On the 15th of August, myself along with Michael Lane, his father and James Hunt will be attempting to climb the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales within a 24 hour time limit, this is inclusive of travel time. This challenge is part of our effort to raise money as a team for Oundle school AfricaLink.  

                      The money will be used to help establish a women's sewing collective and a fishing collective, which will provide the local community with a boat and equipment and will encourage sustainable and environmentally friendly fishing practices. The money will also be used to pay for a bridge to be built over a mangrove swamp which will improve access to the Clinic that has been built in previous trips to Promene in Mozambique.  The money will NOT be used to pay for the groups travel and accomodation.

             Please donate to this noble and deserving cause, every penny is appreciated. 

                               Hugo Bussell

 

August 18th: We have completed the Three Peaks challenge in a time of 23h30!!!! I am very pleased to have completed this as at times I thought we would be outside the time limit and felt that I could not go on.

                       We started at 8:30 on Saturday morning  at the base of a very windy Snowdon and began the ascent with high spirits regardless of the heavy rain and gale force winds. As the ascent became steeper, it also became clear that the climb would be harder than we first thought. On several occasions we had to hunker down on a rock and hope that we would not be blown off! After about one and a half hours we reached the top and slowly progressed towards the summit with the heavy rain being thrown into our faces by the extremely strong winds. After we reached the summit we quickly began the descent and 'yomped' down the mountain  with all our effort in order to reach the base in as short a time as possible. When we reached Snowdon's base, Michael's mum had bought some food for us which we hastily gobbled down and then we sped of to Scaffell Pike.

                       The conditions at Scaffell Pike were somewhat better than those at Snowdon and I ended up ascending the mountain wearing only shorts, a T-shirt and an undertop. Although Scaffell was supposed to be harder than Snowdon, it was in fact a lot easier due to the much better weather conditions and we made the ascent and descent in a time of three hours.

                    We arrived at the base if Ben Nevis at around two in the morning and decided to have about an hours sleep. Having done this, we slowly raised ourselves from our seats in the car to prepare for the climb. By half three we were on our way up the mountain in the dark with our head torches lighting the way. It was certainly an interesting experience climbing Ben Nevis in the dark and it somehow improved the climb as we could not see how far we had to go. I do not really have anything good to say about Ben Nevis as it is quite possibly the most boring mountain in existence and the sheer length of it makes it a real test of endurance. I cannot even count the number of times I thought we were nearing the top before  realising we had much further to go. 

                  The weather was also dreadful and there was a very strong wind and heavy rain. Eventually we reached the summit but we were unable to take in the views due to the heavy fog and so we began the descent after munching on an energy bar to help us on the way down. The descent was much better than expected and we made good progress. Unfortunately James hurt his knee on the way down so Michael and I went ahead and Michael's dad stayed with him. The happiness and relief that I felt as  we came closer and closer to the bottom was indescribable and it felt amazing when we found out that we had completed the challenge with just over thirty minutes to go. We then waited to see if James would make it and we were overjoyed to see James and Michael's dad appear, making their way towards the car with twenty minutes to spare. I am proud to have completed this challenge,especially as other groups of adults, with whom we enjoyed a friendly rivalry, were left trailing in our wake!!

            Please donate to this great cause and I really appreciate all donations.

                                     Hugo