdon Training - Sunday 30th May 2010

So it was my wedding anniversary what better present could I give John other than to go on a training walk up Snowdon!!!

We arrived at Snowdon at 9.15 and already the bottom Pen-Y-Pass car park was full, so back to the Park and Ride and we eventually set off about 10am. There are two tracks from Pen-Y-Pass the Pyg track and the Miners track. The track we will be using in July is the Pyg Track so off we set along this path. We’d been warned it could get busy, but we didn’t expect to be queuing from the start. For the first 30 / 40 mins of the track is a steady climb in some places a scramble, when you round the corner you get a beautiful view of the lakes below, the miners track and a nice piece of straight level track. I am predicting we may be jogging this in July.


After about 20 mins the scrambling starts again over a rocky surface, this goes on for about 30 mins, then you can start to see the top of the track and the zig zags, this is where you start to climb steeply for about another 20 mins, Once you reach the zig zags is a steady ascent to the summit platto which takes 15 mins to walk up.




The thing that struck me most about Snowdon is the sheer volume of people, in some places you are queuing for ages. The Box Hill training is working well as the steps on the Pyg Track were a breeze.


We made it up Snowdon in 2 hours 20 mins and back down in 2 hours 10mins – but 20 mins of that were spent queuing for people to pass.
Susan

Walk the Wight – 16th May 2010

As part of my training for the 3 peaks I decided that I’d enter “Walk the Wight” – a 26.8 mile fund raising Walk on the Island organised to raise Money for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

There is an opportunity to walk either 26.8, 12.5 or 14.3 miles, depending on your fitness level, determination and stupidity. I opted for the whole walk, which category that puts me in is open to discussion!

So At 06.00 on the Sunday morning Sean from next door and myself piled into Liz’s car, as she’d kindly offered to give us a lift to the start. We got a whole ¼ of a mile before she had to turn round to go back and get my shades!

So we were late to pick up Ian (Chats) who we were collecting with his dog on the way.

We finally got through the checking in point at Bembridge airport at 07.00 and started on our way. Pretty much straight up the side of Culver down!

We had hoped to keep up a steady 4 miles an hour – which quickly went by the board as there were so many people walking (the highest walker number I saw was 13,986, but that doesn’t mean everyone turned up!).

The plan was to aim to be at Carisbrooke Castle, the starting point for those doing 14.5 miles, at 09.30 to meet up with my partner Liz and her daughter Jess. By the time we got there at 10.50 they were long gone!

We finally met up with them at gone noon some 5 miles further down the route where they had been waiting in the cold for quite a long time. We stopped for a quick bite and then carried on.

It was a long slog. We lost Ian before 10.00, as he was far better at over taking, and to be honest a lot more determined to get a good time than us! By the time we were coming down towards Freshwater, some 22 miles in, Sean was having real trouble with his leg/knee. We decided to stop in Freshwater for a cuppa and see how he felt. After a rest of about 20 mins it became clear that Sean had walked as far as he was going to that day. What to do? I was tired and my feet hurt. We’d been lucky as we only had a bit of rain, but there’d been some horrible wind, and there was now very low cloud infront. I was about to throw in the towel and go with Sean until Jess made it quite clear that having slogged that far she intended to finish.

She was of course right, if I hadn’t plodded on up over a Tennison Down to the end at Alum bay I would have regretted it a lot.

So I finished due to a young lady with more determination than me. And I’m very grateful to her!

So apart form that I need to be more determined, I learnt that slower speeds actually make the walking harder. My extra training is strengthening up my knees which were very painful on the downhill bits in the Lakes earlier this year, but a lot better on this walk. And I learnt that chocolate raisins are indeed the best walking snack in the world!

Roll on July 31^st! (My blister will be long gone by then!).

Training Weekend

When we signed up for the three peaks challenge back in December, we were told about a training weekend in April, that allowed us to experience Scafell Pike in the dark before the actual event in July. We all agreed this would be a worthwhile exercise.

So on Saturday April 17^th the team met up in the Lake District for a weekend of walking.

The first walk we did was Scafell Pike at night, we met up with a team from Mountain and Glen at 8pm, who would be walking with us and giving us tips for the event. Firstly I should mention that we were staying in Great Langdale and the quickest way to get from there too Wasdale Head where we were walking from is over a pass. This pass can only be described as a roller coaster, so when we arrived at the meeting point safely we were glad to start the walk all in one piece.

The route we took up Scafell Pike, was via Lingmell Glen, Brown Tongue and Hollow Stones. We are sure that it looks lovely in daylight, but when you have only headtorches for light it is very disorientating. We all made it too the top and back down with a slightly different route at the bottom. If you are thinking of doing the 3 peaks challenge, we would all recommend trying a night-time climb first as it really does give you an idea of what you are going to face.

We got back to the hotel at about 4am, grabbed some sleep before a 9.30 Breakfast, a bit more rest and then off to our next walk, this one Nick led as he had done it many times before.

All went well and we all got two thirds of the way on the walk no problem, we then came across a lake. It was then we had a choice to go up a steep ascent to the summit or too go up over the ridge, Susan and Shelly opted for the steep ascent, the boys all decided to go over the ridge. To say the language was choice would be an understatement, the drop on either side of the ridge was steep and by the time the boys reached the top I think they had all stopped shaking from fear. We came back down the easy way.

Monday we decided to do another quick walk ( 2 and Half hours) in the Great Langdale area. Lovely scenary and we made friends with lots of sheep.

So all in all in 48 hours we had done 12 hours walking. A good effort and we were all still speaking.

Training Photos & Team Sponsorship

Our photos from the training weekend can be seen on the facebook group :Team Artis 3 Peaks Challenge

You can sponsor the whole team here

Paul 'The Mad Jock' Utterson

Some inspiration from Rabbie -

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth,
Whereever I wonder, whereever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My Heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a chasing the deer,
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, whereever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below,
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart's in the Highlands.

'You would think living in Scotland I would be used to mountains, yes to look at but not climb! God only knows why I was chosen as part of this group, but I am glad to be part of such an enthusiastic team. This is a fantastic charity and it's pleasing to know that by taking part in this challenge we are helping such a worthwhile cause'.

Sponsor Paul

Shelley "style it out" Williams

I spent my younger adult years living in the flats of Suffolk surrounded by fields and woodland, in my later years I have been living in Middlesex, where the highest climbs I have endured have been the escalators in my local shopping centre.

To my surprise and excitement, I was given the opportunity to be part of the Artis team, taking part in the 3 Peaks Challenge July 2010, I have previously completed the 10k for help a London child and it was such a rewarding feeling to achieve and raise money for others who have far more to deal with in life than myself. This is a huge challenge for us, however we are a strong and dedicated team, who are determined to succeed in this challenge and raise as much money as possible for the Anthony Nolan Trust, Taking back lives from Leukaemia.

Please help us by sponsoring the Artis Team.

Sponsor Shelley