Just a long walk, really
At around 07.45 hours on Sunday August 3rd a huddle of BD bodies stood atop the summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland, shivering and exhausted. After beginning our ascent in the pitch darkness at around 4’o’clock that morning, we’d finally reached our goal: we’d climbed the 3 highest peaks in the UK in under 24 hours… with just minutes to spare. My first thought on hitting the summit was, ‘what, no French? All this way for fucking Cava?’ But I soon recovered and, frankly, Cava never tasted so good.
To stand above the clouds and look out over the mountains below was phenomenal. None of us were mountaineering types by any stretch and it hadn’t been easy: we’d had no more than four hours fitful bus sleep along the way; the last hour up Ben Nevis was truly horrible; going down all the mountains had been just as hard as going up; we had managed to lose one of our climbers on England’s Scafell Pike; another developed such ferocious blisters on Snowdon in Wales her heels were raw; and our bus driver made Keanu’s Speed pace seem positively geriatric (thankfully – otherwise we might never have made it in time).
On the flipside we’d walked some of the UK’s most beautiful countryside; made ourselves laugh through our (considerable) pain; helped each other along the way when we needed it; eaten the weight of the mountains in jelly babies; generally had an unforgettable and bloody amazing weekend; and, most importantly, we were spurred on every step of the way by the humbling and awesome support of all who’d donated to our cause.
Yes, the real achievement came courtesy of the generosity of BD friends and family – a whopping £14.5k raised for Great Ormond Street Hospital (and counting). Thank you to everyone who responded to our persistent requests for cash – it really was your big-heartedness that willed us up them hills.
