Rhos-y-Gwaliau Outdoor Centre, for allowing us the use of their facilities for our Snowdonia training weekend

Hitachi Capital, for the free of charge minibus hire, in a minibus that fitted in all of our stuff, and us, and also got us there and back!  (One of the other teams broke down and had to call the RAC….)

F5 Networks, for helping with some of the costs of the weekend

The members of the Rotary Club of Windsor St George.  For raising over £400 for us at Carol’s President’s Night, for sponsoring us for the event, for coming to our fundraising quiz, for providing raffle prizes and for generally encouraging us at every opportunity, thank you!!

The Mountain Slayers’ and crews’ partners, for allowing us to train, for listening to us talk about mountains, for allowing us to disappear for a weekend without them, and for encouragement and sponsorship!

Russell Richards at Sightsavers International, for providing leaflets, balloons and all sorts of Sightsavers branded items to help with the fundraising, and for keeping in touch with us before the event on all fundraising matters.

Global Challenge UK for the superb organisation of the event, giving our teams dog names for our radio call signs, and for providing friendly mountain rescue guides to help us on our way and make sure we didn’t fall off the side of any mountains!

To all of our families, friends, work colleagues, Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, and everyone else who has sponsored us or supported us in any way during the last 6 months  

And last, but not least, thanks to our Twitter followers and advisors:

@IanPain @SimonRosser @StuartHolds @tall_rich @roblampwick @bg3peaks for the best wishes

@JustGiving @TheThreePeaks @SilverStorm80 @ThreePeaks2010 @IgnitionUK @xtrabus @howardlake for the “Retweets” to help us raise awareness of the challenge!

Helvellyn (the Mountain Slayers’ tale)

It was raining by the time we arrived, so we assembled our equipment, put on our warm clothes, got out the head torches – and off we set.  Unfortunately Phil decided that his knees wouldn’t let him do this walk, so he stayed with the support team this time.  The remaining four Mountain Slayers set off through the forest, up the steep hilly bit, and up more steep hilly bits – in some drizzle .  We started in the dark, but as we walked it started to get lighter, and by the time we reached the checkpoint at Combe Crags, we didn’t need the head torches anymore.

We were greeted at the checkpoint by one of Global Challenge’s mountain rescue team, who then walked with us through the cloud to meet his colleagues at the top of Helvellyn.  We walked and walked and walked, but with no lovely views over Striding Edge or Red Tarn this time.

A quick photo at the summit, and we were off again.  We walked back in the direction of Whiteside Bank, where Mike and Gaby had walked on the previous trip here -  and after going over another couple of peaks, we reached the zigzags and the long downhill trek. 

Coming into Glenridding some time later, a bit wet and soggy, we were pleased to see some of our support crew appear by the side of the road to give us some encouragement.  And we were even more pleased that they had remembered to cook us dinner again!  More pasta (with sweetcorn this time, a much appreciated find by Al) and some cups of tea….. We had completed Helvellyn in 5 hours and 9 minutes.  A quick change into our Snowdon clothes, and we were off again.  On our way from England to Wales, now with increasingly sore feet and legs….

Hellvelyn (The support crew’s tale, by Al)

Al and Guy driving a bus full of sleeping Mountain Slayers…..navigating to the start point – and finally getting there and unloading our team from the minibus!  Off they went, but a few minutes later we heard that Phil was coming back down with an injury. We waited for him, then loaded up the bus and moved to the finishing point, passing some stunning scenery on the way.  

After checking on the team’s estimated arrival time (some point in 2012), we went to sleep for 2 hours.  Soon after getting up, Al found a shop that opened at 08.10am, which sold sweetcorn with peppers (for Ian!).

It started to rain at this point, for a moment we thought about our team, cold and wet somewhere on the mountain.  But that thought passed very quickly and we made ourselves a hot drink!

Then we put dinner on for the team, who returned some time later to a breakfast of pasta with sweet corn…..

Snowdon (the Mountain Slayers’ tale)

We arrived in Llanberis in the rain, and were really not enthusiastic about the idea of doing a long walk in the conditions that we had been presented with.  However, we got into the spirit of it, and were pleased that Phil decided to join us again, and that Catherine was able to join us for the last walk.  So at 2pm all 6 Mountain Slayers were off! 

Fortunately the rain stopped once we got past the nasty tarmac and steep uphill bits, and we could enjoy a bit of sun walking past the railway and seeing the hills around us.  We spotted familiar landmarks on the way, such as the Halfway Café, and the railway bridge.  At this point, Phil realised that his knees weren’t going to get him all the way up and back down again, so he reluctantly agreed to make his way down with one of the mountain rescue guides.  The remaining 5 Mountain Slayers set off again.

The last bit had some very steep slopes and started to get colder.  We had all done this walk before and knew that we could do it – but after 2 previous mountains and some sore feet and legs, it was all psychological.  We encouraged each other and kept going, as we got nearer and nearer knowing that we would make it.  Nina even bumped into someone she knew from High Wycombe Rotaract on the final ascent up the stony steps!!!

So, we had made the third and final peak – another photo and then time to go down to greet our crew. 

Nina’s feet had defeated her by this point, and the Global Challenge mountain guides walked with her down the railway track, which is a more gentle slope, and easier on the feet!  The others walked together down the usual route. Finally, after 5 hours 45 mins, we had also completed Snowdon, and therefore the Sightsavers Rotary Mountain Challenge!!  (Total challenge time 27 hours 30 mins.)  So it was off to the hotel for food (not pasta or Kit Kats!) and the presentations of the fundraising awards and challenge certificates.

We then retired to the Mount Pleasant Hotel for much needed showers and some sleep, with lots of aches and midge bites.

Snowdon (the support crew’s tale, by Al)

We arrived, and after watching the team disappear up a hill we went and checked into our hotel.  The temptation to sleep and never leave was great but we decide to stay around and wait for the team.

After a couple of hours, we got word that Phil was making his descent as his knee injury was playing up, so we decided to drive and meet him at the bottom.  However, after a quick phone call established he was still an hour or so away, we turned back and coasted back down the mountain.

Phil eventually got back and we drove him to the hotel so he could get changed and look good for Nina’s return and any future publicity photos.  We returned to the finish point to find out that our team were due back around 7.30pm.

The team members arrived at the finish point at 7.55pm, looking like they had climbed 3 mountains, apart from Mike and Gaby who looked like they had a stroll in the park! (How do they do it?) We then cruelly made the team walk about 100 yards to the hotel where the award ceremony was taking place, and where our celebration meal was being served.

Monday 14^th June

We drove home…

Much hilarity ensued the next morning at watching each other trying to walk up and down stairs and kerbs, and attempting to get in and out of the minibus!  We had a nice drive back from Wales, with a quick lunch stop at a service station on the way.

So we had done it!  We completed our challenge successfully and raised over £5500* for Sightsavers, a sum of money that will help to restore the sight of many, many people in the areas of India and Africa that the two Sightsavers Rotary projects support.  

(*And still increasing)

Look out for us at a Rotaract or Rotary club near you, we’ll be talking about the challenge and encouraging other teams from D1090 to enter in 2012!!

Friday, 11^th June

We set off at about 9am in our lovely minibus (thanks Hitachi Capital).  The support crew had packed the back seats tightly with boxes and bags, and more pasta than could have been found in the whole of Italy!  (But as it soon transpired, slightly lacking in sweetcorn or peppers and maybe too many tins of mushrooms for some people…!).

Not much to tell you about the journey really, except that it was long!  It took 13 hours and 40 minutes in all and included stops at Newton-le-Willows for lunch, a couple of motorway service stations and Crianlarich for an evening meal.  We also had a brief photo stop by a picturesque lake, Loch Lubnaig; the result being a few photos worthy of a caption competition…

En route we entertained ourselves with a bit of tweeting on our Twitter feed and noting down some fines (in true Rotary style, fining people for silly mistakes or comments, with the proceeds being added to the charity total).  We also checked on the progress of one of the other teams entering the challenge, “Geeks and Peaks”, a Specsavers team from Hampshire – their minibus broke down by the side of the motorway, so were keeping the RAC busy!

Our Rotary Club were having a President’s Night celebration to mark the end of President Carol Buckland’s year.  We attempted to link up with the attendees through the wonders of modern technology and support crew member Guy.  However, finding wifi appears to be a bit of a challenge in the Highlands of Scotland and we settled for having a phone on loudspeaker in the end!!  Carol announced that she was presenting the Presidential Shield (an annual award to the club’s Rotarian of the year) to Al Gore, for the work he did in recruiting new members to the club.  She also wished us well on our challenge.

We still had a further hour or so to drive after our link up, and after passing some stunning mountain scenery, we arrived at the Cuilcheanna House B&B near Fort William at about 10.40pm.

Saturday, 12^th June

We had a reasonably leisurely breakfast and packed our walking bags, followed by a complete rearrangement of the minibus to make sure that the walking equipment was accessible and that items we didn’t need until the end of the challenge were not getting in the way.

We set off late morning for Fort William, popped into Morrisons for more provisions and then went to register at the marquee at the Ben Nevis visitor centre.  Having registered and received our start time, we chatted to a few of the other teams (including “Geeks and Peaks” who had arrived thanks to the RAC!) and then found the nearest eating establishment.

After a hearty lunch, we arranged our walking gear, put on our boots and headed back to the visitor centre for our briefing.  Even the briefings provided some entertainment – trying out the emergency shelter and fining team members (Nina) for still having price tags on their clothing!  We were also given our team name for radio purposes – Team Labrador (well it could have been worse, we could have been called Team Poodle!).

Ben Nevis

And then we were off! The first part of the walk up Ben Nevis was alongside the river, across the river and then winding round from the bottom of the mountainside.  We started to climb, and as we did so we started to realise what kind of views we would be able to see.  Mountains stretched out on either side, a lot of greenery for this time of year.  The path was quite bouldery, but nothing too tricky for us.  We just walked at a good pace and enjoyed the scenery unfolding around us.

The halfway point, and our first checkpoint, was Red Burn – “Come in Challenge Base, this is Team Labrador.  We have reached checkpoint 1”.  By this time we could see a lake nestled in the hills behind us as we started on ‘the zigzags’.  This particular bit was deceptive.  It looked as if we were getting close to the summit, but we were just zigzagging backwards and forwards across the mountain, slowly getting higher!

Finally we reached the end (well almost!), with a rocky uphill, even a bit of snow… We were glad that the visibility was good, as there were some sheer drops on either side of the path.  Having seen them, we could understand why it is essential to have compass skills and knowledge of the bearings required to get down from the summit safely. 

There was a little bit of cloud cover at the summit and it was cold – so we posed for a celebratory photo and then started the walk back down the mountain again.  As we walked back, we could see the view that we had previously had our backs to – and it was also stunning, green hills and mountains everywhere, all of them lower than the one we were on! 

Eventually we reached the bottom again, checked in our radios and noted our official time for Ben Nevis was 6 hr 45.  The crew had been doing a fantastic amount of work while we were walking, producing a much needed dinner of pasta and vegetables (yes, Ian, mushrooms!).  They also appeared to have been attracting the local mosquito population, who also came out to greet us…

Ben Nevis (The Support Crew’s Tale)

We waved a tearful farewell to Team Labrador as they set off and our thoughts turned to gas….  Guy had brought an empty bottle of Flo gas with him, so we went off in search of a supplier to fill the bottle.   A simple task, or so we thought….. After several hours and a couple of businesses later we discovered that nowhere in Scotland sells Flo gas! Still, not to worry as we bought a bottle of Calor gas; problem solved!  

So, gas bought and in Scotland with several hours to kill… what could we do next?  Whisky shopping of course!  Guy, Catherine and Al brought whisky, lots of whisky and then carefully hid it in the bus where those pesky kids (a.k.a. thirsty Mountain Slayers) wouldn’t find it!

We then moved to a different car park where we planned to watch the football and get a snack. Whilst en route to the car park, Catherine told us that she had bought an item in the whisky shop and when getting her change had demanded English notes as she was worried that the Welsh wouldn’t accept Scottish notes.  Problem averted, no Scottish notes in sight…

Anyway, we parked, bought a car ticket and went into town.  Catherine needed more cash so she went to a cash machine.  Quick quiz for those of you who are still awake… what do you think a Scottish ATM dispenses?

With lots of Scottish notes in hand, whisky in the van the only thing left for us to do was visit a pub! Great decision, Catherine got rid of those pesky notes and Guy bought chips and onion rings.  Beats the pasta we were planning to serve to our Mountain Slayers!

We made our way back to the base camp, found a place to park and started setting up the gas bottle with our camping stove. Turns out that Al’s stove didn’t fit the gas bottle!

 A quick phone call to the people who sold us the gas and a 15 minute drive we had a new regulator and the cooking could commence.   Phew, major disaster averted, that could have been nasty!

 After packing away the dinner, we set off for Helvellyn, with our earliest possible start time noted as 2.27am (ouch!).  Back into the minibus, time for a bit of sleep and resting those legs….

We will update the blog shortly with some more detailed stories, but just to give you a sneak preview, here is a photo of us at the top of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain!!!  Over £5000 raised for Sightsavers, with the total increasing daily…

The Mountain Slayers

We all met on Thursday evening to go through the logistics for the weekend, and make sure we all know what to bring with us.

Our support crew are ready to go too, Al and Guy will be driving, and along with Catherine they will be providing the food for us hungry Mountain Slayers. 

We’ve chosen our menu for the weekend, and calculated how many bottles of water we’ll need! 

We all have our equipment lists, to make sure that we all have the right base layers, waterproof clothing, correct walking boots and trousers – and that between the team we have maps, compasses, walking poles and first aid kits.

And over the next 5 days we’ll be studying our maps, making sure we know how to read them, checking our knowledge of compass bearings (very important for Ben Nevis especially), and stocking up on carbohydrate rich food.

We’ve now got our Twitter feed appearing on our Facebook page, so you can keep an eye on us there during the weekend, on the Windsor St George Rotary home page, or directly on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/wstgmc (if you’re on Twitter and you’d like to follow us and send us encouraging messages, we’d like that!).  We won’t have any time to update this blog or the Facebook group next weekend, as we’ll be a bit busy!!!  

And we’ll also be reminding people to sponsor us, so that we can go into the challenge with £4000 raised (we’re at £3500 at the moment)….. so if you haven’t already, please go to http://www.justgiving.com/windsorstgmountain

Following an attempted five and a half hour sleep we all rapidly got out of bed at on hearing the alarm. Like a well-oiled military unit we were focused on the second and most challenging walk ahead of us. Or maybe the quiet focus should more accurately be described as a dreamy daze!   

After the usual morning scrub up we were donning our hiking gear that we’d prepared the night before. This time though we were starting with warmer clothing already on and head torches. After all, it was just after 2am and the sun was hours from rising….

Once we hit the trail and our eyes had adjusted to the dark we still realised we could only see a few metres ahead of us despite the moonlight and head torches.  The first junction we came to had a choice of routes each with a sign, and the route to Helvellyn was clearly marked.  So off we trekked up a rocky valley and into the darkness….

After 30 minutes or so and having crossed the stream a couple of times, the path started to zigzag steeply uphill. By this time we’d warmed up and were into our stride. It was a pleasant night with little wind and a gently warm temperature. Certainly some of us were wondering if we’d put too much clothing on back at base and were starting to adjust it to be more comfortable.

 It was about this time Gaby stopped the team to assess where we were on the map. I don’t know if it was a gut feeling or she’d identified a mistake but it was a good job she did. Despite the team looking at the map at intervals up until this point we’d somehow failed to realise there was a parallel path on the other side of the valley.

And, yes, where the path started to break away uphill from the valley the compass indicated we were heading for one of the most dangerous ridges in the Lake District – Swirral Edge. After identifying other missed features such as the bridge crossings we quickly realised we needed to head back to that very first junction near the Youth Hostel in order to get on the correct path. We all agreed that we needed to pay much more attention to the map AND the signs.

Walking down the valley back to the junction Phil realised that his knee was much more vulnerable walking downhill. It had played him up on previous training sessions but he’d always been careful not to overdo it.

Back at the junction we realised our mistake. One of the other signs read Whiteside Bank which was one of the peaks we needed to climb before reaching Helvellyn. This was a much safer route and the one we’ll be descending on the night of the challenge.

With another assessment of Phil’s knee and a new enthusiasm we set off on the right path following the same valley and stream. It was about another 20 minutes into the hike that Phil realised it was not safe for him to continue. He knew that the trek up also involved a trek down and wisely he decided to stop at that point.

Nina volunteered to take Phil safely back to the hostel and so it was at that point Gaby and Mike reluctantly said goodbye and continued on up the path. With breakfast booked back at the hostel for 7.30am we agreed to be back between 7am and 7.30am. This gave us a few hours to get to the top. Once again, the path veered away from the stream and zigzagged up the hill. This time it was in the expected direction and we were soon pushing ourselves on. The path started to level out as we looked back and saw a beautiful sunrise over the near and distant hills of the Eastern Lake District. Soon after the path steepened and began to zigzag again but as the path levelled again we could see the first of the twin peaks we’d need to cross to reach Helvellyn. With Whiteside Bank and Lower Man between us and Helvellyn we continued up the path. For most of the steep ascent we could see Helvellyn in the distance and Swirral Edge to our left. Although we had believed we’d be the only people mad enough to be out at this time of night, we could see people on the peak. As we approached Whiteside Bank, however, we concluded that those people must have been tall sheep!

We took some time on Whiteside to take some more pictures of the sunrise and the misty landscape it was illuminating in its warm light. It was now 5.36am and we decided to make our way back for breakfast instead of pushing on to the next summit and worrying our team mates back at the hostel. The steep path back down was sometimes gravel and therefore slippery. We were careful but made good progress and were back in time for a very welcome full English breakfast.

The feeling within the team is much more confident now that two of the three peaks have been climbed (including a night hike) especially Helvellyn which, on the challenge weekend, will be climbed in the darkness of night with no moon. On each training hike we have learnt lessons. We feel fitter, stronger and more able to complete the challenge on behalf of all those people that Sightsavers International helps.

But we are in NO doubt that the BIGGEST and most DIFFICULT challenge is still ahead of us – just over two weeks away! Thank-you for following our story and thank-you for sponsoring us. http://www.justgiving.com/windsorstgmountain

Four of us set off on our adventure on the Friday night, heading to our overnight stop in Warrington.  And then up bright and early on the Saturday, for the rest of the journey to Helvellyn.  We made a brief stop in Ambleside to make a few mountain slaying purchases (poles and Kendal mint cake!) and to admire the scenery.  As well as being in a good location for walking, Ambleside had a very small National Trust property ( http://www.lakedistrictwiki.co.uk/Ambleside_Bridge_House ) and some nice looking tea & cake shops! 

We arrived at the bottom of Hevellyn at about 11am, and hopped out of the car eagerly.  We discovered that there was a three peaks running event on that day, and that most of the runners had just finished their first peak, Helvellyn.  Apparently the winner last year ran up and down three peaks in a completely insane 6 hours!  In comparison, we were just out for a nice gentle stroll!

It was very hot, so we put on the sun cream, put as much water in our packs as possible, and set off.  The first part of the walk took us uphill through a forest, and then a steep part winding round and round the base of the mountain.  As we walked, we got hotter and hotter, but kept going onwards and upwards.  By the time we’d walked for an hour we’d already seen stunning views that made the pain worth it.  A beautiful lake, and hills as far as the eye could see. 

Another hour and we were nearly at the top - the landscape had now changed from green to brown, flattening out towards the summit.  As we walked the last part of the ascent, we saw a judo club, practising judo….. yes, really!

And finally we reached the top, with fabulous views over Red Tarn, Striding Edge and down into the valleys below.  We stopped for a well earned spot of lunch! 

On the day of the challenge, we’ll be starting this route in the dark, and then descending into Glenridding rather than heading back the way we came.  But on this occasion, with our car sitting at the car park in Wythburn, we retraced our steps, pausing to take in the stunning views on the way down – and also to become acquainted with the local wildlife! 

And off to the YHA for a well earned rest and three course meal!  But the walking didn’t end there….. check back later in the week for part 2 of the Mountain Slayers Adventures in Helvellyn! 

And while you’re waiting, you could always go to http://www.justgiving.com/windsorstgmountain to donate some money to our fundraising.  We’ve made it past the £3000 mark, but still have another £2000 to raise for Sightsavers, to help with the fantastic work that they do.  We all take our eyesight for granted, knowing that we have good healthcare in the UK - so please help those in countries that don’t have the access to eye checks and surgery that we have.

First we came across the Yellow Brick Road….

And then we found more bluebells than we had ever seen before! 

We walked up hills, down hills, through fields, over stiles…. we saw pheasants, giant red kites (of the bird variety), and even a small red unidentified rodent of some kind. 

We managed a 3.5 hour walk, with plenty of evil hills to keep us happy – and rewarded ourselves at the end with a cup of tea, in true English mountain slaying tradition!!

So onwards and upwards – next stop Helvellyn – hopefully we’ll have a few photos to share afterwards.

In the meantime, we can also tell you some good news about our fundraising – we’ve now passed the £3000 mark!  Which is a fantastic amount of money for Sightsavers, and we know they will be able to do really good things with the money that goes to the Rotary African Vision Appeal.  Just think how many people we will have helped to regain their sight, and all because we walked up a few mountains

We also have another fundraising event lined up, an 80′s disco, on Saturday 17th July.  For further details, or to buy tickets at £7 each, please contact wstgmountain@googlemail.com

And don’t forget you can also find us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/wstgmc or sponsor us at www.justgiving.com/windsorstgmountain

Just over 50 people came along and enjoyed questions on subjects such as ‘what was the name of the volcano in Iceland that caused all the flight problems?’ and ‘who was the longest serving leader of a political party in recent times?’….. e-mail wstgmountain@googlemail.com for the answers!

The winners were a team of Rotaractors and ex Rotaractors from Maidenhead and Camberley – so congratulations to them.  We also presented a wooden spoon to the losing team, who were no doubt thrilled with their prize!  Photos to follow…

Don’t forget that you can support us too – http://www.justgiving.com/windsorstgmountain

Firstly from Gaby, who went to Switzerland back in April.

Saturday April 10th. Engelberg, Switzerland. I went hiking with 2 friends: Maria and Jen. As there was still some snow, we decided to walk a winter trail, which followed a winding paved path up to about 1200 metres above sea level. We walked 11 km in 2 and a half hours, after which we drank a well-deserved hot chocolate in the village.

The highlight of the day was the wedding party we came across several times during our walk, including the little chapel up in the mountain, where horse carriages came to get the bride & groom as well as some of the guests!

And Phil and Nina decided to get in some sneaky practice this weekend, heading to Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons. 

Taking the route up from the Storey Arms, we took a route that climbed and then allowed us a bit of downhill practice as we crossed a stream.  So of course having walked down, we had to walk back up again on the other side of the stream – and had a long uphill towards Corn Du. 

The route on one of the websites we’d found said that ‘novice walkers’ might like to go round Corn Du to get to Pen Y Fan.  But with the confidence of walkers who’ve conquered Snowdon, we decided that we were going to walk up Corn Du as well.  Actually it wasn’t too bad, a bit rocky right at the top, but nothing too tricky. 

Having taken in the view and seen that Pen Y Fan was pretty close, we headed downhill again, before the final uphill to Pen Y Fan at 886 metres above sea level.  More stunning views and well worth a visit!

While up there we were handed a leaflet from someone advertising a 20 or 30 mile walking challenge, so I thought we should mention this in case any of our readers fancy getting out in the Brecon Beacons – http://www.Mountain-Trail-Challenge.com – on 18th September 2010.