THE SNOWSCABEN PROJECT – A trip of note which hopefully will attract lots of sponsors

We have been supporting our chosen charity ‘Water Aid’ for many years. They transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities, mainly in Africa and India. Just think of having to walk miles every day to fill up your water jug, never mind ‘the balancing it on your head’ bit.

I am in my 80th year and to celebrate having lasted so long something memorable has to take place which is worthy of the sponsorship, hence Snowscaben which consists of :-

1.       Travel from Lancashire to Llanberis by car.

2.       Climb up and down Snowdon, North Wales on foot.

3.       Cycle from Llanberis to Langdale in the Lake District.

4.       Climb up and down Scafell Pike on foot.

5.       Cycle from Langdale to Glen Nevis, Scotland.

6.       Climb up and down Ben Nevis on foot.

7.       Come home courtesy of ScotRail and Virgin Trains.

Most people who climb these three peaks (hundreds do it every year for charity) climb on foot, travel by coach or minibus between and aim to do it in 24 hours from start to finish. I have done this in my youth with road travel on a motorbike and in my not so youth with car travel in between running up and down the hills.

This trip bears no resemblance to these hasty methods and will be a quiet peaceful solitary but hopefully continuous plod (most people plod at 80). Overnights will be B & B’s and it all should take about two weeks. It is intended to take place in mid May 2014, with a bit of luck the Scottish midges will not have woken up by then.

However this version of the Three British Peaks is very probably going to be the hardest of my attempts due to age and the continuous effort required (it is about 500miles altogether) and so I feel justified to ask for your generous sponsorship for our chosen charity.

My wife Dorothy, son Nick with wife Sally have offered to give the trip a head start by climbing up and down Snowdon with me and bringing the car home. Daughter Ruth is intending to come up and down Scafell Pike with me. No slacking on the climbs then !!!. Their efforts training on Lake District peaks with me deserve sponsorship on their own.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted follow-up emails fo more donations. Once you donate, they send all your donation money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

 

PROGRESS REPORT

Thurs 15 May, Hi everyone, Sorry that there has been a bit of a report gap, I could not log-in whilst away starting the trip. Anyway today is Thursday and I have arrived in Heskin for an overnight stop after climbing a wet showery Snowdon on Tuesday with Dorothy, Nick and Sally in support and staying in Betws Y Coed overnight. Wednesday was a long (for me) 60 mile cycle up the hilly Conway valley and along the North Wales coast for an overnight at Parkgate on the Wirral Peninsular. This morning was a beautiful trip up and over the Wirral to the ferry at Birkenhead. and then up the Leeds/Liverpool canal to Maghull and cross country back home to Heskin for a long bath. Tomorrow should be an easy day to Lancaster but at least I can choose a pretty route over the Fylde and avoid the A6.

Thanks for all the donations which have come in whilst I have been away.  Cheers    Tony

Fri 16 May . Hi, Today was a sunny ride up the A49 and onto the tramway cycle route from Bamber Bridge to Preston, up the A6 to Garstang and then a bit of traffic relief through Cockerham and along the railway cycle track to Lancaster. Very busy with tourists and history. My hotel is within a stones throw of the castle wall. 

Monday 19 May Carlisle.  Hello, here I am in Carlisle after two days of no WiFi. Saturday was a superb ride into the Lake District starting along the Lancaster canal towpath to Carnforth then the back road to Kendal via Burton. More traffic dodging through Burneside to Staveley but then into the mainstream for the ride to Grasmere. Imagine my joy when Dorothy turned up with Ruth on Sunday morning to climb Scafell Pike.

What a climb that was !! 8 hours of basically scrambling over rocks of all sizes from small gravel on skiddy slopes to hopping from one bedsized boulder to another along the length of the Scafell ridge. We were exhausted and very glad to be back at The Old Dungeon Gill for our shandy. Today has been a great ride in the sunshine with a tail wind past the quiet side of Thirlmere, up St Johns in the Vale, past Hesketh Newmarket and eventually up the river cycle track to Carlisle. The only snag was that my legs did not want to know the road climbs in the Northern Fells. Perhaps they will feel better tomorrow. That is now two thirds of the mountains and half the distance achieved.

Wed 21 May . Sorry that I had no WiFi last night in Moffat, had a beautiful sunny ride from Carlisle on Tuesday mostly following the old A74 dual carriageway which has been converted into a two way road with wide cycle tracks on each side. Very quiet too with only an occasional vehicle as all the traffic is on the M74. Fortunately for the legs it was not very hilly. However today was a different story starting from Moffat to go over Beattock Summit, the Scottish version of our Shap Summit and it did not end there as there are two more mountain ridges before the drop down into the Clyde Valley. The legs seem to be recovering a bit from the Scafell climb and yet another blustery tail wind helped. Tomorrow will hopefully be a bit easier on cycleways along the Clyde but the weather is more threatening.   

Fri 23 May Crainlarich

Hi everyone, Yesterday was not as predicted, it is not flat from Motherwell to Glasgow on cycle route 74, it crosses the Clyde and its river valley at least three times but in amazing unspoilt countryside. The waterfront ride was also  a joy, overhauled and smart like Liverpool. Then it was level quiet riding along the canal bank to Dumbarton. 

Today was up the beautiful west side of Loch Lomond, some noisy main road but a lot of separate cycle paths, all against the first head winds of the trip. The sting in the tail was a four mile grind up the head of the Lomond valley to Crainlarich, that pannier load on the rear comes into its own on the climbs.

Sat 24 May Fort William. Well, that is the cycling more or less finished only a bit of a hill tomorrow to complete the job. Another mainly sunny day today but still with the pesky headwind over two mountain ridges before dropping into Glencoe and a more or less level ride up Loch Linnhe to Fort William. The traffic has been horrendous, my route was up the main road with no cycle lanes and every man and his dog going for their Whit break in the highlands.

The good news is that daughter Helen is due to arrive soon to go up Ben Nevis with me tomorrow and the weather forecast is favourable.

Monday 26 May 2014 - Heskin (home again) Sorry that there has been a bit of a gap in the reports. The Ben Nevis day on Sunday proved to be very exhausting for both myself and Helen. The climb of about 4300 ft from our start point is unrelenting, it just varies in steepness and when the top was within our grasp the snow covering made it even more difficult. Anyway we had a relatively rapid descent after boot skiing down the snow until the rain started and we had to be more careful after a few rock skids. I blame the path makers for placing the paving rocks at hill sloping angles instead of level. We very gratefully collapsed into the Glen Nevis cafe with (in my case rubber legs), the hill conquered and the trip completed to schedule. The train journey back today was very beautiful and recuperative.

Just a reminder to anyone who has been holding back with sponsorship until the job was done, it has now been completed.

Thanks very much to everyone for all your encouragement and support during my rather rash venture.

Best Wishes from the family Newton -  Tony, Dorothy, Ruth, Helen, Sally and Nick

We are still receiving donations but I am not sure exactly what thanks donors receive from the JustGiving site. 

So thank you all again very much for your support with kind comments which helped me to carry out the trip and for your donations which are going to make such a difference to people's lives.    

Thanks Again - Tony Newton