Jessica Ives-Keeler, Clinical Education Team Manager at HCPA recently took on the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge to raise money for the Stroke Association. Read below to see all the details from this challenging accomplishment!
On Saturday 11th June, I completed the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge in aid of the Stroke Association. The challenge started at 6am, so I set my alarm for an ungodly 4:30am to get up and ready to start. When I arrived at the start point it was very overcast and extremely windy, our group guide was worried we wouldn’t be able to complete one of the peaks due to the dangerous winds, however we were lucky and did manage to complete them all.
The first peak we climbed was Ingleborough, which we managed to summit at 7:30 in the morning. It was so overcast you couldn’t see anything from the top other than fog! But it was a strong start to the challenge.
We then walked down through a village called Horton in Ribblesdale, where we stopped for water refill, toilets and my lovely husband met me with our two dogs to give me a well needed morale boost ????
Next was Pen-y-Ghent, the smallest but steepest of the three peaks. This was the peak we weren’t sure if we could complete, and we had to take a detour for a safer path. We got to the summit of Pen-y-Ghent at 10:55. While we were at the top, I scoffed my sandwich as I was so hungry, but regretted this coming down as I started to feel very sick! Thankfully, I managed to push through and the feeling passed.
The walk between Pen-y-Ghent and our final peak was a long one, where my husband met me again with the dogs and passed me an energy drink and a packet of munchies – he’s a good egg!
I finally ascended Ingleborough, the tallest of the three peaks at 15:39. It was a long but gentle incline, but the decline was very steep and my knees were complaining sorely at the end! It was then a short walk back to the starting point, where my husband picked me up and I went home to collapse in a bath!
Overall I completed the challenge in 10 hours and 23 minutes, 1 hour and 40 minutes short of the 12 hour cut off. I raised £390 pounds for the Stroke Association, which will go into life saving stroke research and also supporting all those affected by stroke.
Thank you so much for reading and for your support ????