The team
The Challenge was to climb the UK's 3 highest summits, Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Mount Snowdon, within 3 days. Not an easy task when you consider that one is in Scotland, one is in the Lake District and the other is in north Wales!
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I went with 3rd Upton Scout Group, a local group based here
in Slough. The Scouts were doing the Challenge as part of their Chief Scouts Challenge
award. There were 4 boys and 6 leaders on the trip, 2 of the leaders being support crew (driving, feeding etc) and the other 4 (including me) gave technical assistance on the mountains. The plan was to drive to Fort William in Scotland and start the Challenge on the 'best weather day'. As the summit of Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the UK) is covered in snow at this time of year we had to wait for a good day to start as safety was the foremost factor. The boys had raised some sponsorship money to fund their expedition and also arranged the hire of a mini-bus and all the accomodations for themselves and the leaders. After all the money was collected we only had to pay £50 each, not bad for a week away! So the day came, we packed the bus and we were off. Well, almost ... |
Meeting at the scout hut at 0800 on Saturday we eventualy got away at 0930 after having packed the bus and the gone to the cash-and-carry to get some last minute food items.
10 people, loads of gear, 500 miles, a 15 seat mini-bus and we're wearing sunglasses. The journey was broken by stops at Keel, Carlisle and Glasgow service stations for a very welcome comfort break and driver swap.
We saw the 'Old Blacksmiths Shop' in Gretna Green but resisted the urge to jump out of the bus and get married - we only had one girl with us. We also passed the site of the Lockerbie plane crash.
Finally arriving in Fort William at 2030 (11 hours!) we found our home for the next few days to be a mobile home right at the foot of Ben Nevis.
The clocks went forward that night so we all lost an hours sleep.
Word of the day; "arewenearlythereyet?"
Awoke to the most amazing view. The Caravan site was in a glen that was surrounded by cloud topped mountains on all sides.
| Today being Easter Sunday we decided to go into Fort William and do a little shopping. Trev 'the Rev' (bloke kneeling in the photo above) went to a local church. This turned out to be the best move as it rained on us whilst he was in there. A quick trip around Safeway to get some more food stuffs and then it was off to Glen Coe to view the site of the infamous massacre where the Campbells slaughtered the MacDonalds. It turns out that there were very few Campbells in the attack. Another case of History vs Hollywood. |  |
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Having seen the site and watched a video at the visitor centre we headed back to the caravan to make a meal. Watched the brazilian Grand Prix on TV then learnt on the news that a bloke fell off one of the mountains in Glen Coe whilst we were there and was lying in the hospital at Fort William - another reminder of the dangers of mountaineering! We all retire to bed, worried about the day ahead. We are climbing Ben Nevis tomorrow. |
© & ® Mark A Phillips, G7LTT 1997-2003
This page was last updated Tuesday November 18, 2003 16:52 Eastern Standard Time