Monika wrote:A bit late, but no doubt still acceptable: a cheque is on its way after I could not access the just giving either. Well done and tell us about your experience, please!
Thank you very much. According to Alzheimers society, about 20% of donations come in after the event, so I'm sure your contribution won't be too late
My experience ... well, I did put these photos on the JustGiving page, but as folk might be having trouble accessing it, I'll share them here. It was an organised event for Alzheimers soc, so there were 375 registered entrants, of which about 340 started. We set off about 7:15 in the morning, which was a bit early for my body to be ready for mountain climbing, but the route is pretty much straight up Pen-y-ghent.
Heading down from the first peak, Pen-y-ghent. Up to this point, we had been in murky weather conditions, this was the first sight of sunshine.
Approaching out first checkpoint, 10 miles in at the Ribbleshead viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle line. I sat on a rock here with my feet dangling in the cold water of the river Ribble whilst I ate an early lunch. It felt like having a new pair of feet afterwards ! I'm surprised more people didn't do this; perhaps they wanted to press on, we had been told that there would be a 4pm cutoff point before the last peak, Ingleborough.
Heading up to Whernside. This is a long slog, but the views are great. From the top I could see right across the Lakes to the sea beyond.
The final peak - Ingleborough. The steep rock strewn side looks very high and daunting on approach. The haul up is a tough one, but much worse for having legs that have climbed two mountains already. But the pub lies over that hill, and giving up is not an option.
Once over Ingleborough, it is a steady 4-5 mile walk back to Horton. I had started out just wanting to make sure I finished it, hopefully inside the 12 hour generally accepted target time. At the start point the bottleneck to get out of the field and over the small footbridge was enough that I decided to fit in a loo visit before setting off, so was well back in the field. I passed quite a few people because I wanted to be sure I had plenty of time in hand to make that 4pm cutoff point before the last peak, Ingleborough. On the way down from Pen-y-ghent I realised I had caught up with the guide (who we had been told not to pass). I know it is not a race, but by the third peak I realised I could make a rather better time than I had been expecting, so pressed on quite hard back to Horton. My legs aren't fully back to normal yet !
I also used my phone's GPS tracker. The phone got a bit damp on Pen-y-ghent, and all of it's own accord tried to call my builder, and Facebook friended the manager of my local Italian restaurant (I kid you not). But the GPS worked:
