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Hello everyone

It has been about a week since we completed the challange and the legs are just about getting back to normal! Walking was pretty interesting for a few days and we haven't even thought about running or any other type of exercise quite yet! We thought we would give a little summary of how things went to and to say thanks to everyone who donated to the website, we really appreciate it!

Our first set back happened before we even started when self appointed team motivator Moussa aggravated some tendonitis in his knees at pre season training menaing he wasn't able to provide the wind break me and Donald were looking forward to. The two of us decided to soldier on and the first day we were up at 6am in Fort William, ready to start the walk up Ben Nevis. It was a nice morning and the walk took us about 4 hours. We got lucky as there wasn't too much cloud at the top there was still some snow however! After the walk it was a quick cup of tea and bite to eat and then straight into the start of the cycle. From Fort William we cycled down the A83 up and over Glen Coe , which was pretty tough into the wind and ended the day cycling round the shores of Loch Lomand which was nice . We finished the at Inverbeg, just north of Luss before the legs gave up on us.

Day 2 saw another early start and a full day of cycling. Again the weather was favourable but a stiff breeze into the face made even flat sections hard work and it was a good day going over the Erskine bridge, around Paisley and finishing down the vally in to Dumfries. We managed 109 miles in total on day 2 . We ended up staying in a wigwam which was a bit different, mum's camping stove finally came in handy!

Day 3 we did well in the morning, crossing the border into England early on and making our way down into the Lake D istrict. We reached the foot of Scafell Pike at about 3 in the afternoon and started the walk up to the top from Seathwaite. The weather turned pretty quickly as we climbed up into the clouds and by the time we had got to the top visibility was pretty much zero with strong winds and rain meaning it was a quick photo then back down quick! The walk down was made a bit more interesting by hearing an emergency whistle from 2 lost walkers and helping them to find their way back to the path and down the mountain. Scafell Pike took 5 hours but it didn't end there, we had to cycle back up the road to the hotel in Borrowdale which was a pretty painful part of the day after 80 miles and 5 hours walking.

Days 4 and 5 were again pure cycling. There was some strong downpours on the way out of the Lake District which hurt the eyes when going down the steep hills at speed but once we were south of Lancaster the rain stopped and the terrain flattened out and we ended day 4 south of Preston after 90 odd miles. Day 5 and we decided, with help of local guide Dave to go through the centre of Liverpool past Aintree Racecourse, Anfield and Goodison Park and take the Mersey ferry accross the river. During the crossing we were subjected to some history of the area and some dubious stories that had very tenuous links to the place! We took a wrong turn at this point and ended up crossing the border into Wales on a motorway which was an experience we would have rather have avoided ! We also discovered at this point that North Wales is exceptionally hilly, but we did have nice weather which was a nice change from the previous couple of days and we ended up leaving ourselves about 25 miles from Snowdon.

The following morning we were up at 7am to do the 25 miles which was a lovely ride up the pass of Llanberis to the foot of Snowdon where were started the climb up the Miners track about 1030am. We were at the top about midday to have some photos with clear skies and were back down again and finished in time for lunch and an afternoon siesta! Overall it took just over 5 days, and was pretty hard work with some long days during which there were some pretty large mood swings, from huge optimism where we wanted to finish in 4 days to struggling to believe we could finish at all! These jumps in optimism usually coincided with food breaks strangely enough!

A big thanks has to go to Mum who kindly managed to stop drinking wine with her friends for long enough to provide cups of tea and sandwiches along the route.

Thanks again for the donations that you made, we really appreciate it and while it was a enjoyable challange for us to do we were concious that we were trying to raise as much money for Hearts and Balls as possible.

Photos will be updated soon!

Cheers

Bobby and Donald Blake (and Moussa)

3 Boys, 3 Bikes, 3 Peaks

3 Boys, 3 Bikes, 3 Peaks

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