The 5 Peaks Challenge
Oliver Millington Adam Chambers
2 Men 5 Peaks 1200 Miles 60 Days
The 5 Peaks Challenge Blog
Hello from donaghadee, no clue what day it is!
Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 11:29AM
Read and add comments (3)
Hello Everyone from Donaghadee, Northern Ireland!
To those of you who has spreadbets on us dying on the crossing, sorry, but we did cheat a little... Due to persistent batterings of bad weather, the treacherous nature of the Mull of Kintyre and our landing spot on Rathlin Island and time constraints meaning we didn't have time to wait for acceptable weather, we chose to persuade a boat to drag us across to Ballycastle. But we are now here, safe, sound and flying down the coast again at a much higher speed than before!
Quite a lot has happened since our last blog update, we were pinned down for a further two days in Oban due to bad weather and a stomach upset, thanks to Sea Kayak Oban who helped us stock up with all the replacement gear we needed, decent drybags, water bottles and boat wheels among them! On the third day of bad weather we decided to brave the winds and battled our way south, a whole 15km to Clachan sound, camping in the beer garden of tigh na truish inn (the hous of trousers) by the bridge over th atlantic. Thank you very much to Lars the landlord for turning a blind eye to us landng in his garden again!
From there we set off with the tide pushing us south as far as Craobh Haven (pronounced croove haven) where we dragged the boats overland to a place called Ardfern, where we set up camp in the beer garden of the Galley (some of you may be spotting a recurring theme... It's not deliberate, honest.) Two days later we were still in Ardfern, and rapidly running out of time and patience as the winds continued to howl from the southwest, no good at all for making progress along the exposed Mull of Kintyre. On the 3rd morning, bright and early, we balanced the boats on a real boat with an engine, and blasted through the overfalls, races and at times 4 metre swells across the Irish sea, landing in Ballycastle.
Finally, we were in Northern Ireland!
The following day, the 2nd of August, saw us actually kayaking again, and very fast I might add too. Our GPS read an average sped of six knots as we shot around Fair Head, past Cushendun and Cushendall, and camping just north of Carnlough, In the garden of our first incredibly hospitable Irish family. The next day, with Morale high and weather and tide behind us, we made it all the way to Larne. Just before the heavens opened, we got whisked inside by Carol and Derek, who washed and dried all of our gear, made us a fantastic meal and gave us a bed for the night, waking us up with an "Ulster Fry up" and news that a photographer from the Larne local newspaper was on his way. Again, we set off in high spirits, and set off towards our next landing, the largest of the three Copeland Islands just off the coast of Donaghadee, which is just south of Belfast. Here, we met up with a group of friends we had met on the Crinan Canal, who fed us a fantastic meal, before whisking us back to the mainland on their Rib (Rigid Inflatable boat - Gail (our new irish mother) is responsible for organising this years ribraid, a race from here to Portpatrick, where we camped almost a month ago!) and gave us beds and showers, and a breakfast, and contact with the blefast telegraph. Safe to say, it's going pretty well at the moment, and we're really liking all the Irish hospitality we're finding!
From here on we're only a couple of days from our 4th peak, then a week further from Dublin where we enter the Grand Canal and begin our homeward straight to Limerick and the walk to peak 5. With the end in sight, we're both feeling an awful lot beter! At this point, we would agan like to thank everyone who has donated, it really has made the whole thing all the more worthwhile.
Hello to everyone back home, we'll be back in under a month. Oliver and Adam x
Day 43ish
Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 11:32AM
Read and add comments (3)
Hi everyone!
As you can probably tell, many different people have updated the blog for us, (many thanks) but this is actually Oliver and Adam coming at you from an internet cafe in oban!
As some of you may be aware, last thursday, the 22nd of june, Adam and I set the record for the 3 peaks challenge by sea kayak at 39 days, 5 hours 40 minutes. we're now pushing on for the five, heading down the mull (at a pretty slow, knackered pace it has to be said) into prevailing southwesterlys and a permenant drizzle.
From here we will be travelling to the end of the mull of kintyre, and weather permitting rounding the mull and crossing from near campbeltown, hopefully dodging the massive tiderace off of rathlin island on the landing! Anyone interested in joining us for the crossing, or indeed anywhere on the trip is more than welcome (pretty much any boat considered, but please be kind and dont make your outboard motors look tooo effortless) we would be glad of fresh company.
Safe to say this is shaping up to be one of the most draining things we have ever done, (both on us and the credit card), and definitely hasnt come without its bad moments, many thanks to those people who have been on the end of the phone, or visited, or met us in pubs and things and helped out to make this a lot easier. massive thanks to he hospitality shown by snowgoose mountain centre in fort william, and the two nights in smiddy bunkhouse with laundry and drying facilities to get everthing sorted out again.
We are about to drop off the edge of civilization as far as internet and phone reception goes, so i hope people will bear with us and keep checking up, you will probably next hear from us in ireland!
Thank you again to everyone who has donated, our just giving total is well below what we have actually raised now, but we need to officially collect it all together before we can do a proper total!
will look forward to seeing everyone when we get home! much loves, Oliver and Adam.
7th, 13th and 14th of July
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:39PM
Read and add comments (2)
7th july- made it very far to Girvan, that’s 35km! not bad. Lots of rocks lot and lots of rocks.
13th july- another massive day for us 35km across to the isle of arran.
14th july- biggest day yet to tarbert 55km 35ish land miles.
And more to comeee !!
Day 23
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:38PM
Read and add comments (0)
6 july- right horrible winds once again was hoping the weather would die down but still It will not give in,, all we have done is made it to cairnryan!
Day 21 !
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:37PM
Read and add comments (0)
Made good progress yesterday from Monrieth to Glenluce. Today we have made our way across to Stranrear and a thanks to the campsite in Glenluce and the man with a van - Robert Redford.
Day 20 !!
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:30PM
Read and add comments (0)
Right the westerly wind is not helping the tide race at all, and seeing as we are heading west we will get blown everywhere! We have taken a decision however, to progress forward. This means we have to blag…
A set of wheels or trailer,
A vehicle with a towbar,
A driver.
So after finding all of the above we made our way to Monrieth, which is another small village. We have to thank Alistar for the use of his trailer also to another man who unfortunately we cant remember the name of for driving us the distance. We must stress however we did go back and walk the distance therefore not breaking the rules of this expedition. :)
2nd July - Day 19!
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:29PM
Read and add comments (0)
We haven’t even been able to get out of the harbour today.. force 8 winds and 3 metre waves aren’t very appealing! However, the steam packet inn is a very nice pub, very very highly recommended.
Up to the 1st July !
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 08:26PM
Read and add comments (0)
Right first we shall apologise for the lack of blog posts, but as you sure guessed we are within the bowels of Scotland were there aren’t many opportunities. Where did we leave you…? ahh yes, Kirkcudbright. Well in fact we were further west in Rockliffe, we then had a mishap the next day and need the thank the Kirkcudbright firing range safety boat for the exclusive escort. And for the very nice welcome at Little Ross Island where we met a fantastic group of people who gave us a little tour and the history of the quaint place.
1st July- The plan was to reach burrow head which we kind of did however we ended up in the isle of Whithorn which is a small fishing village, we haven’t gone round the head today as the local knowledge of burrow tide race is very important..
Day 15!
Monday, June 28, 2010 at 09:46PM
Read and add comments (10)
Ach aye the noo! Oliver and Adam from their thoroughly drenched tent on Scottish soil!
Today we made our biggest crossing yet, making it from Maryport to Rockcliffe, just east of Kircudbright. Since we last updated the blog we’ve done an awful lot, obviously we’ve ticked off peak number 2, Scafell Pike and kayaked the entire length of England! We’ve also been interviewed by Radio Cumbria, been woken up at 1am by a very rude spring tide knocking on our tent, and met some fantastic people. Of those people a few deserve special mention: a big thank you to the landlord and landlady at the holly house hotel, Ravenglass, who put us up in real beds either side of Scafell Pike, they were exceptionally good hosts and made us very welcome, almost as welcome as their real draft ale! We’d also like to mention ‘Dicky Tinkler’ who met us at Whitehaven on his hobo festival tour and spent the evening with us rattling the bucket and raising funds at Whitehaven Festival. There have also been loads of people we’ve met who have been really helpful with info about tides or help getting us in and out of harbours and things- too many to mention. From here we’ll be heading on to Stranraer, and onto Fort William.
Thanks again to everyone that’s donated and everyone who’s helped out along the way. We’ll speak again soon.
Day 7!
Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 09:37PM
Read and add comments (5)
I'm finally getting around to writing a blog entry whilst actually on the 5 Peaks Challenge!
So far we’ve successfully climbed Snowdon and kayaked all the way up the coast to Piel Island (which we are sharing with several pigs) having managed the largest crossing up to date across Morecambe Bay today! We're just one day behind the 60 day route card, so moral is high. We are quite taken aback by the generosity of people we’ve met along the way, both in donations and kind offers. An especially huge thank you to everyone that’s donated on our Just Giving page and cash donations along the way!
I’ll try and keep the blog more up to date from now on!
Next Page Viewing page 1 of 2
