Road to Ben Nevis

If you're in any doubt about what we're attempting. Let me put it to you this way. First we're going to climb up that mountain, then when we're done with that one, we're going to drive to another country and climb another, then onto another country and climb one more. That's got to be worth £5 of your hard earned money?

If this challenge were a film...

...then Ian's words of encouragement on the Just Giving site would be it's tag line:

3 mountains in 3 countries in 24 hours... is that even possible?

£500 - 10% of the way there!

Thanks to everyone that's donated so far, including the anonymous donation that brought us up to the £500 mark. It means so much to us to be receiving all this support.

It's interesting to hear from quite a few people that have done this challenge in the past with their tips and to have discovered that there are others doing it later this year that we may be able to help out with too.

10 days into the fund raising and 10% of the money raised already. There's plenty more planning and training to do yet and the countdown stands at 123 days remaining.

Red Cross First Aid training.

I know if my Mum had been alive she'd have told us we're mad attempting this challenge, I also know she'd have been able to sleep a little easier if I was First Aid trained for it. With that in mind I've booked myself onto 'Save a life adult' stage 1 and 2 with the Red Cross this coming Monday.

The course covers

• Aims of first aid, including legalities
• Recognition and treatment of a casualty:
• Assessing an unconscious and conscious casualty for life threatening conditions – (Primary – DR.ABC & secondary surveys, recovery position)
• Basic life support including CPR
• Choking
• Blood loss - severe blood loss and dressings
• Shock
• Burns and scalds
• Fractures and sprains
• Serious medical conditions including: heart attack*, anaphylactic shock*, diabetes, seizures, stroke (brain attack), head injuries and asthma (*Including the administration of medication as appropriate)
• Minor Illness: customer’s question bank. Specific questions raised by course attendees

£84 and a day's holiday well spent, all the more so if I don't need to use any of it while we're doing the challenge!

£245 raised so far.

Just a quick post to thank everyone that's donated so far. It's great to see it all starting to happen :-)

Timing the trip.

The general plan is to allow the following:

5 hours for Ben Nevis

6 hours driving to Scafell Pike

5 hours for Scafell Pike

4 hours driving to Snowden

4 hours for Snowden

This apparently allows just enough time to stick to speed limits and for everyone in reasonable shape to complete the climbs. However we time it we'll be walking at night for certain parts of it so I've used a useful little tool http://photoephemeris.com/ to calculate sunrise and sunset times for the 3 locations (give or take a few minutes)

Ben Nevis: 04:38 - 21:57

Scafell Pike: 04:46 - 21:34

Snowden: 04:57 - 21:28

Will have to check with the team but I think my preference will be to do Ben Nevis in the evening so we finish in twilight and can drive through the night (6 hours sleep in the minibus) to Scafell Pike, starting there a little before sunrise. Should be able to get some nice sunset and sunrise shots too.

Meet the team.

Thanks to Facebook albums I've cobbled together this 'group' photo as we've not got the team together yet.

Raising money in memory of my Mum

In June 2009 my Mum passed away after a two year fight with cancer. She ended her days in Greenwich & Bexley Cottage Hospice not far from my parent's home. It is a lovely place that imparts a feeling of serenity on patients, their visitors and the staff. While we were there not only did the staff do everything they could for my Mum but they looked after our family as well, providing advice, support and even camp beds if we needed to sleep.

While we were there we often chatted with the staff and they all seemed to have a similar story; they'd lost a loved one and wanted to go to work there (whether paid or voluntarily) to do there little bit to make the same difference to others that the hospice and staff had made for them. They aren't particularly well paid, but they are all passionate about the care they provide.

The Hospice is entirely funded by charitable donations and it costs approx £16,500 a day to keep it running. Our family went away with an open ended invitation to come back to stroll the gardens, talk to the nurses, or receive counselling any time we want, and a debt of gratitude we can never repay.

Over Christmas my dear friend James suggested we organise this event to raise money for the hospice in memory of my Mum and our team of climbers/trekkers is now 5 strong.

The challenge is to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden, the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in 24 hours, climbing a total of nearly 10,000 feet, covering 27 miles on foot and around 500 miles on the road. The plan is to do it on 31st May 2011.