???? ???????????????? 3 ?????????? ?????????? - ?????????????????? ???????????? ?????? ???????? ??????????????????

This weekend I took on the hardest physical challenge I have ever done. The National 3 Peaks Challenge in 24 hours. To raise money for the brilliant Gympanzees charity who are trying to raise ￡2.2m to build a software play centre for disabled children right here in Bristol.

Here's the story.

?????? ?????????? - ?????? ??????????

We decided to fly up to Scotland so arrived at Fort William train station around noon on Saturday. There was a massive group of walkers at the station and I spoke to one of them who told me that on their attempt that morning the mountain leaders had turned them around halfway up, as the wind was too strong!

Here's the forecast we were faced with around 2pm on Saturday.

In our briefing, the mountain leader said he had been on that trip earlier and that there was a chance that we did not make it. I took that as code for 'You will NOT make the summit'. Turns out I was wrong.

So, 4:50pm on Saturday, we were all ready, so off we went.

The worst bit of the weekend was when one of our team dropped out after the first hour up the mountain.?They went to make a 'big step' up some boulders and something 'popped' in their hip.?Took them over an hour and a half to get back down.

Another of the team was walking with them, and so lost about an hour while things were communicated back down the mountain and they struggled a bit with the descending.

The walk was brutal.?40-50 mph winds at various places on the track.?Two bits of snow to walk across. Rain from about halfway up to halfway down.?50-100m visibility at best.

Once we'd made it to the bottom our team member who had dropped out was pretty sad. There's nothing that you can say. And, I would have taken bets of 1:20 that it would be me that would suffer some kind of injury that would mean I could not complete the challenge.

On the journey to Scafell Pike one person vomited outside the van, one inside the van.?Our drivers did a GREAT job of getting us there quickly, but too quick for some.

?????????????? ???????? - ?????????? & ??????????

With one of the team 'laid up', one other had felt so nauseous that they chose not to walk it and one other, who had struggled with descending Ben Nevis got to the start of the walk and then, yes, with my encouragement, decided they were not up to it.

So five of us got up and down.?Short and sharp is an apt description.?3hrs 15m or thereabouts with 2hrs 45m of that across really rocky terrain and a vicious section called 'the stairs' (I think).

Some more vomiting in the van on the way to Snowdon.

?????????????? - ?????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????????

On the previous two mountains, we only got views from lower down the mountain so it was great to arrive at Snowdon to find perfect visibility all over the mountain. Of the seven of us who were left, six of us felt capable of making the summit, but one of us (who had struggled on Ben Nevis) was concerned they would jeopardise any of us making it unless we split up.??

And as they had not really walked with any of Team Conscious on Ben Nevis I made the decision not to attempt the summit but rather to spend the afternoon walking up the Pyg Track with them and our fabulous guide, as far as the junction with the Miner's Track and then came back down that.? And we had a fabulous time.

On the way down the Miner's Track, the five of our team who made the summit flew past us on the way back down and I'm pleased to say that four of our team completed the three peaks in 24 hours.

Personally, I was given an imaginary badge by our Snowdon guide of "Could have done it if he'd wanted" but sometimes people are more important than badges.

?????? ??????

But take nothing away from what our team did.?It took all of us out of our comfort zone and is probably the most extreme physical challenge I have ever done.?I'm proud of each member of the team for achieving what they did. And in particular for our colleague who had to drop out.?I'm really, REALLY proud of how you handled yourself for the rest of the weekend given the huge disappointment I know you felt.

Manda asked me first thing this morning "Would I do it again?". The answer was a firm "No".?But I've reflected on that subsequently.?If my colleague who had to drop out really early wants to go again next year, then I am RIGHT THERE beside them every step of the way!

Thank you to the team at Gympanzees for organising the weekend (special shoutouts to Fran Garland and Emily Thorn), including the fantastic mountain leaders and drivers (Mike Beesley, David Beesley) and for being such an inspiring charity and 'getting me' to take on such a big challenge.

Thank you to everyone who has donated both before and during the weekend – there’s still time to donate now if you haven’t already! https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/conscious-3-peaks-challenge

At the time of writing we need just ￡27 to reach our twice increased target, but no need to be shy, we don't mind smashing through the ￡6,000 target.

And to Team Conscious Amber Peck, Chris Pearce, Edd Chalk, Katie Blake, Joe Marcovitch, Maddie Platt, Sarah Wyatt you are all legends and I have enjoyed every step of the training we all did and the weekend.