53rd UK Three Peak Challenge 2nd and 3rd June 2018.

On the 1st June 11 members of the 53rd meet in Manchester. Skip, Isaias, Andreas, Nafsika, Christianna and Emilios flying in from Cyprus and Christos, Alex R, Nich E, Samantha and Michael from southern parts of England. At mid-day we started the long drive up to Fort William in Scotland with a stop at Glasgow Airport to pick up Hanna, Laura and George K. Now the 53rd Three Peak Challenge team were all together and ready for this adventure after talking about it for so long. At 8pm we arrived at our Lodge, unpacked and went into Fort William to buy supplies for dinner. After looking at the weather and hike route we all went to bed to rest before the early start the next day.

Saturday 2nd June. Early wake up 6.30am. Breakfast and out by 7.00am. Rain expected in the afternoon. By 8am we were all at the Ben Nevis visitors center and ready to hike with our new 53rd three peak challenge T- Shirts. 10 Hikers for this summit. Skip, Laura, Andreas and Samantha ( who was injured ) stayed behind to rest and geocache. They also had a visit from Clare, Lulu and Anna Morari, starting off the 53rd Reunion part of the weekend. For us it was a long uphill, in sunny weather. Closer to the top we also saw some snow. After 4 hours we finally reached the top, Ben Nevis 1344m, and the start time to our three peak 12.30pm. Now the 24 hour clock was ticking. We took much longer than expected to come back down. We reach the visitors center at 4.40pm. It was a quick bathroom break and hello - goodbye to Clare, Lulu and Anna and by 5.00pm we were all in the two cars and back on the road.

By now it had started to rain and the drive to Scafell Pike was 6 hours. It rained all the way and stopped just as we entered England. We had a stop in Gretna for a bath room break and something to eat. At 11pm we arrived in the Scafell Pike parking area. Looking up the mountain you could see the lines of hikers with their torches coming down, not many seemed to be getting ready to climb at this time. This summit only 8 would be going, Nafsika and Isaias we need for driving so they got some rest. After nearly three hours climbing with our torches we finally reached the summit of Scafell Pike at 1.50am. By 3.30am we were back in the car park to find that Mastou had also joined our support team. After coffee and hot soap prepared by Mastou and Laura we were all on the road by 3.50am.

Co-drivers Nafsika and Samantha now guided our drivers Skip, Andreas and Isaias to Wales while we all slept to recover for the last climb. At 7am we made another stop for breakfast and by 9am we were in Wales at the start of the PYG Track to Snowdon. By now we were exhausted by flying on adrenalin. At 12.06pm we reached the summit of Snowdon. The 53rd Three Peak Challenge final time 23Hrs and 36min. A big success for the 53rd Network. Hikers Christos Sk, Alex R, Nicholas E, Hanna, Christianna V, George K, Michael H and Emilios.

Well done to all for making this dream come true and thank you for those who sponsored us. We had a very good support team and our hikers were always up for the Challenge. A true Scouting attitude as always. The next Three Peak Challenge has been set for June 2022 so get training.

Once we all arrived back at the Hotel in Manchester it was time to party with the 53rd's UK Reunion. Eros and Dalia showed up and it was time for scouting stories over dinner and drinks.