Teesside
Fridays Family Foundation: Lake District 3 Peaks Challenge
by John - Waiter / Waitress, Teesside | 15 May 2012
Great End
Dear Friday’s Family Foundation,
Firstly I would like to thank the foundation for the £1000 that was put towards our Lake District Three Peaks Challenge, which we completed from the 4th-6th May in order to raise money for the Middlesbrough home grown charity; the Meserani Project which aims to help improve the lives of school children in Africa. Secondly I would like to thank the Foundation for the TGI flag that we received and we made sure to get pictures with the flag at each of the Peaks.
Our challenge began on Friday the 4th of May, which involved us travelling to Thrilmere Village Hall where we were staying for the weekend, after arriving and unpacking we played some name games to get to know each other better and then went on the search for the village pub in order to find food and drink. The first day of climbing was on Saturday 5th, we had a 6:30am wake up call, which many were already up and eager to get going and we were out and climbing by 8:00am. The two peaks that we were facing on Saturday were Great End (2,986ft) and Scafell Pike (3,209ft). For the most part the climb up was flat, but this soon changed when we were nearing the peaks, the climbing then involved climbing over various rocks and boulders. We reached the empty summit of Great End at about 11:00am had a quick picture and then headed off towards Scafell Pike. This route was very rocky and uphill then downhill and back up again, but we reached the peak at about 12:30-1:00pm, in a complete contrast to the previous summit there were people coming and going in groups. We began our walk back down, which was harder than expected due to aching feet and the rocky surface and surprisingly some scrambling near Piers Gill (with a rescue helicopter performing training exercises over our heads). We made it down, we luckily had a dry sunny day (unlike the forecast of snow and ice) and many of us came down with sunburn. By 6:00pm we were having a very nice pub meal in Keswick.
The second day of climbing began yet again with a 6:30am wake up call, which was much more difficult than Saturday as stiffness had set in overnight, due to the weather forecast predicting snow and ice on the peaks (yet again) we decided to not do Helvellyn and instead do the slightly smaller peak of Skiddaw (3,054 ft) just to be safe as Helvellyn does have a fair bit of scrambling to do. In many aspects the climb up Skiddaw was more difficult than the previous days climb due to it being just uphill (it felt practically vertical!) and having sore legs and feet. Skiddaw also has three separate peaks which gives you a false sense of hope that you’re near the peak, only to see an even bigger one behind it. Suddenly (as you can see on the pictures) on the first peak of Skiddaw we were surrounded by cloud and snow which involved a quick rush to wrap up in as many layers as possible. We reached the peak of Skiddaw at 11:00am, had a very quick picture at the top as it was freezing and headed back down and we were home much earlier than first thought, at about 4pm.
When we stopped for our lunch on the way back down from Skiddaw we decided which one of the charities aims to put the money that we had raised towards and after a quick discussion decided to put it towards Solar power for the teachers house at Meserani Chini Primary School in Tanzania.
All involved with the challenge and with the charity would like to thank TGI Fridays Family Foundation for this support as it has given a huge push towards one of the charities aims. I will make sure to keep you informed on our progress.
John Clark, Sophie Heward and the 23 Former Pupils and Staff of Acklam Grange.
Firstly I would like to thank the foundation for the £1000 that was put towards our Lake District Three Peaks Challenge, which we completed from the 4th-6th May in order to raise money for the Middlesbrough home grown charity; the Meserani Project which aims to help improve the lives of school children in Africa. Secondly I would like to thank the Foundation for the TGI flag that we received and we made sure to get pictures with the flag at each of the Peaks.
Our challenge began on Friday the 4th of May, which involved us travelling to Thrilmere Village Hall where we were staying for the weekend, after arriving and unpacking we played some name games to get to know each other better and then went on the search for the village pub in order to find food and drink. The first day of climbing was on Saturday 5th, we had a 6:30am wake up call, which many were already up and eager to get going and we were out and climbing by 8:00am. The two peaks that we were facing on Saturday were Great End (2,986ft) and Scafell Pike (3,209ft). For the most part the climb up was flat, but this soon changed when we were nearing the peaks, the climbing then involved climbing over various rocks and boulders. We reached the empty summit of Great End at about 11:00am had a quick picture and then headed off towards Scafell Pike. This route was very rocky and uphill then downhill and back up again, but we reached the peak at about 12:30-1:00pm, in a complete contrast to the previous summit there were people coming and going in groups. We began our walk back down, which was harder than expected due to aching feet and the rocky surface and surprisingly some scrambling near Piers Gill (with a rescue helicopter performing training exercises over our heads). We made it down, we luckily had a dry sunny day (unlike the forecast of snow and ice) and many of us came down with sunburn. By 6:00pm we were having a very nice pub meal in Keswick.
The second day of climbing began yet again with a 6:30am wake up call, which was much more difficult than Saturday as stiffness had set in overnight, due to the weather forecast predicting snow and ice on the peaks (yet again) we decided to not do Helvellyn and instead do the slightly smaller peak of Skiddaw (3,054 ft) just to be safe as Helvellyn does have a fair bit of scrambling to do. In many aspects the climb up Skiddaw was more difficult than the previous days climb due to it being just uphill (it felt practically vertical!) and having sore legs and feet. Skiddaw also has three separate peaks which gives you a false sense of hope that you’re near the peak, only to see an even bigger one behind it. Suddenly (as you can see on the pictures) on the first peak of Skiddaw we were surrounded by cloud and snow which involved a quick rush to wrap up in as many layers as possible. We reached the peak of Skiddaw at 11:00am, had a very quick picture at the top as it was freezing and headed back down and we were home much earlier than first thought, at about 4pm.
When we stopped for our lunch on the way back down from Skiddaw we decided which one of the charities aims to put the money that we had raised towards and after a quick discussion decided to put it towards Solar power for the teachers house at Meserani Chini Primary School in Tanzania.
All involved with the challenge and with the charity would like to thank TGI Fridays Family Foundation for this support as it has given a huge push towards one of the charities aims. I will make sure to keep you informed on our progress.
John Clark, Sophie Heward and the 23 Former Pupils and Staff of Acklam Grange.
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