Scafell Pike

We left Ben Nevis and made good time until we got to Glasgow. The motorway was shut meaning that we had to take a detour through the city centre.  Carlton did a fantastic job as our driver and we arrived at Wasdale at 02:05 and were off onto Scafell at 02:15. The weather conditions were appalling, worse than we experienced at Ben Nevis!  It was raining when we got out of the minibus and it didn't stop.  This was a particularly difficult climb, as expected.  Having started early at Ben Nevis this meant we would be climbing Scafell Pike in the dark!  This was the first problem; it was too dark to see the route clearly even with head torches so the map and compass proved difficult. The GPS was struggling to get a signal and was only accurate to 100 ft.  We met with a team from Wiltshire and decided that there is safety in numbers and, between us all, managed to make slow progress towards the summit in the dark.  By the time it started to get light the weather ensured that things didn't get any easier.  Non-stop rain coming in at us horizontally managed to eventually make its way through our waterproofs and soaked us to the skin.  The water coming off the mountain had flooded some of the route and, at times, we had to walk through water that went over our boots but, hey, we couldn't get any wetter could we?! Towards the top there were times when we were scrambling on all fours as the wind was so strong.  Eventually, after three hours exactly, we made the summit.  One quick photo to prove we made it and we were on our way back down.  I have found coming back down the mountains more painful than going up.  You can really feel your legs burning.  Eventually at 07:40 we were back at the minibus.  Our fantastic support team sorted out some bacon and baked beans for us along with a hot cup of tea.  We got changed into our dry clothes and were back on the road by 08:10, surrounded by soaking wet kit.  We are all hoping that our kit will be dry by the time we get to Snowdon otherwise we'll just have to climb in wet kit.  It’s now looking unlikely that we will complete the challenge within the 24 hours but, to complete all three mountains in these weather conditions, is an achievement regardless of how long it takes!