Hampton Hikers & Team GBM on top of Ben Nevis

Isle of Man just before start of the 1st peak

Team GBM & Hampton Hikers all finished!!!

Stop press.......GBM delighted to have completed the gruelling 6 Peaks Challenge and raise more than £10,000 for WaterAid. A huge thank you to all our sponsors - colleagues, friends, families, and all who have contributed to this incredible sum.

A big thanks for the team sponsors: TOM Vehicle Rental (www.tomvehiclerental.co.uk), Two-plus-Two, Hercules Site Services, Boultings, DRC Services, GTIS, H&M, Ward & Burke, Anord, Fergal Contracting, Straight Line Services, HVMS, and Alfa-Laval.

Our fellow teams

Despite the pain and lack of sleep, we’ve had a great time. A big chunk of that is due to the other teams who we met and bonded with along the way.

 

If you want to see how they got on, and see other photos of the journey, you can look them up in the following places (the name in brackets is their radio call sign):

 

Unathletico Madras (Chapati): Unknown

 

The Village People (YMCA): Twitter @CornwellDavid

 

The Black & Veatch Lions (Simba): Twitter @thesixpeaks or @iPaulSutherland

 

Ascenders of the Earth (Jumar): Twitter @djtomlawson

 

Walking for the Peakend (Robinson): Twitter @pandybear55

 

Humble Bumblers (Bombas): Twitter @catminor or @steVnut or @jane_jane845

                                                                Blog: http://6peakshumblebumblers.wordpress.com/

 

Aquaholics (Tequila): Unknown

 

Team GBM (Gallifrey) & Hampton Hikers (Skaro): Twitter @alexanderlouden

                                                                                                     Blog: http://wateraid6peaksgbm.blogspot.co.uk/

 

And for anyone wanting to follow the organisers, they have a twitter feed @WaterAid_6peaks

 

If anyone knows of any other blogs, twitter feeds or anything else from the weekend that hasn’t been included here, please let me know.

Our home for the last few days TOM mini buses ..

And the Award for best Individual effort goes to........

I guess you know who by now.......well done Skaro trail blazer!!!

Corran Tuathail

WE'VE FINISHED!

Lots of aches and pains, being gently soothed by beer...

The final supper!

All arrived safely in Cairnryan for ferry to ireland.

Enough time to hunt down a curry house in Stranraer and have what should be our last evening meal before the Monday night celebrations......we hope!!

Word getting around and there should be another few walkers joining our groups for the last peak.......coran tuathail in souther Ireland.

Keep working hard back at the ranch

Ben Nevis completed

John all excited about the ice cream.

Team GBM with Yorkshire Water Team

Ben Nevis

The Hampton hikers crossing the last bridge abd marching towards the finish line.

Chilli out

Alexander and Jacob cooling  off with some natural hydo therapy

Post peak 4

We've found a curry house in Stranraer, before our ferry leaves for Belfast.

General feeling of tiredness around the group, from a mixture of lack of food and sleep. Ben Nevis was started at 5:30, after arriving in Fort William at 2am. It was a long slog to the top, but rewarded by incredible views across the loch. And we got to walk across some snow!

Not loads of photos, but they will come soon...

Start of the 2nd half of our quest - no it's not The Lord of the rings

Journey from Lake District was long and tiring. Drivers now starting to feel the tiredness so climbers must now be really feeling the burn.
We set of from scafell pike from the picturesque hamlet of Seathwaite, in the Borrowdale valley.
Stopped in Kewsick to refuel on cards..........fish & chips all round!
On the road for about 9pm
Drivers swapped at abington just before 11pm, then it was straight to Corran for the bunkhouse to try and get the climber a couple of hours good sleep before the Ben Nevis climb.
Journey up loch Lommond side, thru Crianlarich, Tyndrum and alone Rannoch moor and past Ballachulish at that time of night is quiet but pitch black.
To make matter a worse the rain started. These roads are bad at the best of times!
To add to our pleasure and pass the time we also had to play I Spy for the numerous deer that were loitering with intent at the road side that time of night!
Apparently the graze at this time of night? It's safer???

Guess they never heard of the GBM drivers!!

Arrived safe and sound just before 2am. Climbers had to be back up at 4.15am.

Weather the following morning was good and sun soon came out. Views up here are fantastic!

1am.......where am I

View from Snowden towards the miners path

And some tricks on board

Our transport from Douglas to Hersham ....

Sunset en route to Hersham

Day 2 Early start for Snowden

Day 2 @ halfway house along Snowden

One for the collection

Day one first summit Snaefell summit. 

Day One finish line at Laxey

Andy Louden walking along side the world famous  Laxey wheel.

Day 1 pictures from Laxey start point

Sights of Wales

Well done boys....here's a treat!

After a record comeback from Team GBM, we join our comrades Skaro to some fish & chips .....a pat on the back........and did I say Kingfisher do a great chipy

Stop it. It tickles!

The injuries list starts to grow.

The lions came thru their injury list to conquer we will as well.
Great win for the Lions cheered us all up. Except Ian (the Aussie) Horn.
Shall we buy a lions shirt for Ian to wear?

Very Early Morning view of Snowden

Weather and view good even at this obscene hour in the morning.

Early start for the team

After a successful Friday, the team set of from Heysham ferry terminal about 11.30pm.
After travelling down into north Wales we parked up at Bangor service station for a few hours sleep. Then it was on to Llanberis for a team safety check prior to the boys setting of up Snowden.

Just a waiting game

Poised ready for the off!

Where do we go next?

Its a hard knock life for drivers Garvie and Ian. Working out the route to our next conquest.

Garvie says go right, Ian says turn left....tossed a coin to make decision but coin rolled into a ditch!!!

Snaefell

One of our fellow teams at the top of Snaefell (Isle of Man). Can you guess what their team name is from the costumes? Guesses in the comments...

My undying admiration and respect to the winner (ie. No actual prize)

Day 1, Isle of Man

I'm typing this post from the (relative) comfort of our luxury cabin birth on board the ferry from the Isle of Man to Heysham, England.

 

We completed the first climb today, the relatively modest 600 and a bit metres of the picturesque Snaefell on the Isle of Man. Of the Isle itself it certainly is a beautiful setting and the weather gave us an equally beautiful start on what made for a lovely start to the challenge! We managed to walk with the other groups for much of the walk, with people from all walks of life and all regions of the UK as well. It started with a gentle bumble along the river and then ramped up with. Very steep climb to finish. With outlet ferry not till 7:45 we even managed to find time for ice cream and more importantly beer at the end of the day. Tomorrow, I think, will prove to be far more challenging with a 5AM start for snowdon in the morning and the the challenge of England's highest, Scafell Pike, in the afternoon/evening!

The start of the Challenge

Sorry about radio silence - the Isle of Man is beautiful but not mobile phone friendly.

So here everyone is, itching to get going. The excitement is written all over Andy's face:

We arrived in Laxey at 10am, and went to the Methodist Church for a briefing. No idea what we were told but there was a fantastic spread. Alexander and Jacob managed to try all 5 different desserts, before hobbling around holding their bellies.

We then went down to the harbour for photos and the start. Here the Hampton Hikers.

At the risk of ruining the suspense of future posts, we then climbed Snaefell, ticking off the first of the six peaks. An enjoyable sunny beer was then consumed, and the last showers of the rest of the tour were had. Photos of the peak to follow, once Raghu has had something to eat to soothe his mood!

Morcambe Bay

Local wildlife keeping an eye on GBM drivers.

And before anyone blogs back, NO those are not our minibuses parked out in the bay!

Meeting old friends

Eric buys GBM some ice creams.

Speed trap!

After good nights sleep for drivers the day started badly with Peter & Bob being caught for speeding!

Not all hard work

All this six peaks lark seems a bit easy! An ice cream on the Liverpool docks whilst waiting for the rest of the team to arrive followed by tea, flapjack and beer on the ferry (not forgetting the slightly rushed pizza express in Liverpool before the ferry) and then a couple of beers getting to know the team in the evening at our relatively plush hotel! Looking forward to kicking of the walking at 1pm tomorrow after our final breeding!

The local brew

Anyway, Fastyr Mie (Good evening in manx, apparently)

First views of Douglas