Cuckfield Life - the community magazine for the village of Cuckfield

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Bolnore dads take on 3 Peaks Challenge

By Ben Harris

The Three Peakers were James Brazier, Russell Cheverst, Jamie Grant, Ben Harris, James Sherrell, Nolan Sorrell and Andy Walton. We’re all Dads of kids at Bolnore Village Primary School, and one Grandad, David Grant, was ‘safe hands’ behind the wheel. 

Our trip started from the school gates at 9am on Friday 10th August. We headed straight to Snowdon and started the clock from Pen-y-Pass at 5.45pm. We finished Snowdon in 2 hours 50 minutes, much to David’s surprise.

Scafell Pikes was ascended in the dark, beginning at about 1.30am, just before the cloud descended for the tricky walk back down. Completed by the time the sun fully rose in 3 hours 20 minutes.

Then the long drive to Fort William for the final, highest and longest peak, Ben Nevis. We set off with 6.5 hours to go, with everyone getting to the summit within three hours and then the tired, crowded, never-ending last leg down to the finish line after 5 hours 20 minutes. 

The whole challenge, once David had driven 280 miles to the start of Snowdon and then taken us safely over the 470 miles between the Peaks, was completed in 23 hours 5 minutes!

We had amazing encouragement from our wives and families through all the preparations and especially during the challenge.

We have made over £1,000 so far, for Friends of Bolnore Primary School so far, with donations coming from within Bolnore Village, kind residents of Cuckfield, Friends of Falcon Health and Complete Electrical, and our amazing families! And... the fundraising page is still open: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/fobvps3peaks