Quick update - We did it! Well sort of.... 6 of us completed the three peaks but not quite in 24 hours. So ... Yes plans are afoot for another attempt but not until next year...

However - it was a good achievement even so. Never before have I, and everyone I have been walking with for that matter,  been soooooo wet - apart from walking out of the sea from a windsurfing session of course.  We had to change down to the underwear after each mountain. Not content to wring out walking socks we had to tip the pubble from inside each boot! 

Fog, rain, wind, we had it all in abundance - well all except the sunshine I suppose. A few people got some muscle strains and fatigue which caused some to need to drop out, but the rest of us battled through the conditions to complete the three national peaks in 30 hours. Travel took longer than planned, turn around took longer than planned, muscle strain for some meant descent took longer than planned. Hence the longer timescale.

Ben Nevis was so wet and conditions nasty that on our way down we heard some marshalls from another 24 hour 3 peaks challenge calling people off the mountain. We dont know if this was the cause, but we found the next two mountains suprisingly empty by comparison - the number of '3 peak' ers was down to a handful.

There was one rescue off Ben Nevis while we were there, but the helicopters seemed to turn up at each mountain for some rescue or other while we were there.

Checkout some of the pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/threepeaksforme/

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Well we're at it again !  A bunch of us are attempting to mark my momentous birthday year, with abit of a challenge - always good for the soul I feel.

The challenge is a well known one - that of scaling the 3 highest mountains in Britain within a 24 hour period. Just one of those 'must do' things in life - at least for those who enjoy the outdoors and mountains... and mad enough forgo abit of sleep.. and suffer a little (?) cold and wet discomfort ... who don't mind picking their way up and down mountains in darkness ... attacking yet another slope with muscles aching .... OK you get the picture.

Ben Nevis - Scafell Pike - Snowdon
9,700 feet ascent - 22 miles walking - 470 miles driving
all within 24 hours

Anyway, having decided to do it essentially because we wanted the challenge, a number of people have asked were we going to do it to raise money ? Some of us raised a staggering £25k for a school bus for Church Army Africa's school in Nairobi last year, and so it seemed like a good idea to put any money which people would like to donate towards the tremendous work the school do providing terrific education for more and more children in what is a very difficult community in Kenya.

So there you have it ! Our pain is their gain - well it will be if you can help and donate some of your hard earned cash. We are not doing a big heavy fund raise pitch, but we would love to see the school Academy in Nairobi benefit  from your encouraging us in our slightly mad challenge.

As far as the challenge is concerned, we shall set off from Herne Bay on Fri 1st Sept and arrive in Scotland for Ben Nevis as the first peak to conquor. We plan to begin at 5pm on Sat 2nd Sept and go up and down that evening (decending in the dark) before jumping in cars with our support drivers who will get us to the Lake District for the next peak ,Scafell Pike. After launching ourselves on that mountain in the dark we hope the light will beat us to the rocky bit, though we may have to cross the tarn in the dark. The actual peak of Scarfell pike follows a quarter of a mile of rocks and stones to reach, then we speedily decend, and wind our way through the beautiful but slow roads to Snowdon watchin the clock. This is the easiest of the 3, we hope, but after having done the others we will need lots of determination to keep pushing on for the time. If we are having to make up time we may even need to run sections of this mountain, especially on the descent.

Naturally there is every opportunity for blisters, sprained ankles, traffic jams, sleet, snow, abundant rain, gale force winds, fog, getting lost, hungry, tired, and much more. But hey! That is why it is called a challenge !

Checkout some pics of things leading up to the event and of the event itself on Flickr

Thank you for visiting our fundraising page. Please dig deep if you can, and sponsor us online to be able to help the school children of Nairobi. None of the money sponsored goes to the costs of the event which is being organised and covered by ourselves. There is a small admin fee taken by Justgiving, but this is worth while in the efficiency in getting the money to its destination in a timely manner with minimum fuss. We are not collecting money in any other direction, so we actually dont handle the money at all this way.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Church Army will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please donate or sponsor the team now!

Many thanks for your support.
Nigel Panter