Day 6 - The final countdown: Abergele to summit of Snowdon

The final countdown! Only 36 miles on the bikes followed by Snowdon. No problem we thought. But Day 6 turned out to win the prize for the hilliest day of all. We enjoyed a fairly solid descent at the start and another huge (2.5 miles the warning sign told us) descent 10 miles or so later, but the rest was up, up and more up.

25 miles of cycling got us to Betws-y-coed where we celebrated the first part and prepared for the final ascent on the bikes with a delicious iced bun and cup of tea on a park bench. This did the trick excellently.

Fuelled on by this energy boost we made steady progress at first. Coming up to Plas-y-Brenin (a well known name in the Blackshaw house though actually relatively little visited by the younger members of the family) we had completed 430 out of the 437 mile total and we got our first on-road puncture. Typical. However, it tested our ability to change the inner tube and pump up the new one to a satisfactory level using a hand pump – which proved to be not bad at all.

Back on the bikes, it felt like our legs were putting in a lot more effort than the distance we were covering suggested in the last push up to the Pen-y-Pass car park. However we eventually made it up to the car park from where we were going to take the shortest route up Snowdon (excluding the train!) Our plans were scruppered however by our failure to consider that the car park might be totally full. Despite mum’s best efforts of persuading the car park attendant to let us squeeze in – even using the line ‘my daughters have just cycled from Ben Nevis’ – we were out of luck. No space whatsoever and unlikely for anyone to be leaving in the near future.

A few discussions later, we made the decision to drive down to the other side to take the ‘Rangers’ route up – a longer climb but we’d be sure to get a parking space. Stuck behind a Polish coach that went at a maximum of 20mph, we made slow progress to the other side. Mum kept us all in good spirits though by commenting on how beautiful the surroundings were and how lovely it was to see this side of Snowdon… So a proposed 12pm departure to climb Snowdon rapidly became a 2.30pm departure but eventually the five of us (Elsie, mum, Alsasdair, Dani and I) set off for the final challenge.

The walk up from the loch-side and past another lochan was rather beautiful if a bit misty. Once we got into the mist, it was just a case of keeping going to the top and listening out for the chugchug of the (surprisingly frequent!) steam train to judge how far we were from the summit.

As we neared the top, Elsie and I went off in front to order some hot chocolates in the café at the top. (yes there is a large café fully kitted out with tables, voice recordings about Snowdon and most importantly hot chocolate just below the summit of Wales’ highest peak!) Unfortunately the card machine was broken but we managed to cobble together some coins and buy 4 between the 5 of us.

Alasdair insisted that I passed him some plastic cups from the counter. I thought that he wanted to use them to split the hot chocolate evenly and I protested strongly that it was a waste of plastic and we would only need one. The logic of the plastic cups was to be revealed a little later…

We exited into the cold and mist (hats on, waterproofs zipped up) to climb the few remaining steps to the cairn at the top. Thinking Alasdair had gone to the toilet, he had in fact run up a slightly different way and was standing there grinning with a bottle of champagne in his hands. The cork was popped and the plastic glasses now came into their own as 5 glasses were

poured for a celebratory drink. This was accompanied by Eccles cakes – Dad’s favourite! A great way to celebrate a lovely 6 days and a true Blackshaw adventure.

The mist cleared slightly on our walk down and we were rewarded for our climb with beautiful views over the hills to the sea in the distance. Back to the car, a tad of repacking and then a drive up to the Lakes. We eventually found our way along some narrow and dark lanes to the house of good friend Paula Day where we were warmly greeted by her. We proceeded to have an absolutely delicious meal with chunky apple pie and red wine and were all pleased to sit at a table in a house and sleep on lovely comfy beds!

After a brief walk with Paula in the morning to see the very beautiful surroundings, we set off to Rhu Grianach where we arrived mid-afternoon.

All in all, a great time was had by all J

Thank you to all of you who have sponsored us and who have shown such enthusiasm and support to us all.

Day 5 - Galgate to Abergele

Day 5 was the hardest of the lot.

By this stage, our legs were feeling a bit heavy and as we set off in the morning, the 105 miles we needed to cover in the day seemed an awfully long way. We knew that not only was it a long way but it would also be along major roads which never provide pleasant or relaxing cycling. Our route also went through quite a few town centres – Preston, Wigan to name a few (to avoid the motorway ring-roads) – and as predicted, we got lost a few times and the miles on our bike computers seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly.

One strung out town seemed to lead seamlessly to the next in a steady stream of slightly dilapidated housing, closed shops and empty streets. The weather probably didn’t help to lighten the mood with frequent showers of varying strength interspersed with spells of sunshine – leading to some difficult calls with regard to kit choice! Should we bother with the jackets? Was the shower going to last long enough for it to be worth it? Should we keep the long-sleeved underneath the jacket and gilet and risk getting too warm or opt for the short-sleeve/jacket combo and risk chilly arms. OH the decisions. . .

Luckily, we didn’t let it all wear us down too much and managed to stay cheery and positive for (most of) the day! This was helped, as was generally the case for all six days, by the incentive of tea breaks and food stops. It’s amazing what a good cup of tea can do : )

Stopping in Wigan, hopeful to get our hands on a remedial cuppa, we traipsed through a number of streets finding many cafes but none that were open. One café sign led to a boarded over window, the next simply read ‘CLOSED’ in the window. Bank holiday Monday plus the fierce competition from multiple carpet and domestic hardware shops probably added to the lack of suitable tea-drinking venues. We finally found a ‘weatherspoons-type’ pub in the central pedestrianised bit of the town centre. Never before had either of us seen so many single, middle aged men at tables by themselves with nothing but a pint to keep them company. It was an eye opener (especially because it wasn’t even midday!). However, we managed to establish ourselves beside a window to keep an eye on the bikes outside (we managed to forget the lock) and we were pleased to rest our legs and get inside for a bit.

Elsie managed to commandeer a couple of chairs from the table next to us where a couple was sitting whilst I got the tea. Sometime later, the couple got up to leave and approached me on their way out (Elsie had gone to the toilet at this point). They were interested about the trip we were doing and wanted to know how far we were going each day, whether we were doing it for charity and if so which one. I proceeded to tell them about Development Through Challenge and our 6-day adventure. At the end of it all, the man dug into his pocket, got out his wallet and handed me a £10 note. “Well here’s a contribution in that case. Well done you” he said. As Elsie returned, I thrust the money into her hand and told her the tale with a gleeful face. Thank you kind couple in Wigan. You pretty much made our day!

The outskirts of Chester saw us take a couple of wrong turns but eventually we negotiated our way back onto the road we wanted. Another tea stop was needed in the afternoon. This time a pub with a carvery for £3.99 was our host-place.

Re-fuelled we pushed on to the Welsh border where another highlight of the day was the compulsory border-crossing photo. Between a motorway and a fairly busy A-road, we deliberated, was it worth it? The crash barriers on both sides, the long grass and the rubble all the way to the sign wasn’t particularly appealing and made the logistics of getting a self-timed shot rather difficult. We nearly resigned ourselves to getting individual shots but a slightly battered traffic cone saved the day. Elsie duly positioned the camera precariously on top of it in order to get both of us, our bikes and the sign in. The drivers on either road must have been rather bewildered if they looked to the side to see two young ladies with their bikes smiling at a camera balanced on a traffic cone.

A lesson we learnt quite quickly was that A-roads can look exactly same on the map but in reality some can be wonderfully quiet while others can be incredibly fast and dangerous. One such road was the A548 along the Welsh coast which did not provide pleasant riding with the lorries hurtling past at one moment and then slowing down through the next long and grey town. The 80-mile mark always proved to be a bit of a down point and Day 5 was no exception. We were pushing against a strong headwind and were not really enjoying the delights of the A548. To keep our spirits up, we decided to indulge in some singing. Ruthie and I are neither re-known for our beautiful voices, nor for our knowledge of song lyrics. We were going along, screeching out our rendition of Britney Spears when we heard some other voices and some clapping. A group of middle-aged women on the other side of the road had joined in our efforts and were cheering us on – classic!

The support team had arrived at our booked campsite for discover a muddy, smelly, uninhabitable field but had luckily found a much nicer alternative up the hill. When we finally dragged ourselves into the campsite at 8pm, we had a delicious pasta sauce (mum and Dani had developed an excellent system by this stage to make the most delicious sauce possible!) and cheesecake with malteasers. Yum.

Totally exhausted but with only one day left, it was bedtime.

Day 4: Scafell Pike and cycle from Langdale to Galgate

The most direct route up Scafell Pike starts from Wasdale. However, we opted for the much longer route up from Langdale because getting to Wasdale would have involved a significant detour off our route south on our bikes.

It was a lovely walk – much more varied and interesting than the ascent of Ben Nevis. The first few kilometres follows the Cumbria Way through the valley before making a steep ascent up to the first coll. There was then a nice bit of up and down, passing a beautiful wee lochan, before starting to climb over the scree fields towards the summit. The final “summit push” involved a bit of steep scrambling – great fun.

There were lots more people on the summit than we had seen on the way up – I guess most of them had sensibly come up the direct route. It was pretty windy and very cold on the top so we had a quick bite to eat post compulsory summit photo, and headed back down. We had great fun hopping between the rocks on the way down.

The whole thing took us just over 5 hours – longer than Ben Nevis even though it was a significantly smaller ascent.

Once back in Langdale, we joined the others for a very welcome bowl of soup in the New Dugeon Ghyll before doing a quick change (in the rain!) into our lycra for the next bit of the day.

The first 20 miles of the afternoon were brilliant and entirely charming once we’d turned off the A592 onto the A5074 towards Lancaster. Its amazing the difference between A-roads which appear the same on the map. The A5074 was very small and windy, with very little traffic on it while the A6 which we turned onto was far busier and nowhere near as pleasant to cycle on.

The last 25 miles of the day were cycled on the A6 and again, seemed to drag on indefinitely, with long stretches of uphill and a very strong side/head wind which wasn’t even relieved by slip-streaming as it was cutting across us.

Passing through Lancaster was interesting. I hadn’t really appreciated what a beautiful old town it was – probably biased until now due to the historic York-Lancaster rivalry which continues between the universities (I went to York) and links back to the War of the Roses.

We finally came into the town of Galgate, where we turned left at the traffic lights as directed by the very friendly woman at the campsite. Another 4 miles and we were there.

Daydreams of a beautifully pitched tent and cup of tea awaiting us were not quite realised as the car had got stuck in the mud in the campsite and things hadn’t quite gone to plan! As you can guess from that, it was a VERY waterlogged field and we resolved to lying additional tarpaulin under the sleeping compartments in an attempt to and keep us dry in the night.

Considering that this campsite was literally a field at the back of a farm, I was very impressed by the showers which provided a much needed warm up.

We spent the evening wondering if the tents would withstand the very strong wind, wrapped in all our clothes and clutching cups of tea before finally collapsing into bed. By this stage, Ruthie and I were both feeling pretty shattered but interestingly it wasn’t our legs but our backs which were feeling the pain.

Thankfully our tent proved to be strong and we survived the night without retreating to the car.

Day 3: Abington to Langdale

Even with our 100+ mile days, we never quite managed the early departure we intended. On day 3 we managed to leave at a rather civilised 8.30am.

The first 20 miles were relatively easy going on the B7076, which runs along beside the A 74(M) so was very quiet and allowed good, fast cycling without too many hills (at least not in our direction!) Our first stop was in Beattock which disappointed us as it didn’t have anywhere to enjoy our constitutional morning tea break. Forced to make do with some malt loaf and fruit/nut mixture we got back on our bikes and made it to Eccelfechan for our 40-mile stop. Now, Eccelfechan, was far from disappointing!

We found the brilliant Cressfield Hotel which was very happy to provide two weary cyclists with some tea J When the friendly Irish barman asked if we wanted a top-up, I was quick to say “yes please”. We sat there for a good hour, chilling in the nice surroundings and laughing at the big hotel dog who came in, sniffed us a bit before jumping onto one of the chairs by the window, and then sat down, very proud with his chin up, surveying us in our lycra and fluroscent gillets. He was clearly very much at home!

The best thing about this hotel

though was that when I asked for the bill, the Irishman said “ach no, don’t be silly, it was only a bit of hot water”. LEGEND. Clearly not

a very good businessman but certainly made us smile.

Tea in Eccelfechan

The next 30 miles seemed to go on FOREVER. We crossed the border at Gretna Green and got the compulsory photo at the “Welcome to England sign”. I have to say, it was a lot less impressive than the equivalent Scottish one! It got a lot more hilly and going was pretty slow, although it was really interesting to see the villages and general landscape change as we got nearer to the Lake District.

We had a brilliant 70-mile stop in a random field at the side of the road. Sun shining and soft grass – very welcoming and relaxing combination. More yummy cheese and apples sandwiches courteosy of our lovely mother and yet more fruit/nut mixture to keep us going for the last 36 miles.

Our stop marked the start of our turning onto very small and narrow farm lanes which we navigated all the way to Langdale thanks to the help of OS maps and google-map directions – great combination. Lots of up-hills but also quite a few down-hills in our favour.

The number of cyclists on the roads increased dramatically as we got into the Lake District and yet we still saw no other lone-female cyclists. In fact, we saw hardly any at all – pretty much all men. Being as competitive-natured as we both are, we took great pleasure in overtaking various men on their bikes. They didn’t seem to share our pleasure.

We took the direct route from Grasmere to Langdale and discovered what “<<” means on an OS map. It means there is a very VERY steep hill – one of a 25% gradient in this case! With our panniers, we had to be in the lowest possible gear, and standing up all the way (on our “hind legs” as Ruthie describes it), we only just managed to get up it. We laughed at the sign at the top going the other direction which said “Cyclists, test your breaks now”.

Our efforts were rewarded with a long downhill into Langdale where we were staying in the National Trust Campsite.

The night turned into a bit of a drama as Al and Dani didn’t come back from climbing as expected and by 9.30pm we were just about to call Mountain Rescue when they walked into the campsite, both totally sodden. They had had to make a tricky retreat off a climb because it started raining and it had become somewhat complicated. Al’s biggest concern was that he’d had to leave half his climbing rack in the rock and would have to make an early morning ascent to retrieve it before someone else claimed it!

Anyway, all reunited back in the campsite finally, we were off to bed, ready for our ascent of Scafell Pike in the morning.

Day 2: Tyndrum to Abington

With our alarms set for 7.30am we set ourselves the (retrospectively) rather ambitious target of an 8 o’clock departure. All was going well until about 5 minutes to 8 when Elsie, doing a quick once-over on the bikes and giving the tyres a bit of a pump up, soon found in her hands a deflated back wheel and damaged innertube. Puncture number one of the Great Adventure.

Alasdair – our chief Technical Support and Safety Advisor of the trip - was thankfully on hand to consult on why this had occurred and soon between the pair of them, the bike was fixed and ready to go. Lycra and sunglasses on, suncream applied, we set of for Loch Lomond on what was a beautiful summer’s morn.

Just over 20-miles down, we agreed we would stop in the little village of Tarbert and have a cup of tea seeing as the empty gas canister at the campsite had not stretched to boiling water before our departure. This was to become a habit in the days to come (even once we started having a cup when we woke up before we left the campsite)… The tea was accompanied by large amounts of Tesco’s-own granola which we seemed to have a special skill for consuming rather quickly. (This snack was a key runner in the closely fought battle for best energy food topspot. –Unfortunately it’s attempts were somewhat blighted by the fact that we ran out of the stuff on day two. Sadly, no more was to be found in the Tesco stores from Glasgow to Wales and so it eventually lost out to fruit and nut mixture…!)

We knew from the outset that getting through Glasgow was going to be the biggest challenge of the day. Once this was done, we’d be well over the 70 mile mark and well on our way to the next night’s camp at Abington. What we didn’t quite envisage however was what actually was to happen…

Finding ourselves a nice wee cycle path along disused roads all the way along the banks of Loch Lomond, we were very enthusiastic about the National Cycle Network and what it had to offer. Leaving the track just outside Glasgow (we couldn’t see where it continued on to) we re-oriented ourselves using the good old Google Maps directions/map combo. Making good progress into Glasgow using these (although admittedly on quite busy roads) we spotted the National Cycle Network accompanied by signs to Glasgow Central off to the left. Preferring this to the road route we had been on, we decided to go for it.

We soon found ourselves by the canal where there was a handy little bike shop where Elsie was able to purchase a spare inner tube (following the morning’s incident). Whilst doing this, Elsie also started chatting to the guy in the shop who duly informed her that there was in fact a cycle route all the way through Glasgow, and what’s more – all the way to Carlisle! Excellent, we thought. A sure way to avoid all the busy Glasgow traffic and get onto our route south (Abington being on the way to Carlise of course). This theory worked well and we soon found ourselves on the banks of the River Clyde and the BBC buildings in the very centre of Glasgow. We were incredibly pleased with our cycle route discovery.

Ruthie looking very pleased with herself in central Glasgow

Now the next challenge was to get out of Glasgow and to rejoin our route to Abington. This part didn’t go quite so smoothly… The cycle shop man had informed us that the route 7 led south to Carlsile. We duly followed these route signs, direction Paisley. In a treasure-hunt-like fashion, we were continually looking out for the next blue, white and red square sign on a lamppost in the distance to indicate we were still on the right track. This involved chatting to a few friendly Glaswegians at key junctions where the cycle track seemed to disappear entirely. A local would usually interject at this point (seeing our suitably lost looking faces and gestures) and point us to the corner the track had randomly taken to the left or a couple of streets away where the path continued unmarked. Making good progress towards Paisley, Elsie thought it would be a good idea to double check the whereabouts of Paisley in relation to Glasgow – to confirm that our Carlisle-route was foolproof. It was the opposite. Paisley is in the SOUTH WEST of Glasgow you may be interested to hear. We needed to exit Glasgow from the SOUTH EAST. Effectively we’d done a U-Turn from central Glasgow Westwards to Paisley. Wooops!

Just to add to our slightly tricky situation, it started to bucket rain – the term ‘bucket’ here is totally accurate – combined with a thunder and lightning storm to top it off. Searching for the Paisley tourist information or anywhere to get a detailed map of the area took us to the train station, to the town hall (where I slipped in in my sodden lycra and fluorescent gillet among a wedding crowd and was told by the friendly receptionist I really wasn’t supposed to be there but here was a map anyway) and eventually back to the train station.

We reflected on our choices: spend ages getting lost in an unknown part of Glasgow without a decent map and still a good 30-miles from where we needed to get to, go back into central Glasgow and then try and get out of it again to the East (would have taken at least a few hours) or get a train to the nearest equivalent exit point and get on our way to Abington. We opted for the latter. Already 4.30pm we decided it would be best to get moving. What’s more, by doing our special scenic route via Paisley, the mileage we actually cycled that day added up to the same as it would have if we’d taken the correct route through Glasgow…

Disembarking the train at Larkhall, we were told by the friendly local pharmacist that Abington was ‘nae far at all’ and we’d be ‘there in no time’. She was however used to travelling the distance by car! The last 20 miles or so seemed to drag on a bit but we came to learn that that is generally the case on days of this length. We eventually arrived, a little later than originally intended, but with a few lessons learnt along the way - about map-reading, the geography of Glasgow and general commonsense. We were greeted very enthusiastically by our Support Team who excelled themselves that evening by providing tea on arrival closely followed by delicious and generous helpings of pasta : ) Day number two, job done.

Day 1: Ben Nevis and cycle to Tyndrum, Glencoe

We set off from Newtonmore in true Blackshaw style – car packed to its absolute limits with something stuffed into every inch of space (including on top of us) and the bikes on the back. It was a freezing morning but we could tell it was going to be a beautiful day – great start to the trip!

Ben Nevis (up the Tourist route from Glen Nevis) was a bit of a slog without anything of much interest except the amazing number of people making their way up it! Saying that, the views were sensational – mountains spread out below you in every direction.

Ruthie and I formed the express team and having taken our photo at the top to prove we’d done it, we were back in the car park in 4 ½ hours with our legs feeling slightly less fresh … To give us the necessary boost of energy, we consumed (and this continued throughout the trip) handfuls of nut and raisin mixture. After much testing we have concluded that this mixture is definitely the best thing to keep energy levels high!

(Views; Ruthie and Elsie on top of Ben Nevis; Ruthie and Elsie setting off on bikes from Ben Nevis car-park)

The first bit of road out of Fort William along the A82 was pretty hairy as far as Ballachulish. Very narrow and windy and topped off by the MASSIVE lorries zooming past and overtaking on blind corners. Compared to my usual cycling haunt of London, however, it all felt rather relaxed but Ruthie, used to the quiet streets of Cambridge wasn’t so sure …

However, once we got over the Ballachulish bridge, there was a great cycle path to the village of Glencoe and after that the road was much quieter so all was good.

We started up our pattern of each leading 10 miles; having a wee break after 20 miles, and a proper one after 40 miles. Its amazing the difference (probably quite a lot of it psychological) that following someone makes. I certainly found it far less tiring and much more relaxing, although you have to trust entirely in your partner because your wheels are almost touching and you can’t really see what’s ahead of you!

The cycle through Glencoe was absolutely spectacular with the dramatic mountains surrounding us but the very slight, continuous uphill was pretty wearing and dropped our average speed significantly. I discovered that my perspective of up/down isn’t particularly accurate. My eyes were convinced that we were going ever so slightly downhill a lot of the time but my legs (and speedometer) disagreed and were positive that we were in fact going up a gentle incline – bizarre!

We arrived at our campsite in Tyndrum feeling pretty tired but pleased with our first day. The amazing showers (in a heated toilet block, painted pink, with radio 1 playing constantly) were extremely welcome!

The support team’s attempts at making our haute-cuisine pasta were slightly foiled by the fact that we hadn’t checked the gas canister which proved to be empty. Off we went to the pub – never a bad option!

Itinerary

The “3 peak challenge” usually involves climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland (1344m), Scafell Pike in the Lake District (978m) and Snowdon in North Wales (1085m) all in 24 hours (including the driving between them!)

However, to give it a Blackshaw-twist we decided to do it over 6 days and cycle the 437 miles in between the peaks… and so the adventures begin J

In the end, the cycling team was me (Elsie) and my wee sister Ruthie. We were supported by the driving/climbing/walking support team of our mum Elspeth, brother Alasdair, his girlfriend Dani and our ever-enthusiastic aunts Marion and Beth. They drove the miles, climbed the hills, set up the tents and cooked us haute-cuisine pasta in large quantities!

Our six days turned out to involve the following:

Day 1: Drive from Newtonmore to Ben Nevis (c 40 miles); climb Ben Nevis (1344m) and then cycle to Tyndrum, Glencoe (47 miles).

Day 2: Cycle from Tyndrum to Abington, Biggar (94 miles)

Day 3: Cycle from Abington to Langdale in the Lake District (106 miles)

Day 4: Climb Scafell Pike from Langdale (978m) and cycle to Galgate, Lancashire (49 miles)

Day 5: Cycle from Galgate to Abergele, North Wales (105 miles)

Day 6: Cycle from Abergele to Pen-y-Pass (36 miles) and climb Snowdon (1085m)

The idea behind the challenge was to get out and do something in the outdoors and to have a bit of fun but also to try and raise some money for a charity called Development Through Challenge. This small charity runs Mile End Climbing Wall in London and aims to encourage personal development through physical activity among young people. This charity has a very personal significance for me at the moment. As many of you know, my wonderful boyfriend Mike was tragically killed in a diving accident in June. The collection at his funeral was donated to Development Through Challenge as we used to climb at Mile End a couple of times a week and it was one of his favourite ways to spend an evening. Mike loved the outdoors and trying different activities, and I feel that he would have approved of giving such opportunities to others.

We have set up a JustGiving page to collect sponsorship (I know its now after the event but it took a while for Development Through Challenge to register with JustGiving …). This is the link: www.justgiving.com/3peakpedalpower. Our aim is to raise as much as possible because Linklaters (the law firm I’m training with) have promised to match up to £500 of sponsorship!

We hope that reading the stories on this blog which Ruthie and I will write a day at a time, will amuse you and encourage you into giving as little or as much as you can manage towards Development Through Challenge. All we can say is thank you, thank you, thank you J