My trip began with a flight to Glasgow early on a Friday morning, the car was found and this followed an uneventful drive up to Fort William. We parked up and went for a spot of lunch that was quickly followed by some food shopping. Shopping done we drove up to the nevis car park and the beginning of the challenge at 14.50.

The weather was cloudy with sunny spells and a little wind. The heat of the sun sapped the strength when it was out early on, although the pace was steady and stops were few as we ascended up the pony path. The views all around were fabulous as the cloud had begun to lift.

On reaching the half way Lochan (not quite halfway) the upper slopes of the Ben looked forboding wrapped in cloud, but we continued at quite a pace up the zig zags until the slope gradient eased and the path disappeared under sugary snow. The visibility was good and the top was made in just under three hours.

A quick drink, a few photos and the descent was made, with only a stop to put waterproofs on near  the half way lochan  we were soon back at the car after five hours.

Next came the long drive to the Lake district. Following a stop for food, fuel and a detour (as one of the A roads was closed) we arrived in the national trust car park in Wasdale at 02.00. The weather had taken a turn during the drive down from Scotland and it was now raining heavily and windy, so on with full waterproofs – this was a little unpleasant! With headtorches on we began the walk up Brown tongue, the going was slow but steady and the path was good. We came to a junction and picked up two other three peakers who had gone ahead of us early on, but were now unsure where to go and asked if they could join us, with the weather and visibility poor our group went from four to six. The mist was very dense and the rain seemed to come from all directions and the path became lost for a short section. It was easily found again after a bit of relocation and we reached the top as it was getting light, a very brief stop for a drink and some food as the weather was now really foul. I was becoming a little worried about our two extra people as we began the descent down into the wind, as they were not adequately prepared, with unsuitable waterproof clothing. The wind was strong, the rain stung our faces and obscured our vision, but we eventually made it out of the cloud and the wind dropped. The rain remained as we made it back to the car at 06.20, where we had a quick change of clothes and tried to keep things dry as we set off for North Wales.

The drive down to Snowdon was hassle free, until we came to the turning up to Pen-Y-pass which was closed for the Slateman triathlon, so we had to park at the pen-y-gwredd car park. From here our ascent began and a good pace was set,  the group didn’t seem to mind the extra leg-work and we soon made it to Pen-y-pass, where it stopped raining. We continued along the pyg track where the visibility soon became poor, there were lots of people on the track as we reached the upper section, and the rain returned. Waterproofs were again needed and with no further stops we reached the top, we did not linger however, as  there was no view and the weather being poor the group were keen to get down. We descended as quickly as tired limbs would allow and made it back to the car park, finishing the challenge in just under 24 hours. We ended our adventure with a celebratory beer at the YHA  across the road, before descending back to the car and on to a youth hostel in Conwy for food, a few drinks and some well-earned sleep.