As a company we like to set ourselves challenges, so when Dave intially proposed the three peaks challenge we thought maybe one challenge too far...  But when word got out that Anthony was keen to do it, then we all signed on the dotted line. Even our MD John signed up!!

The three peaks challenge involves climbing the three highest mountains in the UK within 24 hours, Ben Nevis(Scotland), Scafell Pike(England) and Snowdon(Wales).

What better way to continue support for our chosen charity, Naomi House, who we have been raising funds for and contributing to, for over 2 years. 

As with any company we have extremely fit people, casual walkers and the envitable couch potatoes, so we are not kidding when we say it's a challenge. So, please support us with your donations

Read our regular updates to see our training progress.

The Journey comes to an end - 17th July

I’m pleased to say that Team Sematron achieved the 3-peaks challenge over the weekend of 16^th/17^th July 2010.

After the driest first half of a year in living memory, we managed to pick the worst July weekend imaginable to climb the three peaks. On the submit of Ben Nevis we experienced 65mph winds, horizontal rain and hail, a wind chill of -14 degrees and virtually no visibility, conditions were very unpleasant! The summit of Scarfell was little better although was much better.

Although we did reach all 3-peaks within 24 hours in the atrocious conditions it took a little longer to get back down to the car park.

We thank you all for your support and best wishes.

Track our progress - 14th July

You can track the sematron tream during the event on the following link -

http://s.eventeagle.com/Map.aspx?EventName=SematronUK    

 

John just not listening - 11th July

Just got this message from John,

"Despite advice I'm up the steps on lap 2 at Catherine's hill!

I need the last exercise so that I can keep up the beer! Does cider count against your five a day? "

Sweat dripping on this phone but I am wearing the sweat band!"

In the interests of public safety I have not posted the picture..unless a donation is received with the request...

Anthony doing it alone -10th July

Anthony just sent me this, "Just been on St. Catherine's and completed a paltry single circut. Time would not allow me to do any more. I now feel ready for the challenge. "

Up and Down St Catherine's hill..again - 8th July

So this is our last training session (together).  Paul, John, Matt and I (Glenn) all gather at the base of the hill, of course with the faithful labradors Tui and Jasper.  Anthony, Steve and Dave cannot make it due to other committments. 

We decide to repeat the course that was completed on the 4th July.  The weather is hot and the humidity is high. 

With the aid of John's "gadget" it confirms that we climb in toal 1100ft and walked 5.3 miles.  Where we be without gadgets!

So thats it.  The next time we are all together will be at the foot of Ben Nevis...

Early Rise on a Sunday Morning - 4th July.

St.Catherine's Hill is a small  chalk hill to the south east of Winchester, Hampshire.  Rising steeply some 67 metres from the River Itchen, to the summit of the hill at 97 metres  providing a fine view over Winchester. 

Anthony, Matt  and I, of course not forgetting Jasper  arrive at 7.15am and decide on a route that will take us both up and down the hill at least 5 times in a variety of both on and off the beaten track.  Even at this time the weather is heating up!!. 

Many walkers, runners and cyclists are around at this time in the morning.  Why are then not in their beds sleeping !!

After 2 hours we must have walked have climbed in total about a 1000ft and walked 5 miles and we call it a day. 

Home for a barbecue and some liquid refreshments.

 

The Best laid Plans - Matt -1st July

Wow what a weird walk I had last night.

I decided to take my son Sam and Jasper, the dog, out to Streatley by the . We started our walk from the car park at the top of Streatley hill. Sam had found a route and as he is planning to join the Royal Marines I didn’t ask too many questions, I mean, they never get it wrong do they!

All went well with a steep downward slope then a long gradual climb to the top of the . After about 1 hour I had a look at the map, hmmm, we seemed to have a very long way to go. All went well. Some of the views across the valley from the top of the are fantastic. We then got surrender by strange dogs, never fear Jasper soon had them turned round and sniffing each others bums so we were in know danger! The owner turned up to restore order. She asked us where we were going and when we told her she said Oh you have got a long way to go! Now I am starting to get a little worried.

After another hour (9.30pm) we are still not even down from the hills and I realise that we have hugely underestimated time and distance. I reckon on another 1.5 hours and a very steep hill back to the car.

o now it’s getting dark and we start to talk about all the spooky things that are happening. At this point Jasper goes missing! After calling for him I turn round and trip over him because he is sitting, like a good dog, right behind me. On we walk; we reach the river with no further event. Now its 10.45pm and dark. It doesn’t look like we will be back to the car before 11.30pm. We walk past a boat full of lads having a great party. The BBQ has been left unattended so Jasper helped himself to a sausage and ran off to eat his supper.

Very dark now. I can just about see the river; Jasper is now on his lead. Sam says he thinks we are being followed! I say he has an over active imagination. Then I hear footsteps behind me, lots of foot steps! I look behind to see a whole heard of sheep following on, he he we giggled nervously. We walk on and it’s like playing what’s the time Mr Wolf. Every time I look round the sheep stop moving, then when we start to move they follow. In the end I get grumpy with the sheep. I turn and tell them I have a loaded and I am willing to use him! They seem to understand and back off leaving a single very asthmatic sheep to present their case. We ignore this and walk on.

Bad news we seem to have met a man who is 16’ tall and wearing a long dark cloak! Could this be the end of the two of us? Jasper shows  up by walking up to the giant and cocking his leg. I maintain that a tree covered in ivy can look like a giant in a cloak.   

11pm and we reach Streatley. Very dark and a little spooky by the old church. Then Bl******y H**L some git decides its 11pm so he is going to ring the church bell. I thought I was on the set of the Omen.

At last it’s just the hill. Have you ever tried to climb a very steep hill in pitch black! First we miss the turn into the field and have to go up the road. The road is steep and long. Eventually the car park looms out of the darkness.

About 13 or 14 miles great fun and good training. Biggest problem was I missed the pub on the way home.

The moral of this story is check your plans before you set out.

 

3-different peaks - 17^th June

With Glenn relaxing on holiday; Mark, Matt & Anthony tackling Snowdon, (yes Snowdon – see below) and Dave & Steve taking on the Chilterns, Paul, John & Tui attacked a couple of moderate hills on the South Downs – Old Winchester Hill & a local near Exton.

Paul found the trail up ‘Old Winchester Hill’ on a ‘Gay Walks’ website, (no comment)

And we added the second hill just to make it more challenging. It was a wonderful evening and as the ‘Gay Walks’ website suggested we could clearly identify landmarks on the Solent and the from the peaks. It was a fantastic figure of eight walk, 8 miles in length with nearly 900 ft of elevation but the best thrill of the evening was Paul’s navigation watch! It plotted our route, showed elevation graphs, average MPH, calories burned etc. This essential GPS device could save my life on , so I’m straight off home & onto Amazon to get mine now!

1-peak - conquered by Mark, Anthony & Matt!

The plan was to set off around 4.30 to 5pm assuming that it got dark around 10pm, giving us around 5 hours hill time. And like all well thought out plans, that wasn’t how it went!!

Matt and Anthony were visiting clients at Madley before arriving and were therefore late. During their drive to the Pen-Y-Pass car park, Anthony called and suggested that they would be arriving around 6ish. I therefore suggested, safety in mind, that maybe we’d only walk some of the route to give us an idea before nightfall, in principle they both agreed!

5pm I got a call from them saying they’d be there for 5.45pm and they hadn’t come all this way to do half a feckin route!! Blimey “keen!!” The climb was on!!

After realizing that there was no mobile phone service, no landlines, no roads, no noise, very few people and us against a huge hill a generous smile developed across our faces. We knew we where really going to enjoy this.

A few minutes after 6pm we opened the gate to the miners track and set off. The sun was in full glory, a slight breeze kept the midges from biting and the day was as clear as a mountain stream.  Four miles In the distance the summit of cut the horizon in two. I can’t even begin to explain how excited that first glimpse of the mountain made me feel. I still have the same inner glow today as I’m writing this.

We set off chatting away merrily as you do, keeping a steady pace, hydrating regularly, and completely missing the turning for the pyg track!!!  So we continued all the way along the miners track joining the pyg track later on route. The miners track is exactly that, these parts were used to mine copper and there are relics all the way along the route. The miners track is very flat and as we came closer to , the track wound itself around the reservoir of Llyn Llydaw, across its causeway and down one edge which led to a smaller beautifully cobalt blue tarn of Glaslyh. This is where the fun began. From this point on it was seriously up hill.

We had walked about 3 miles in a little over an hour, but had only gained a height of around 150m, leaving 1 mile left to climb 480m to the summit!! As both Matt and Anthony have alluded to, there were lots and lots of steps. Big ones!!! The first part of this climb, to join the pyg track, was around 150m, and was pretty much a 45 ^o climb and very hard going. On arriving at the junction with the pyg track we had a break, looked up at the summit that still seemed to be a distance away.

Having rested we pushed onwards and upwards along the pyg track with moderate mutterings & profanities from Anthony, (something along the lines of “not more feckin steps!”) until coming up over the Bwich Glas ridge to a fabulous sun filled view of what seemed like the whole world laid out in front of us. We could see whole of the Snowdonia national park and the . Then a short walk along the ridge, past the railway station and up what seemed like a million more tired leg steps to the summit to be greeted by some mad heads camping on the top!!

The view was stunning, and no amount photography could describe what it looked and felt like to get to the top. In 2 hours and 15 minutes which I thought was really good going.The descent in around 1 hour 45 mins meant a 4 hour round trip. We proved to ourselves that we could at least climb a mountain and we came away with a little more experience under our belts.

It was great weather, Matt and Anthony where great company, we had a great climb, and after a few pints a kebab and a chat with some friendly Welsh folk we had a great evening.

Oh Chute !  - 10th June

This walk  explored the hilly and relatively deserted border country between Wiltshire and Hampshire, in what remains of Chute Forest. In medieval times vast tracts of woodland canopied an area stretching from Savernake Forest, in the north, to Salisbury, in the south, before swelling out again into the New Forest, providing a prime hunting ground for Norman and medieval kings. 

John, Anthony, Matt and I (Glenn), all had a pass out again for this walk, as did the faithful black labs.  It was also good to see Paul out with us this evening as he recovers from his injury, but unfortunately Dave was tied up, so that was good for him, but not for us. 

The weather was also very wet and very windy - a typical british summer day then!

The paths and byways explored in depth this quite remote area of Wiltshire, which rises to over 800ft (244m), affording splendid views south across Hampshire to the .  Well they might be good views on a clear day, but not tonight!

The highest point  is on the impressive Chute Causeway, which was originally part of the Roman highway from Winchester, in Hampshire, to Mildenhall, near Marlborough. It forms a great arc around some of the most attractive scenery in Wiltshire. Probably  best to do this on a clear day, we could not see a lot as the rain beat off our faces!.

Just north of the now paved road are deep combes and steep hills (such as Knolls Down). Some of these are so steep that the Roman road, which usually ignores natural obstacles, swerves to avoid the deepcombe, known as Hippenscombe Bottom.   All in all a good walk with a range of flat and steep terrain.  Completed in well under 3 hours!.

 

The Clarenden Walk - Four men and a Walk - 6th June

On Sunday 6^th June Matt, Anthony, Paul & John decided to include the 26-mile Clarenden Way Walk from Winchester Cathedral to Salisbury Cathedral to our training plan in preparation for the 3-peaks challenge.

Here’s a little flavour of the day set to verse, (more Pam Ayres than Bill Bryson this month) so to be read in the style of Pam (or if you don’t remember her - Benny Hill) …

Its 6am, the alarm sounds – I mustn’t be late

Anthony thought I’d had a power cut – “can’t I get a coffee Mate?”

Matt & Lindsey arrived to give us a lift

Excitement, smiles & banter – anticipating 26 miles sounds just great

Walking poles, rucksacks, tight pants & Camelback

Sunday morning, 7.30 - just out for a hack

Avoided the warm up & the Bishop’s farewell prayer

Paul now joined us - despite his foot with it’s crack!

 

The weather was glorious as the field started to disperse

The miles went past quickly as we built up a thirst.Lunch after 4 hours;

we say goodbye to Paul

Back on our way; 14 miles down - we’re over the worst of it all!

W crossed the finish line in good times for all three

Now disorientated men  -  Anthony,  Matt  &  Me

The walk great fun, though the last four miles were tricky

The only injury sustained - John’s head - whilst having a Pee!

Much money was raised to help Naomi House to do more

Muscles stiffened & feet blistered are now very sore

Home for some food and bit of a rub

Memories of a great day & a long soak in the tub

This 3-peaks challenge has taken me out of my comfort zone

And without my training buddies I’d be having a moa

Teamwork’s the key, lifting each other so no-one’s alone

Anthony & Glenn, Dave, Matt & Paul - I Know I couldn’t do it all on my own!

 

I’ve been training for the last 6 or 7 months as my original aim was to go with a couple of friends to do either the 3 volcanoes or (once we’d worked out some costs!) the 3 peaks, but this was for an undetermined point in the future so there wasn’t any serious training going on, more a long stroll to the pub really". 

Yip, I think we know the real plan here !

Since then Steve has been training by climbing a local hill with the same average gradient as Snowdon (1:8), although not the full height.  He plans to increase this weekly as we get closer to the challenge  assuming he Idoesn't  die from exhaustion first. - Welcome Steve.

Not the longest ..but definetly the highest ! - 26th May

The setting was ’s windswept high ground, the scene of a 17^th century double murder, Combe Gibbet. More importantly for today’s walkers this is said to be the highest point in South East England, so a walk which Anthony describes as a ‘paltry’ 7 miles, culminated in an ascent of 560ft or 171m to the ‘Inkpen Beacon’ & ultimately the apex of ‘Walbury Hill’.

Described in the AA walkers guide as ‘hard’; we were also advised that a minimum of 3 hours was required. (The hardest part was finding the starting point, Walbury Hill Car Park). However, today’s intrepid, though small team of Matt, Anthony, Jasper (Matt’s black Laborador), John & Tui, (John’s bitch) completed the course in just under 2 ½ hours, despite the added distance brought about by one deliberate detour to see the ‘Inkpen Beacon’ and one unplanned detour, (due to Anthony’s flawed map reading), which resulted in an interesting debate with a local farmer on the merits of using private drives instead of designated public footpaths. The fact that the dogs were running amok is his field of young crops didn’t help Anthony’s case.

A very steep incline challenged the 2-legged walkers near the end, but the panoramic views of Berkshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire & Oxfordshire and the walk along the peak were worth every calorie burned – not that the couple hanged at the Gibbet 300 hundred years ago enjoyed the 4-counties vista as much as we did!   

 

Matt's Eureka moment - 23rd May

The Plan was to get up Sunday morning, go out near Beacon Hill, start walking at about 7.30am  and do a 10 mile circuit.

Saturday was a lovely day so when a friend said come round for a BBQ and we can have yet another Anniversary/Birthday celebration, how could I refuse??

Had 2 burgers and some salad (good boy). Then I had a beer, then someone bought out some . After that it seemed like a good idea to take on fluids for a long hot walk in the morning, besides that bottle of white wine was very cool and refreshing.

10.30am Sunday! (Very grumpy) I started my walk. I shouted at the dog, moaned at a few trees and swore at a few sheep. It’s amazing!! After 2 hour’s, 40 min’s and 10 miles in blistering heat my hangover had disappeared. I’m not sure it will catch on but it is one way to get over the night before.

Wayfarers Walk - 20th May.  The longest walk so far - at least 16 miles.

Setting off from the lovely village of Hannington, Our route this week  took us along side Oakley and included part of the Wayfarer's Walk.  No Anthony this week, his sons football taking prioity - Matt this is a believable excuse !.   Jasper and Tui, the trusted black labs came too.

Walking past numerous rapeseed fields and the bluebells in the woods we did feel sorry for the hayfever sufferers.  This combined with the lovely hot evening and a certain individual's flatulence problem - what a pretty sight and smell we were !

If any motivation was required, then the proclaimers blasting from my blackberry was enough to speed us on our merry way

Our walk took us 4 hours to complete and a lovely burger and liquid refreshment was on each of our minds - hopefully served up by the fine looking establishment in Hannington.  But alas, arriving there at 9.03 to be told the kitchen closed at 9 certainly cheesed us off.  Its good to see some places beating the recession and can turn away honest custom!. 

However, that aside we completed our longest walk in fine spirits.  Onwards and Upwards.

 

The Devil's Highway - 13th May

So the training intensifies with a 10 mile walk through varied terrain.  Deciding which way to go initially caused us a problem but Tui ( John’s 5 year old Lab) showed us the way.  Due to our many varied commitments our regular participant Matt was not able to join us, of course he used a poor excuse, but Dave made it again.  This walk took us through parts of Crowthorne, and incorporated the Devil’s Highway. This broad, straight track is part of a Roman road which once linked with the Roman town of . Even though the Romans constructed the road, local people who lived here after the Roman Occupation believed that only the Devil could have been responsible for such a feat of engineering - hence its name. Dave came up with so many “tall tales” about the name that we sent him to the back ( as you will see from the photograph), and he had to carry all the refreshments !!. 

This walk forms part of a 26 mile round trip of , Anthony and I (Glenn) have penciled this in for the coming month.  However this walk took us just over 2 hours and it only seemed fitting that we took Tui to see a Golden Retriever afterwards.  My round !.

 

One Man down - 10th May

Whilst running for the train in London, Paul managed to break a bone in his foot.  The length's some people will goto to get out of training...As you will see from the photo, we made sure he was placed in a lovely location whilst receving treatment. 

Joking aside Paul hopes to be fit enough to resume training on the 6th June. 

 

John's walk and talk..talk..talk -9th May  

"I’ve come out at nine o’clock on a Sunday morning to a TV transmitter site belonging to a customer, Arqiva at Hannington in Hampshire. This is the highest point in Hampshire, so whilst not quite one of THE three peaks, a good spot for a bit of training.

The event is a charity walk, on behalf of Naomi House organised by the Rotary Club. The course comprised three options, a 4.5 mile stroll; a 6.5 mile walk or a 10 mile trek. (Well they called it 9.5 miles but whose counting!) I elected to do the full length course.

Since I signed up for the ‘Semathon 3-peaks Challenge’ I have taken training progressively more and more seriously, I have to, I’m the oldest walker, (though far younger than one of the drivers) and having carefully avoided all exercise since I left school, I start from the position of being one of the least fit members of our team!. So I prepared meticulously for this walk, avoiding all the taboo distractions of any training regime with the exception for alcohol and sex the night before… oh and fish and chips on Thursday! Otherwise, I have remained totally focused.

Sunday morning brought mainly dry conditions, with just a few light showers, a little chilly but warming up later. I believed that the event started from the Hannington mast at 10 am and although I somehow managed to get lost on the way I arrived ready to start at 9.50. It turns out that you could start anytime from 9am so some walkers had a 50 minute start on me. I was given the number 100 suggesting that over 90 walkers were already on their way. Obviously, it wasn’t a race, but that didn’t seem to be a reason not to win!

So with our 5 year old black Labrador, Tui (apparently a small, black bird from , don’t ask!) I set off on my 10 mile stroll. I had set myself a target of finishing in 2 ½ hours, with a pace of 4 miles per hour for the full 10 miles, my longest walk yet! Whilst I’m not competitive I started counting the walkers that I over took along the way, two older ladies were the first to succumb! I gave my Camelback rehydration system a first workout, it’s a rucksack with a 2 litre membrane which I filled with a home made Isotonic drink of 50% orange juice; 50% water and a little salt. It worked really well in rehydrating me, in fact so well that I had to keep making deviations from the main route to relieve myself of the constant rehydration. (This is why I’m calling it 10 miles!) I might have been quicker if I’d just opened the tap of the Camelback as I walked along!

Still I was making good progress, a family of three were next to get overtaken as I approached the third marshal. When he asked my number, (a nice effort to ensure that they hadn’t lost anyone), he seemed impressed that number 100 had arrived at this point so quickly. Many more unsuspecting walkers fell in my slipstream as I numbered 14 that had been overtaken. The walk was beautiful and time flew by as I continued to accelerate past a few more unsuspecting strollers. Victims 23 & 24 were a very nice couple, serious walkers with very professional looking poles; these were not £3.99 poles from Go Outdoors. They commented that I was the first walker to pass them and they believed that we had now clocked up about 7 miles.

Another quick pee and onward to the next marshal, who was an amusing little lady. When I told her that I was 100 she replied “Not your age love – your number please”.

Oh we laughed as she followed up with “bet you feel a hundred now?” I didn’t.

In fact, I felt good, although poor Tui was starting to feel the pace and began sitting down every time I deviated for yet another pee! Finally, the end was in sight, although you can see the Hannington Mast from a very long way away!

I crossed the finishing line at 12.20. Having overtaken 41 of my fellow trekkers & exactly 2 ½ hours after I set off achieving my goal of 4 mph I would have been a lot quicker had I been able to exercise greater bladder control. The kind lady at the finish gave me a ticket for a burger & although Tui didn’t get a ticket, (but then she hadn’t paid an entry fee either), that didn’t stop her eating two hot dogs that the man cooking the Bar-B-Q had dropped, as well as taking a bite out of my burger whilst I was capturing the moment on camera!

Really enjoyable walk and more money for Naomi House!".

 

Singing in the Rain ( Dave) - 8th May

Dave being the happy chappy that he is, decided to do it himself on Saturday..  The weather was not the best in the , but that did not deter our Dave; completing his solo walk of 10 Miles.  What a big garden he must have!.

 

Our first walk. - 22nd April

Collectively we kicked of our training with a walk around the lovely town of Basingstoke.  John calculated the route at 7 miles so we were anticipating a 2 hour walk, and of course a watering hole was factored in by Anthony.  I am pleased to say that we completed this "wee walk" in about 1hr 40 mins.  The training discussion (see photo) that followed was most enjoyable.