Monday 4th July 2005
We arrive in North Wales in the rain and, for the price of a pot of tea, settle down in the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel bar for a couple of hours rest before peak 3.
Snowdon is probably the most enjoyable of the peaks with a steady climb from the Pen-y-Pass and then a great traverse above Llyn Llydaw before the steeper climb to the summit ridge and then the top.
We make it to the top in strong winds and driving rain. Andy is the real tough guy on this one, dragging Ross and Tommo along on the route back. We make it in just under two hours in dreadful conditions and find Charles waiting to whisk us off to our pit stop in Bangor for a meal and a few hours sleep before catching the 3am ferry from Holyhead to Dublin.The ferry is modern and comfortable and we crawl into our sleeping bags in the corner of the bar for a couple more hours sleep before the drive down to South West Ireland.
Amazingly the sun is shining at 11am on Saturday morning as we get ready for Carantouhill, our fourth peak.
One team seems to have an extra member as the crazy hats and fancy dress comes out for the last climb.
The weather deteriorates rapidly and our plans to run to the base of the Devil's Ladder are foiled by very strong head winds.
The ladder itself is a steep but enjoyable scramble up a waterfall (!) and at the top we are hit by very strong winds and rain like needles.
When we finally reach the bottom of the Ladder Tommo finds his strength and storms down the final few kilometres back to the finish. Our fourth second place in 2hrs 37mins.
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A few hours later and we are clean and dry in the luxurious surroundings of the hotel Europe.
The Guinness flows as we catch up with the other teams and swap stories with new friends.
The 4 Peaks Challenge is a great combination of tough competition with friendly camaraderie. All the teams have worked hard to raise at least £4,400 each. Cargills raise an amazing £100,000. The organisers are fantastic as are the volunteer marshalls.
Our final results are great - second fastest team at 8hrs 50 mins we take the Ben Nevis Trophy and narrowly miss the overall 4 Peaks Trophy - if we had raised another £1k we would have been overall winners.
Charles is already promising Katherine a return next year as we stagger off to bed praising team Wolan for taking our car back on a transporter so that we can fly home for £6 each!