Climbing the highest peak of Scotland, England and Wales had been on my to-do list for quite a while and luckily I managed to convince my friend Andrew to join me on the trip. Normally the challenge involves completing within a 24 hour time period, but as we preferred not be part of a tour where the transport is organised for you, we thought it best to alter the challenge to being a peak a day.

Planning

Everybody knows someone who has climbed one of the three peaks, but planning is still very important. Make sure to have good footwear and appropriate clothing. You can find many articles online where people had to be rescued from the mountains because they weren’t wearing the appropriate clothing or choose a route that is not suitable for their level of experience.

We made sure we’d have food, water and a first aid kit with us. We even had whistle each and bright coloured gear for visibility. When doing the hikes you might feel over prepared as you might see people walking up in shorts and a baby on one arm. Look at it like this, its better to have it and not need it than the other way round.

You can imagine that with nice weather there can be quite a bit of traffic on the routes. Because of this we decided to plan the trip in a way that we’d set-off from London on a Wednesday, climb Snowdon on Thursday, move on to Scafell Pike on Friday and finish with Ben Nevis on Saturday. Thursday and Friday were really quiet days where we practically had the mountain to ourselves. On Saturday we were part of a pilgrimage to peak of Ben Nevis. Choose your days well.

Transport

With having to drive from London to Fort William while detouring through Wales and England for their peaks, we knew we’d had over a 1000 miles of driving to do. For this reason we rented a Diesel car for its fuel efficiency. It being the first time having to drive on the wrong side of the road added a bit to my nerves. Luckily Andrew is born and raised in London and volunteered to drive us out of the city. A word of advice for anybody that might be hesitant having a driving holiday in the UK for this reason, don’t be. It’s something you get used to extremely quickly.

Snowdon

After what seemed like an eternity of driving ( London traffic and unrealistically high speed limits in Wales ) we finally arrived in our hostel YHA Snowdon Pen-y-Pass. Here we had a short nights sleep before waking up early to start the ascend to Snowdon. With 8 possible routes to the top it is the mountain that is best suited for any experience level, as you can pick the route best suitable for you. With time being of the essence we wanted to do to a route that was quite short and could be completed quickly. We had chosen to stay at the hostel as it was close to the Pyg and Miners track - these routes are relatively short compared to some of the others. When we woke up in the morning we instantly noticed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse, because of this we decided to take the easiest but longest route; the Llanberis route. We suffered from rain and thick fog for most of the way resulting in us having no view from our first peak, luckily there were two more to go.

For more information about the possible routes have a look at the Visit Snowdonia page. Luckily there is an alternative for the less adventurous among us, as it is possible to take a little train to the summit using the Mountain Railway.

Scafell Pike

Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England, was next. After coming down Snowdon we quickly jumped in the car and made our way to The Kellbank where we stayed the night. We’d chosen the route from Wasdale as it’s the shortest and would have us back on the road in no time. It is possible to park your car at Wasdale Head car park, but it comes with a small charge. On the day we went none of the machines worked so we left a note and went on our way.

For me, personally, Scafell Pike was my favorite of the three peaks. It features a river crossing which can be quite tricky to keep your feet dry on days with a lot of rain or melting snow. The landscape also differs quite a bit at different stages of the climb which makes for interesting pictures. It being the lowest of the peaks the climb is fairly gentle and probably the easiest. More information can be found at The National Trust

After a couple of hours we walked into a thick cloud of fog again that didn’t lift for the rest of the day. No view again and at this point we started to think, will we be able to take in the view at any of the peaks or will we have to come back another time and do it all over again?

Ben Nevis

The long drive to Fort William awaited where we booked an overnight stay at The Imperial Hotel. There are a lot of B&Bs in Fort William and quite a few hotels. It being such a popular destination it can be quite tricky to find a room if you leave it to late, like we did.

With extremely tired legs we started the last of the three peaks. We definitely saved the hardest for last, standing at 1,345m it is the tallest by quite a margin and it felt like it had quite a few very steep elements. Having saved Ben Nevis for the Saturday meant there were quite a few like minded people having the same idea as us. I don’t think that took away from the experience but I must say I really enjoyed the solitude on the other ascents. When we finally made it to the summit we absorbed the beautiful view… that must have been if it hadn’t been hiding behind a tick layer of fog. I realise it must sound like lots of complaining but for us it was more of joke. View or no view, we completed the challenge. In total it took us around 7 hours to make it to the summit and back.

Having completed the three peaks it was time to celebrate. Back in Fort William we made the most of it having a drink after dinner and playing pool with some of the locals. Little did I know Andrew used to play a lot of pool in his day ( maybe even scams, you didn’t hear it from me ), unfortunately that didn’t make up for me sucking beyond belief…

Robert Loves

I’ve always enjoyed being around nature and not being too great with heights I was quite proud having completed the challenge. It was good to have some time away from busy city life and it gave me the perfect opportunity to explore the country that I have been calling my home now for many years. Luckily Andrew and I were quite well matched in our fitness which meant that nobody was pushed too hard or another had to slow down. I think this is very important when finding a hiking buddy.

Where did we stay?

• YHA Snowdon Pen-y-Pass in Pen-Y-Pass was all we expected it to be. A place to rest our heads to move on first thing in the morning. An interesting fact to note is that there was absolutely no mobile reception and internet was not available. An emergency phone can be used to notify loved ones you made it in one piece.
• The Kellbank in the Lake District was an all-in-one experience. A place to stay including a restaurant/bar meant we could rest our legs.
• The Imperial Hotel in Fort William was a basic hotel with a sizable breakfast and friendly staff preparing sandwiches for our 5am departure back to London.