God this seems forever ago!
Ok ... at the start of August, I set out with six challengers - Dave, Dan, David, Chris, Dummy and Andy - in an attempt to do the Three Peaks Challenge in 24 hours.
23 hours and 59 minutes later, we completed it!
It is a really good challenge, and definitely one I would recommend trying if you enjoy trekking. It was such a nice experience to do as a group, and we made a real weekend of it.
We completed it about 3 or 4 weeks after the summer solstice, when you can actually do all the walking in daylight (we walked for 2 hours up Scafell Pike in the dark), but I would say it's still easy enough, and if you do have to do some walking in the dark, make it Ben Nevis is the path down is really clearly laid out.
We got extremely lost on Scafell Pike, and ended up having to hike up a really scary scree run, something I would definitely not advise! And we weren't the only team to get lost on that hill that morning!
My advice - make a weekend of it, go up to Fort William on the Friday, start around 5 or even later on the Saturday night, then do Ben Nevis, bomb it down to Scafell Pike, get the beast over and done with, and then negotiate the tourists on Snowdon!
Whatever you do, don't forget to fill the car with petrol like the boys did!!! Ooh and get yourself at least one driver - Laura was invaluable :)
Charly xxx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkerWMISdG4&feature=channel_page
Showing posts with label trekking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trekking. Show all posts
Friday, 13 March 2009
Challenge Charly Round the World
I am extremely embarrassed to realise it's been over 6 months since I last blogged.
Challenge Charly is still very much alive and kicking, however it completely slipped my mind to keep up the written blog as well at the YouTube channel, and for that I can only apologise.
Over the next couple of weeks I will try and do some write-ups of all the challenges I've done since The Philippines, there have been quite a few!
However, looking to the future ... I am currently in Argentina, 3 months in to my trip around the world with Challenge Charly!
So far I've been to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and am currently in Patagonia, so have been heading backwards and forwards over the Chilean/Argentine border for the last week and a half.
The plan is to head to Torres del Paine, but transport here is a complete nightmare, and it definitely sounds way easier to get here when you read about it in the Lonely Planet. My plan is to walk the W, though this will depend on kit, a tent and a team, all of which I am currently lacking!
I'm off to Punto Arenas tomorrow, from Rio Gallegos - the bus stop where I'm staying tonight. From there I'll head to Puerto Natales, and finally, almost 2 weeks after leaving Santiago, I should get to Torres del Paine.
I'll keep you posted on how successful the challenge is!
Charly xxx
Challenge Charly is still very much alive and kicking, however it completely slipped my mind to keep up the written blog as well at the YouTube channel, and for that I can only apologise.
Over the next couple of weeks I will try and do some write-ups of all the challenges I've done since The Philippines, there have been quite a few!
However, looking to the future ... I am currently in Argentina, 3 months in to my trip around the world with Challenge Charly!
So far I've been to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and am currently in Patagonia, so have been heading backwards and forwards over the Chilean/Argentine border for the last week and a half.
The plan is to head to Torres del Paine, but transport here is a complete nightmare, and it definitely sounds way easier to get here when you read about it in the Lonely Planet. My plan is to walk the W, though this will depend on kit, a tent and a team, all of which I am currently lacking!
I'm off to Punto Arenas tomorrow, from Rio Gallegos - the bus stop where I'm staying tonight. From there I'll head to Puerto Natales, and finally, almost 2 weeks after leaving Santiago, I should get to Torres del Paine.
I'll keep you posted on how successful the challenge is!
Charly xxx
Thursday, 5 June 2008
I need action!
Oh dear, I don't think I'm cut out to be a sailor ... or at least not a cruising yacht sailor.
I am SO bored! It's just not high-paced enough, or scary enough! I'm definitely a thrill-seeker at heart, and pottering around the Solent really isn't doing it for me!
Hmm... maybe I shouldn't completely give up, but if I do another sailing-related challenge, I think it will be sailing to somewhere like Morocco, or doing the Isle of Wight Cowes Week 'Round the Island' race, or maybe something smaller like dinghy sailing?
Anyway, only one more day left, and then on Saturday I'm off to North Wales to do my Mountain Leadership training ... hopefully that will be a bit more active! And hopefully the sleeping arrangements (even if they turn out to be tents) will be more comfy ... yacht bunks are surprisingly hard :)
Charly xxx
I am SO bored! It's just not high-paced enough, or scary enough! I'm definitely a thrill-seeker at heart, and pottering around the Solent really isn't doing it for me!
Hmm... maybe I shouldn't completely give up, but if I do another sailing-related challenge, I think it will be sailing to somewhere like Morocco, or doing the Isle of Wight Cowes Week 'Round the Island' race, or maybe something smaller like dinghy sailing?
Anyway, only one more day left, and then on Saturday I'm off to North Wales to do my Mountain Leadership training ... hopefully that will be a bit more active! And hopefully the sleeping arrangements (even if they turn out to be tents) will be more comfy ... yacht bunks are surprisingly hard :)
Charly xxx
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Borneo!
Just a quickie I'm afraid as I'm on a hostel computer and there's a queue.
Have spent the last three weeks in Borneo, travelling around Sabah and Sarawak, and completing two pretty hardcore trekking challenges whilst here.
The first was Mount Kinabalu - the highest peak in South East Asia at 4095m. Not all that high compared to Killimanjaro or Base Camp, but a really tough trek because the first day you ascend 1300m in just 6 or 8km (depending which trail you take), and then the second day you ascend 800m before sunrise, and then have to come all the way down again!
The steps up were far steeper than anything on the way up to Everest Base Camp, and adding to the difficulty is the humidity - sweat literally gushed off my fringe the whole way up.
I made it to Laban Rata - the overnight stop at 3300m in just under 6 hours, and then the next morning it took me a further 2 hrs up, and 1 then 3 hrs back down again.
Accompanying me were Challengers Charlie, Kathy, Denzil, Jesse and Chris.
The second climb was The Pinnacles, a unique rock formation in the Mulu National Park in Sarawak. I thought that Mt K was hard - the Pinnacles Climb seemed twice as steep!
Just wait to watch the video to see how crazily steep the whole 2.4km climb up to the viewpoint was. I think we ascended 1300m again, but in less than half the distance!
Up Mt K every half kilometre is marked - something I'd never seen before up a mountain, though you realise why the markers are needed once you start walking - it's just like a marathon!
And yet up the Pinnacles every 100m is marked! And you feel like it takes you just as long between markers.
Jesse, Denzil and Charlie all also accompanied me up the Pinnacles, so they are all eligible for both Challenge 4 and Challenge 5 t-shirts!
Bring on Challenge 6 - Soweto!
Have spent the last three weeks in Borneo, travelling around Sabah and Sarawak, and completing two pretty hardcore trekking challenges whilst here.
The first was Mount Kinabalu - the highest peak in South East Asia at 4095m. Not all that high compared to Killimanjaro or Base Camp, but a really tough trek because the first day you ascend 1300m in just 6 or 8km (depending which trail you take), and then the second day you ascend 800m before sunrise, and then have to come all the way down again!
The steps up were far steeper than anything on the way up to Everest Base Camp, and adding to the difficulty is the humidity - sweat literally gushed off my fringe the whole way up.
I made it to Laban Rata - the overnight stop at 3300m in just under 6 hours, and then the next morning it took me a further 2 hrs up, and 1 then 3 hrs back down again.
Accompanying me were Challengers Charlie, Kathy, Denzil, Jesse and Chris.
The second climb was The Pinnacles, a unique rock formation in the Mulu National Park in Sarawak. I thought that Mt K was hard - the Pinnacles Climb seemed twice as steep!
Just wait to watch the video to see how crazily steep the whole 2.4km climb up to the viewpoint was. I think we ascended 1300m again, but in less than half the distance!
Up Mt K every half kilometre is marked - something I'd never seen before up a mountain, though you realise why the markers are needed once you start walking - it's just like a marathon!
And yet up the Pinnacles every 100m is marked! And you feel like it takes you just as long between markers.
Jesse, Denzil and Charlie all also accompanied me up the Pinnacles, so they are all eligible for both Challenge 4 and Challenge 5 t-shirts!
Bring on Challenge 6 - Soweto!
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Still to come ...
Just to give you a taster of some of the challenge ideas for the next 6 months ....
- Three Peaks
- Mount Brandon (in Ireland ... Brandon is NOT a person!!)
- Ice Climbing
- Flying Lesson
- Coasteering
- Indoor Sky Diving
- Zorbing
- Wakeboarding
- Windsurfing
- Aerobathon
- Pirate Rampage!
- Bushcraft Week
- Learn to Sail
- Mountain Leadership Course
Any other ideas?! Then get in touch! And come join me on the challenges!!
- Three Peaks
- Mount Brandon (in Ireland ... Brandon is NOT a person!!)
- Ice Climbing
- Flying Lesson
- Coasteering
- Indoor Sky Diving
- Zorbing
- Wakeboarding
- Windsurfing
- Aerobathon
- Pirate Rampage!
- Bushcraft Week
- Learn to Sail
- Mountain Leadership Course
Any other ideas?! Then get in touch! And come join me on the challenges!!
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