it was only when writing Maybe, misery that my life changed. I began to crave more... Not more money or more success but more from life in general. My cousin and I found ourselves wanting to do things that not everyone could do, an almost elitist attitude to improving ourselves. First up came Tough Mudder, the 12 mile assault course designed by the military.
Out of shape and out of mind, we spent the better part of a year training, preparing for what lie ahead. Myself, the human procrastinator going through phases of training and then putting it off much to the understandable annoyance of my cousin.
Luckily for me, we sorted our shit out and became a stronger team of two, though we're still shit at Call Of Duty. The time flew by and it was soon time for our first challenge. It's safe to say our determination led the way and we destroyed that course in style.
Afterwards we felt proud and it's safe to say I felt slightly egotistic because along the way we witness people fitter than ourselves breaking down, giving up and yet we persevered. What was next we eventually found ourselves asking?
My cousin had heard of The Three Peak challenge and suggested it to me, being plucky and over confident I thought it was a great idea. We trained for half a year building up our strength and even booked ourselves a holiday as a reward upon completion.
Friday soon came and it's safe to say now, we had no idea what we were in for. We had a long drive up to Oban in Scotland and got booked into our hotel. Scotland is gorgeous, filled with independent businesses only ruined by the shitty weather. After fish, chips and mushy peas with my cousin and his girlfriend who was selflessly driving us around, I settled into my lonely room and actually got some writing done.
We were due to wake at 4 a.m, I woke at 12.45 a.m so I showered and sat around anxiously waiting. My cousin informed me he had a shitty nights sleep. It soon became time to set off to Ben Nevis thinking we were ready.
Arriving at 5.20 a.m we were due to set off at 6, but we set off at 5.50 a.m instead. It was steep from the start and it wasn't long before I felt it on my thighs. Travelling up the winding path we made it above the clouds, passing people and making good time. Seeing people wearing full walking gear and holding walking sticks I felt under prepared but confident we didn't need the help. We hit the rain and then came the blizzard. As we battled up the ice knowing one slip could end us we made it to the top. The visibility was minimal causing us to almost walk of the cliff edge. This was some scary shit but we made it! We found a woman at the top who took out picture and we headed back down.
Coming down the ice was a disaster yet fun, I fell and smashed my knee. We found ourselves linking arms and almost skiing down the ice stopping just before the sharp black rocks. Due to the rain every step was slippery causing me to fall on my ass. Once we made it to the bottom, the feeling of relief was unbelievable.
So off to Scafell Pike we went cramped in a car eating nothing but sugary sweets to keep our energy levels up. I managed to get an hours sleep. On the way to Scafell we were making good time... Until we got a flat tire! The delay set us back but were still determined.
As we finally arrived we didn't waste any time setting off. Unfortunately I soon felt the pain in my knee and it only got worse as Scafell was steeper than Nevis.
We eventually reached a fork in the path, I opted to go left and my cousin to the right so we asked a few passers by. Two told us it was quicker to go right so that's the way we went. THEY WERE WRONG! We had to free form climb across the rocky landscape and the peak seemed to move further away but once more we persevered.
Reaching the peak, we experienced gale force winds that very nearly blew us away but we still managed to get our picture taken before we headed down. Every step down the pain in my knee became sharper with my cousin also experiencing some discomfort in his hips and foot but we still made it to the bottom in good time.
Next up, Snowdon... We were told it was easy, THEY WERE WRONG! We started at 2 in the morning and it was pitch black. We couldn't see a thing asides from the small spots illuminated by our headlights. We couldn't even see the correct path to take and with my knee causing me agonizing pain, I felt lie giving up but I couldn't so close to the end.
We came across a couple heading to the peak to watch the sunrise and they kindly pointed us in the right direction. We eventually made it to the top and briefly celebrated.
We headed back down, both in pain and annoyed about the time we had wasted being lost in the darkness. Battered, bruised and ready for home, the journey back as the sun came up felt eternal and not once did the end seem near. We eventually made it to the car and didn't have the energy to be enthusiastic, we made it in 24 hours and 50 minutes and after that we just wanted our beds.
I slept all the way home, only waking to the feeling of wanting to be sick until I closed my eyes once more. We made it back and I headed straight to sleep.
As I sit here at Nans, nursing a sore knee, I look back in fondness of our journey, despite the pain and difficulty, it truly was astonishing some of the views we witness. Earth really is beautiful if you look in the right places and I await our next challenge with the same enthusiasm as I did this.
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