National Three Peaks Walk

I’m imminently due to do some charity walking – and given everybody’s excellent support last time, I thought I’d take the opportunity to ask you for a small contribution to what I‘m sure you’ll all agree is a really worthy cause.

Last year’s exertions saw me and a bunch of friends do the Yorkshire 3 peaks on the coldest, wettest midsummer’s day in living memory. We covered 26 miles and three mountains in just over 11 hours. With gale force winds and limited visibility we were subjected to rain that was like facing a water cannon. It doesn’t bear repeating the state of my knees and feet for a few days afterwards, but as the aches and pains wore off, the satisfaction of having done something fairly daunting started to sink in. Plus we’d raised £1,500 for BLISS the premature baby charity (something I really care about, given that Jack, my son, was born nearly 3 months early).

So, this year we’ve decided that over the weekend of 3rd-5th July 2009, we are going to attempt to complete the gruelling National 3 Peaks Walk.

The planned itinerary is as follows:

Friday 3rd July – Walk Snowdon (3560ft), the highest point in Wales, taking around 5 hours
Saturday 4th July – Walk Scafell Pike (3209ft), the highest point in England taking around 7 hours
Sunday 5th July– Walk the mighty Ben Nevis (4408ft), the highest point in Scotland & Great Britain taking around 7 hours

This year we’re walking for The Kay Mason Foundation (http://www.kaymasonfoundation.org/), which helps fund the education of children in Africa. The charity has all its operating costs paid for by a private individual, so every single penny raised will go directly to the children who need it. One of the Trustees is also a local man with whom we have contact, so post event, he will be able to show us how the money raised will make a real difference.

Even better, one of my friends who is doing the walk with me works for a bank (boo…hiss…), who have agreed to match £ for £ what he raises. As such, I’m proposing to use money I raise to sponsor him to increase the matched sum from the bank - in order to maximise our final contribution. Anything you can contribute would be gratefully received and of course I’ll report back to you on how we progressed, how much we raise and how it’s going to be used.