We’ve been really busy on the roads and in the office recently, same old to be fair. Anyway, we’ve been so rushed that I haven’t been able to share a little challenge I completed last year, which included a lot of driving!
Despite a full diary I managed to find time to fit in a little challenge in September last year with one of our Pre-17 staff members, Joe.
I completed the 3 Peaks challenge which in short is a walking challenge whereby the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales are to be submitted within 24 hours. We’re pleased to say that our finish time was 20 hours and 28 minutes.
I didn’t drive much of the route on this journey as I was navigating but did manage to ride shot gun for the majority and noticed some interesting differences of the road whilst on my travels through the 3 countries.
So where do I begin, let’s compare the other two home nations to ours;
Scotland:
* Scottish roads don’t appear to have NSL (National Speed Limit) signs, but instead they display physical 60 & 70 mph signs. Why? We’re not sure but it does save guessing what the speed limit is
* We were up in the Ben Nevis region of Scotland, which if you didn’t know is about 1300 metres high so there were plenty of snow marker posts dotted around
* In north Scotland there are vast areas of country roads and in turn hours of continuous driving on end
* Most back lanes and rural country roads are direct, basically from A-B. However don’t mistake this for a fast journey, despite the shortest route available they tend to be over very hilly terrain with narrow passing places.
* The best bit is the abundance of beautiful scenery, I love the peaks but those mountains are incredible!
Wales:
* All road signs are predominantly in Welsh, there is the English written underneath but it is a little weird to see.
* There are plenty of hills, big hills!
For the most part of the journey it was very simple to drive and similar to back home, it definitely wasn’t as challenging as some of my European or American road trips. It was trying not only physically tiring but mentally to and if you want some tips on coping with tiredness when driving check out our previous blog on this very topic here.
To summarise, it was one hell of a trip with lots of mundane miles under our belts but interwoven with some of the most picturesque scenery we’ve ever seen. And what’s more, we’re going again this year with a new group of friends but this time in a minibus, stay tuned for that one.
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