" Railway Children 3 Peaks Event 2012 "

Date & start time: Friday 22nd June 2012, 10 am start.

Location of Start : Brackenclose NT Car Park, Wasdale, Cumbria, Uk ( NY 143 211 )

Places visited : Brackenclose, Lingmell Gill, Brown Tongue.

Walk details :  2 miles, plus back and forth wanderings to meet people (and keep warm).

Highest point : Lingmell Gill crossing 1050 ft - 300m above sea level.

Walked with : Myself and the dogs, Harry and Bethan, plus colleagues and event personnel.

Weather : Let's say it wasn't the best . . .  forecasted high winds and very heavy rain.

The Railway Children Three Peaks weekend has become established as an annual charity fund raising event.

The charity it supports exists to help vulnerable children and young people who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress.

The event is organised on their behalf by Global Challenge UK

This weekend there were 44 teams, each of approximately 4 people, who were attempting to climb the three highest peaks on mainland Britain

and I was part of the safety crew for the Scafell Pike leg of the trip.

Unfortunately no-one told the weatherman that the event was on  . . . and the forecast was bad if you wanted a nice day in the hills.

This was Brackenclose car park at 10 am as we started our day's work.

The teams had in fact travelled up from London by train, changed to La'al Ratty railway at Ravenglass

and were now walking over from Boot as we walked to our positions.

They had climbed Snowdon last evening and would walk the 4 miles over to here this morning before they started their main climb.

Before they arrived, Malcolm and I walked up to Lingmell Gill crossing to check out the state of the river.

Down here at Brackenclose footbridge it didn't look too bad despite last night's heavy rain.

We followed another group up who were attempting their own independent "Three Peaks in 24 hours" challenge.

We entered the cloud at the river crossing.

I left Malcolm to continue on up to Hollow Stones and turned to retrace my steps to my allotted position further down.

Doing it this way, the dogs and I managed a reasonable little walk before settling back at Brackenclose.

Lingmell Gill crossing from above . . . still fairly reasonable.

One of about six independent groups I saw on the hill this morning.

They had successfully summited . . . but reported heavier rain and stronger winds higher up.

With four marshals spread out at key points on the mountain and two more still covering the Burnmoor Tarn section,

I settled back with my two damp honorary helpers to check the teams through Brackenclose.

Few photos and fewer of the teams themselves unfortunately (due to the weather and the record-keeping considerations)

but in a quiet moment I did catch this young couple starting out on the climb.

Note the rain is getting sufficiently heavy to show on the photo . . . and soon after this the wind increased too.

Despite the conditions all the teams coming through were in good spirits and most of them opted to attempt the climb.

- - - o o o - - -

Mid-afternoon, after several hours of heavy rain up top, the river levels were giving cause for concern.

Several of the teams had decided not to continue on and were returning down.

By mid-afternoon it was obvious that the river crossing was getting very difficult and the weather was not improving,

so all teams were advised by radio to cut short their walk and return down the mountain.

Our two Burnmoor marshalls organised a safe crossing point, aided by a safety rope,

and gradually all the teams made their way back to the valley.

Some of the early teams had summited but all returned extremely wet and some rather cold from their excursion onto the mountain.

Still it was just across the footbridge and just a few minutes more walking and they would be back at base.

One of the teams (sorry not sure which one) crossing the footbridge.

Hold your cursor over the photo to remind yourself what it was like just a few hours before !

Everyone who set off up the climb was safely down and soon they were on minibuses to return to their waiting train.

Chance there to dry out on their rail journey north . . . ready for their attempt at Ben Nevis tomorrow.

- - - o o o - - -

On the way home I paused to give this car time to drive through the flooded road near Nether Wasdale.

I liked the aptness of the sign but unfortunately managed to catch the windscreen wiper mid-sweep.

- - - o o o - - -

In case you were wondering . . . the couple with the umbrella returned safely after cutting their walk short as well,

and the weather man advised later that over four inches of rain had fallen on the high fells on this wet day in the hills.

- - - o o o - - -

The money raised this weekend, which is likely to exceed several hundred thousand pounds, goes to helping homeless children

that live on the streets and railway stations round the world, where they struggle just to survive. 

Find out more about the charity and should you feel moved to add a little to their total, or help in other ways, a link can be found by clicking here

Technical note: Pictures taken with my Canon G10 digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . something warm and dry at the end of the day.

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Previous event - 21st June 2012 The Olympic Torch in Cockermouth

A previous time up here - 25th June 2010 The Railway Children 3 Peaks Event

Next walk - 23rd June 2012 Mellbreak with the Girls