Emma Randall: Our Welsh Three Peaks Challenge

Last month 7 of us completed the Welsh Three Peaks challenge, 6 from the Cheltenham office, Emma Randall, Tom Griffiths, Lauren Huxstep, Hope Armstrong, Laura Lomax, John Morris and Iffy Ezeani from the Birmingham office.

We travelled up to North Wales on the Friday night, stayed in a questionable hotel and set off at the bottom of Snowdon at 4.30am. We smashed Snowdon in 3 hours and 50 minutes, with only a little moaning. Feeling good and motivated we headed to Cadair Idris. We had been warned that this is the hardest one but we were buzzing. The sun was shining, and it was getting hot. We set off at 11.30, starting well. A couple of hours in, the heat and tiredness started to kick in. This mountain bought us together as a team, each person playing their own role within the group. We all struggled at different points on this one. Some mentally struggled others physically struggled. However, we laughed, danced and sang our way up and down. Cadair took us 5 hours.

We then jumped in the cars and had a 3-hour drive to Pen Y Fan. Now we were tired. Cadair Idris broke us. However, we knew we only had one left. We decided we were taking the last one in little groups and go up at our own pace. Starting at 8pm. We made it to the top at 9pm ready to watch the sunset. We popped open the champagne, took in the views, and headed back down in the dark. Getting back to the car at 10pm. In total the whole challenge took us 17.5 hours.

It was hard work. However, it was the best experience. It bought us closer as a team and as friends.

So far, we have raised £2060. We are still pushing for donations.