This is a blog post that I meant to write up just after writing the last one but life chucked a few things at us so here I am finally writing it up a bit later than planned. If you’ve read the last post, seen any of my social media or bumped into me in the last couple of weeks you’ll probably know that my brother and I took on quite an adventure over the Easter break, this meant we ended up having 2 little mini breaks to book end the start and finish of that adventure.

We arrived in the Lake District on Sunday afternoon, staying at the trusted ‘Quiets’ with Oli and Faye. The weather wasn’t great but it did stop raining for us to enjoy an evening down at Derwent Water with fish and chips and some very excitable children. Henry stayed in the Lake District for another night with the kids whilst the rest of us headed up to Scotland. They then journeyed across to Wales whilst we were tackling Snowden and we all met up in the lush little cottage in North Wales for a relaxing break that we all needed.

Some highlights from the trip included having to drag Seb out the hot tub as he was loving it so much he would still be in there now if we’d left him. The rain lingered into Wednesday morning so we took a trip to a soft play which the kids enjoyed- Oli and I may have regretted this choice fairly quickly as chasing kids up and down slides with muscles screaming at you wasn’t the brightest idea! We found ourselves all sat in the toddler area trying to chuck plastic balls into a chute for quite some time till some actual toddlers forced us out. We did go for a nice walk once we’d got back and the rain had cleared, Clara made friends with a horse and Seb complained how tired his little legs were.

We did have an amazing afternoon at the beach the next day. The sandy beaches there are huge and we all had fun building castles, sand angels and giant holes in the ground. There was also some log rolling down the dunes. It was a great trip and the kids loved spending time with their Aunt and Uncle.

We were bought back down to reality with a big bump on the journey home though when I clocked a couple of red spots on the back of Polly’s neck. The bit I’d missed at the beginning of this post was that Seb came home for the Easter holidays with the dreaded chicken pox. Luckily he had been clear the day before we were due to leave but it did mean we were slightly on edge waiting for the girls spots to appear at some point in the following couple of weeks. They timed it to perfection and by the time we had arrived home both girls were covered. I am slightly relived we’ve now done the pox even though it wasn’t a fun experience when we were in it- the girls were so much worse than Seb, especially Clara.

The girls were on their last day of quarantine when I got that dreaded call from the school to say that Seb had had an accident and needed picking up. Luckily Henry walked back in the door as I was about to head down so I didn’t have to drag the pox girls out. Turns out he had fallen off of something and landed badly on his ankle which he now wasn’t able to put weight on. He was very reluctant to leave school and I literally had to prise him out of his teacher’s arms as he was adamant he was fine. It became clear pretty quick that he did need a little trip to the minor injuries unit at the very least. 12 hours later and after being sent on to A&E, a midnight trip through the McDonalds drive thru and a few very stressful phone calls and Seb arrived back home in Henry’s arms with a bright red cast and a broken ankle.

He’s been an absolute superstar about it to be honest. He was back at school late the next morning and apart from a couple of bad nights where he couldn’t get comfortable we’ve hardly heard a peep from him about it. He’s crawling and bum shuffling around inside and has booted his little sister out of the pushchair outside- although Clara thinks this is brilliant having to walk everywhere.

It also didn’t stop us celebrating the birthday boy himself last weekend with a trip to Crealy. It did mean we had to do a bit of child juggling so they could go on the rides they wanted to go on, I got 2 go’s on the water blasting one which was hilarious fun (I think I enjoyed it more than the kids!). Polly was also a superstar and drove Seb round on the little cars which he thought was great fun, even if her driving won’t be passing any tests any time soon as she drove straight over grass and hit the roundabouts the wrong way- ironically the ride is called ‘Driving School!’ The rain set in by the time we were getting ready to leave so we headed home for birthday cake.

The last week has been a bit of a blur of school and work so we’ve enjoyed a lazy morning today, Polly is currently being my hairdresser whilst the little 2 play trains and sneak more biscuits- they think I don’t know how many they’ve actually got through. Once Henry is back we are hoping that the weather sorts itself out so we can head out somewhere. That’s been the other big thing- he’s changed jobs. Our hours were clashing badly with him in hospitality and we were really struggling to get any time as a family and he was burnt out so he’s made the choice to go back into farming again. This means early starts (very early starts), separate washing baskets and having to share the car, but a much happier husband as he’s back with the cows which is his happy place! It’s completely changed the way our week looks and has freed up time for his fitness stuff again whilst also spending time the 5 of us again.

I’ll finish off with a couple of humorous paragraphs. Yesterday we were chatting about dinosaurs and the kids shared their own take on the meteorite that wiped them all out. Seb started by declaring that “a big ball of fire fell from the sky onto Dinosaur land and killed all the dinosaurs dead.” Polly then chimed in with- “So, did the first humans, who didn’t like the dinosaurs, go up into space and push the big rock down onto the dinosaurs?” Not quite baby, not quite.

Polly also gave us some solid gold whilst Seb was unwrapping his birthday presents. The kids are obsessed with The Mandalorian, especially Grogu, so we got him a cuddly Grogu which was the last thing he unwrapped. Henry was joking to the kids about what it could be and said ‘maybe it’s a baby, it can’t be a baby,’ Polly then turned to Clara and said “It can’t be a baby, it can’t be you because you’re already out of your packaging.” Henry and I nearly wet ourselves and are still giggling about it a week later.

I’ll finish off with this last bit, we obviously spent a lot time in the car with the kids the other week which provided some incredible quotes. So here are some of them, I’m not going to give any context as I think that makes them even funnier so here we go:

Me: “It’s just clouds, it’s not a tornado.”

Seb: “Look at that big thing.” Polly: “Guess what my favourite coloured horse is?” Me: “Yup, that’s your penis, and I don’t know Polly.” Polly: “It’s white.”

Everyone: “How much further?”

Seb: “How many more hours?”

Seb: “Polly, how big are you?” Polly: “I think I’m one cube bigger than you.”

Polly: “Why is that car overtaking you?” Me: “Because it’s going faster than we are.” Polly: “But I thought we were the fastest car in the world.”

Polly: “I saw a llama, or was it a camel?”

Everyone (especially Clara!): “Sheep!”

Polly: “How do we grow grass?”

Seb: “Look, there’s a garden on the roof.”

Polly: “If I were a cow I’d run away from everything.”

Seb: “Oh my God my bum came out.”

Seb: “The air is going 12 now.”

Seb: “Why why why why why why why?”

Polly: “Has time passed now?”

Polly: “It’s his first time going out of the belly.”

Seb: “I want to have a baby.”

Seb: “Huggle.”

Seb: “Is there a tank in my penis?”

Seb: “When are we seeing the giraffe?”

Seb: “I want to huggle Peter Rabbit. I want to eat Peter Rabbit.”

Polly: “Does a cow have 4 penises?”

Seb: “How is a cow born?”

Polly: “How is a chicken born?”

Seb: “We’re beating up that lorry.”

Earlier this week my brother Oli and I set off on the biggest adventure of my life and oh my goodness it was an experience I will never forget. On Monday morning we left Henry and the kids in the Lake District where we had stayed the night before and after a few hugs we jumped in the car and headed north. The drive up through Scotland was amazing as the scenery is something else up there, it did however, make the whole thing a lot more real as the mountains got bigger and more snow covered. We stopped for a late lunch not too far from our destination and the nerves really started to settle in.

Then just before 5PM we parked up at the bottom of Ben Nevis and got our kit together. The weather at the bottom was great, but you could easily see how people get lulled into a false sense of security that the mountain itself would be the same. Oli’s partner, Faye, who was our incredible support crew, wished us a final dose of good luck and we set off on the hour.

We set off with high energy and enthusiasm, chatting and looking forward to what was to come. The weather was kind to us on the way up and the views were breath-taking. There was a lot of laughing navigating the waterfall that crosses the path and we basically had the mountain to ourselves. Further up we crossed the mist line and said goodbye to those views, then a bit further up we found the snow line and donned the crampons. By the time we reached the plateau the snow was thick and all you could see was white. There was a slightly scary moment when a swirl of mist cleared to reveal a sheer drop under an overhang of snow which made it clear how easy it would be to make a fatal error. It was surreal making our way up to the summit in those conditions and the feeling of overwhelming joy when we spotted the top was amazing. We didn’t hang around at the top though and started heading back down within a couple of minutes.

On the way back down the wind picked up a bit and it started snowing, we did however get below the cloud line before it got dark so were treated to those views again. The drink on the side of Oli’s bag had actually started to freeze so we drank that pretty quickly too. We managed to get below the waterfall before the darkness swallowed everything. It was honestly like a light went out. Even with head-torches on we both had a couple of slips and we also spooked a few sheep. We made it back to the car 4 hours and 50 minutes after setting off.

We bundled into the car and devoured some snacks that Faye had gone to find. The drive back down to the Lake District gave us both chance to have a bit of sleep. Although we did stop at a service station for a quick pit stop, we must have looked quite a sight in our unusual attire but none of us cared remotely!

We arrived at the bottom of Scafel Pike in the dark and set off straight away at around 4AM. This was definitely a moment where my body screamed at me- “What the actual frick are you doing?!” It was dark and cold, my legs were already like jelly and the path up this one is basically straight up. We then had a slightly hair-raising moment where we lost the path slightly whilst crossing the river, not an experience I’d like to repeat in the dark!

It started to get lighter and we made some mountain friends- a mum who was being dragged up the mountain by her 2 teenagers- we shared a couple of stories then they overtook and disappeared up into the mist that was also at the top of this one. We knew Ben Nevis would be covered in snow but we weren’t actually prepared for it on this one so hadn’t bought the crampons along for this climb so the surprise sight of snow and ice made for an interesting challenge. We slipped and slid our way up and were very relieved to see the top of this one too. Again, there was no hanging around at the top though as it was also a white out.

We headed back down, with more slipping and sliding, the good thing was that once we were back below the cloud line we were treated to the stunning views that we’d missed on the way up. We also passed many people on their way up and were able to pass on some encouraging nods and the confirmation that yes there was snow at the top.

We arrived back at the car 3 hours and 54 minutes after setting off and literally jumped straight in the car and set off. This was the moment where we realised timings wise we actually would maybe be able to complete all 3 peaks in 24 hours, providing luck stayed on our side. We both managed a bit of sleep on the journey over to Wales and even though we hit a bit of traffic we made good time.

This was however, where our luck ran out. We arrived at the bottom of Snowden to rain and wind. The path was full of people heading down and we picked up our pace as the weather got worse and worse. My trusted pink boots were ruined within the first half an hour and my feet were wet through. Our hands were frozen too, so there were no cheerful videos and photos to document this mountain. She threw everything at us and our bodies were screaming at us by this point. We pushed on as the rain turned to sleet- this alone wouldn’t have actually stopped us. It was the wind. The gusts got stronger and stronger till they actually started blowing us off our feet. There were less and less people about as we crossed the halfway point. We pushed on and spoke to some of the last people making their way down, they warned us that the wind was only getting worse the higher you went and that there was an actual weather warning heading our way. Finally two thirds of the way up, with the top almost in sight, we huddled under one of the train bridges and had the conversation we really didn’t want to have. It was hardly a conversation to be honest, we both knew there was only one sensible decision to be made. As heart-breaking as it was, we made the call to stop, it just wasn’t safe to carry on past that point.

It was truly gutting to start heading down but we realised very quickly it was absolutely the right call. The wind was savage and we had to hang on several times, trying not to get blown off. We also came across an older couple who had also made the same call we had- they were very experienced mountain walkers and they confirmed that no-one else would be able to make the summit that day.

We arrived back at the car 3 hours and 15 minutes after we had set off, we were cold and wet, with shrivelled fingers and toes and feeling absolutely destroyed by this last beast (bitch!) of a mountain. We stripped off in the car park and clambered into the car and got under towels and blankets heading towards our little cottage sanctuary, fantasising about a hot shower.

In summary, I am so proud of what we achieved and even though we couldn’t finish that last bit of Snowden I know it wasn’t our choice- the weather made that choice for us. It’s also slightly encouraging to realise that we would have made it in the 24 hours if the wind had been kinder. It was one of the best experiences of my life, I also think it was the hardest- physically and mentally it pushed me to my absolute limit. I didn’t warm back up again for another 24 hours, when we had a good soak in the hot tub at the cottage and my body was in complete agony for days afterwards, my legs actually felt bruised.

A couple of people have asked whether I would try it again- as it stands it would be a no. I absolutely gave it my all and am content with the effort I put in. There’s always going to be a risk that something other than your own abilities would stop you from completing it and at the moment I wouldn’t want to try and re capture this experience, it was the right call to stop when we did but I don’t know if I could take that disappointment again especially as it’s not myself I’m disappointed in- it’s the weather.

On a final note I just want to say a few thank yous. To Henry and the kids for being believing in me and for putting up with me chatting about weather forecasts and equipment lists for weeks, but also for picking me up after. To friends and family who provided all the messages of support and encouragement leading up to and during the challenge- I honestly don’t think I could have even attempted it without a handful of people thinking I could actually do it. To Faye, the most incredible sister in law you could ask for, thank you so much for driving us literally all around the UK and for keeping us going and keeping us on track- you are honestly a hero! And finally, Oli- I really could not have done any of this without you, you were the best companion on the best adventure ever and without your help I would have stood no chance at getting up the first peak, let alone getting to where we did. Thanks Mountain Goat and good luck with your little run tomorrow (only my crazy brother would do the 3 peaks challenge and a marathon in the same week!), super proud of you.