1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ….. One Italian, two Australians, three islands, four nations, five days, six peaks.
September 11, 2024
1, One Italian
2, One crostata (jam tart, for the English speakers, eaten)
2, Two Australians
2, Two Countries (UK and Ireland)
2, Two Police Searches (no cavity, at the Isle of Man ferry)
3, Three Islands (UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man)
3, Three Bags (always carried by each Aussie)
4, Four Nations (Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland)
4, Four Ferries (taken)
4, Four Compeeds (used on Marco’s foot)
5, Five Days
5, Five Hotels
6, Six Peaks (climbed)
8, Eight Sneezes (by Marco with a broken rib)
20, Twenty hours (walked)
20, Twenty bananas (eaten by Jason)
23, Twenty-three sandwiches (prepared by Sonia, and eaten whilst driving)
25, Twenty-five brownies (eaten)
30, Thirty Anzacs biscuits (or muesli slices for the Aussies reading, eaten)
30, Thirty litres of water (bought and drank, mostly by Jason)
40, Forty hours (driven)
66, Sixty-six point three kilometres (walked)
1678, One thousand six hundred seventy-eight miles (driven)
5140, Five thousand one hundred and forty metres (elevation gained)
It all started 6 months ago when my Australian friend Jason (the same one from Antarctica and the Kosciuszko climb with the 80miles wind last year) found this weird challenge:“climbing the top 6 peaks of the United Kingdom and Ireland”. These are:
Ben Nevis in Scotland (1345 metres)
Snowdon, In Wales (1085 metres)
Scafell Pike in England (978 metres)
Snaefell in the Isle of Man (621 metres)
Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland (850 metres)
Carrauntoohil in the Republic of Ireland (1038 metres)
I am not sure if this challenge really exists or was invented by some mad Aussie, but Jason picked it up and with his vacation trip to Europe booked, he asked me to start planning our own summer expedition. Sonia, another Aussie friend from Antarctica, was also going to join.
There is a standard Three Peaks challenge, which happens in the UK, and needs to be completed in 24 hours. But the addition of the Isle of Man, and then going to Ireland, was adding an extra complication. So, after a bit of research, I figured that the only way to do this was by following the standard Three Peaks format which starts in Scotland with climbing Ben Nevis in the early hours, then driving to ScafellPike for an afternoon climb on the same day. But instead of continuing to Snowdon, as all the other Threepeakers, we would take a ferry at 2am to the Isle of Man, climb the peak there and go to Snowdon the following night. This climbed, we would move to Ireland by another ferry to complete the Irish peaks.
The other complication was that we were three. Ever tried booking a room for 3 friends: two men and a woman and not wanting to share a double bed? The choice of hotels becomes limited!!
And there I was, after a bit of logistics and planning, at Glasgow airport on a Friday afternoon picking up our Australian friends on the way to Fort William. A beautiful drive through Loch Lomond and up Glenn Coe on an unusually sunny day, our hotel was on the shores of Loch Linnhe. The plan, buy some provisions for the next few days, before an early supper to be ready for the following day’s early morning start. And immediately in Fort William, we picked up on what will become some of the typical traits of our adventure.
During the shopping, I was buying bread, ham and cheese, chocolate and chips, whilst Jason was focussing on tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, lettuce, apples and bananas. And wraps, no rolls. Sonia was buying yoghurt and nuts. Sonia was also quickly nominated our provisions manager. In addition to the food we bought, she had to be responsible for ensuring that the consumption of our reserve of brownies, muesli slices plus the jam tart (all prepared by Amanda – my wife) would last the 5 days. Water, in the form of the 6 litres we bought daily, plus the hot water for thermoses (for coffee and tea), was also to feature prominently. At dinner, Sonia and I would drink ale and wine (and whiskey), whilst Jason would stick to water. Mostly meat (and fish) for me and Sonia; somewhat of a vegan diet for Jason.
Our nights were quiet (despite the three of us sharing in some cases some very confined space), but very short as the Aussies, because of jet lag, would be up at 4am.
A long day one
And so it started. Saturday morning at 5am we were out of the hotel ready to go. At 6am we started climbing from the Ben Nevis visitors’ car park. Still in the dark, only a few climbers and a few cars were around. Ben Nevis, the tallest peak in the UK, has a long traverse along the glen, before turning upwards and northwards for the ascent. The first part of the climb is a well-maintained path made of rocky steps; it then transforms into a steep zig-zag trail made of lose stones and scree on the steep rockface of the mountain. The frustrating thing about Ben Nevis is that you can never see the summit from the bottom of the climb and one ridge is followed by another and another one (very frustrating), until you get to the last jump before the summit.
But the day was gorgeous, the sunrise stunning and the views incredible. Shame about some low clouds in the Loch which did not allow us the sight of the sea and the Hebrideans islands. With the temperature moving to double digits, it was good that we had started early as it got hot very quickly (yes, in Scotland!). It was also good we were up early as the mountain got very busy with Threepeakers, a huge number of weekend climbers (because of the nice weather) and competitors from a trail running glens marathon. We completed the 16.5 km, 1.3. km elevation round trip in just over 5 hours. We would have been faster if it wasn’t for the queues going down the mountain because of the huge amount of people coming up and what they were wearing…..,and carrying (dogs, babies, ….etc.)!
A quick change of clothes, a stop at the petrol station and by noon we were ready for the next step: a six-hour drive back towards Glasgow and onwards to England to reach the Lake District, where Scafell Pike rises. Given the beautiful day the whole of Scotland was out in the glens. There were long queues entering Tyndrum (a favourite location of Jason and for “Monroes’ baggin’ ” – ask a Scot what that means!) and along Loch Lomond. But after we hit the motorway, we were very soon in England and along the Cumbrian coast. We would have made a good time if it wasn’t for the last few miles accessing a valley and stretch of water called Wasdale Head, at the end of which is the start for the most direct route up to Scafell Pike. The frustration of following a “Learner” driver and the intense oncoming traffic on the single track road caused some level of frustration for the Italian driver and a few scares for the Aussies..!
But we were in the car park by 5pm and ready to climb again by 5:30pm. The route up Scafell is very direct. At 9.8km it is much shorter than Ben Nevis and very steep from the very beginning. The sun accompanied us all the way up with viewsof the valley and the lake and a stunning sunset turning the steep rocky faces surrounding us to orange. The peak is again hidden by the ridges surrounding it, so you do not get much of the view of the summit until you are on it. But the view from the top was a true spectacle (little we knew it would be our last…..!). Despite the late hour there were still a few climbers on the mountain, including some of the same people we meet on Ben Nevis (the famous Threepeakers), whom I was very happy to have beaten both in the driving time and the climbing!!
Up and down in 3 hours a half, it was dark when we got back to the car. The good news was that past 9pm there were fewer cars on the famous single-track road we used to get out of the valley. The other goods news was that in the middle of the dark and empty countryside, the lights of a pub appeared from pretty much nowhere. At 09:25pm we were in the pub 5 minutes before the kitchen closed. At a quarter to 11 in the night, a couple of burgers (falafel salad for Jason) and beer/wine (water for Jason) later our day was not finished. We were driving to Heysham, a ferry port north of Lancaster, for our 2am ferry to the Isle of Man.
Apart from me hitting a cone along the windy roads of Lancashire, the drive to Heysham was uneventful, and we were in the queue for our ferry well before 1am. It was here where we experienced the first bodily search. Somehow there are more baggage and body checks to go to the Isle of Man than to go to Ireland; on the way in and on the way out.
By 2am, the now 22 hours wake, 25km walking and climbing were starting to take its toll, and it is no surprise that as soon as we hit the ferry, we collapsed on the first horizontal support we found. The journey to the Isle of Man takes 3 hours; and we managed to grab a couple of them sleeping. At 6am we were already up and ready to go again.
There are not many people around on a Sunday morning, at 6am, in Douglas, particularly when it is wet and raining. Even less people on the road up the interior to the hills range where Snaefell rises. It is therefore not surprising that no one was at Snaefell’s car park when we arrived at 6.30am and, believe it or not, the train (up to the hilltop) was not running(incredible!).
The best thing was that in addition to the rain, it was also windy. So, our walk (cannot be really considered a climb) to the top was windy, wet and foggy. The 6 kingdoms view (Isle of Man, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and “Heaven”) promised by every brochure and web site, was not present that day. The hilltop restaurant was also shut. We were up and down in 1 hour, having completed our own “Three Peaks” challenge in just over 25 hours.
We had 9 hours before our return ferry. The question was what to do on the Isle of Man on a Sunday. Luckily, by 8am, a tea and a piece of jam tart later, people started to appear in the car park, the train station opened and one of the attendants gave us direction to Laxey, as a nice village to explore. An hour later we were on Laxey’s beach, at a breakfast shack which was obviously very popular with the locals. Two hours, a cappuccino and an Americano later (water for Jason), another local (actually she was from Brisbane, but married to a local) directed us to another beach location and coffee spot, this time in the south of the island, in front of the smaller island called the Calf of Man.
By the time we consumed another coffee, Jason had been put in charge of lunch and he did find a vegan restaurant in Douglas which had very delicious food.
The return from the Isle of Man was to Liverpool. After the by now usual car search, we were on the boat by 4pm disembarking at 7pm. It is a two-hour drive from Liverpool to Snowdon. We elected to stay at the Pen-Y-Pass hostel which is the closest location to climbing Snowdon. The hostel kind of scared the Aussies because of bunk beds and shared facilities. But actually, we were assigned a 6 beds room with private facilities, and whole for ourselves. Sandwiches in the car that evening because the hostel kitchen was closing at 8pm. We were in bed by 10pm after a very long 36 hours; and in a proper bed!