Training weekend in the Mourne Mountains

As the challenge draws ever closer we decided to take advantage of the good weather and do some back to back training. Saturday, cycle and hike, camp in the woods and then hike again on Sunday.

So to get ready to sleep under this (above) Friday night was spent preparing kit, Oonagh took no chances and pressure tested all her kit.

 

After an extremely thorough check we packed up and were ready for Saturday morning. A slightly different route for the cycle finishing at Trassey Track rather than at the Slieve Donard car park. The final 6 miles of the ride had a lot of ups and downs, mainly ups. A tough way to finish but great training.

We decided to climb Slieve Bearnagh, a steep climb with a great view over the Mournes from the top. There was plenty of chat and some team bonding with no team member being more open and frank than Ruud 'You might not want to hear this, but you know what really annoys me about you?...' 

Certain sections were even more difficult than usual due to the recent heavy rain having washed large sections of the paths away. The severity of the climb was encapsulated by Oonagh
'Of course I'm eating when we get to the top! My sandwich is the only thing getting me up this bitch!' Still, it stayed dry so that's a bonus... a bonus celebrated by Oonagh (in Ruud's giant fleece).

After coming down from Bearnagh we made camp in the woods nearby. Ruud showed his survival skills by making the fire and even fashioned a drying rack from sticks. A handy man to have in the wilderness!

 Ruud's handy work

Home sweet home...

After a breakfast of bacon butties and tea we burst on and climbed Slieve Binnian, another steep climb. A slightly higher mountain than Bearnagh and certainly no more gentle. Again, much of the path has been washed away making the route to the top pretty unclear. Still if didn't really matter which way you looked at it, it was steep!

Another great weekend of training in the bag. We'll need it as we start with Ben Nevis, 1400m of ascent. And if that's not enough, we cycle 88 miles which includes almost 700 meters of climbing! 

Special Guests for the challenge...

The final day of the challenge could be the hardest and that's why we're delighted some friends and family have decided to join us for the final push.

Liam and Helen Bradley, Laura and Drew's parents, will meet us at the bottom of Mount Snowdon and climb the final mountain with the team. Liam loves sport and at the tender age of 63 completed his 11th marathon... Snowdon should be a gentle stroll for him.

Also joining the team will be Kieran and Claire Dorman, brother-in-law and sister (respectively) of Laura and Drew and extremely proud parents of the latest family edition, Cillian. Kieran will be official photographer for the final day and Claire and Helen will look after Cillian while the rest of the team slowly kill themselves getting up and down the mountain.

Cillian will be in good company as Colleen Oldham (Ben's wife and Oonagh's sister) plans to bring 'the boys'. Oliver and Sam Oldham will be there ready to congratulate the team at the bottom of Snowdon, although we may have trouble stopping them climbing it with us!

Pete Watson, John's brother and Christa's brother-in-law will also be joining us for the final push. A keen sportsman, Pete is what we like to describe as 'sickeningly fit' - in a cardiovascular kind of way. It's great to see the challenge turning into a big family affair and we hope to add more names to the list for the final day.

Seeing our friends and family at the finish line will be a huge boost for the team. With only a few weeks to go we're all itching to get started!

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1 month to go!

It's been pretty bleak weather recently; heavy rain and strong winds... on the good days. Flooding and closed roads on the bad. Of course being summer time we hoped to avoid this sort of thing but then we are in Britain so we could well be doing the challenge in pretty horrible conditions. So best to train in them too :)

Oonagh Thompson, Dominic Berry, Drew Bradley and Eileen Thompson decided that Slieve Commedagh was the mountain of choice this week. With special guest Clover who is undoubtedly the fittest of all of us!

A pretty windy day which knocked down the speed on the bike. Having friends and family along the route really does give you a boost which will no doubt make a huge difference on the challenge! 

Love this photo, thanks Oonagh! After a blustery ride we set off up Slieve Commedagh and hoped the rain stayed off. For the most part it did so happy with that! The rain has made certain parts of the rack pretty muddy but compared to the winter months it's still pretty dry in the Mournes!

And we even got treated to a few minutes of sunshine!

Feeling good for the challenge. Everyone is in high spirits and enjoying the prospect of getting stuck in!  We're all training hard and doing everything we can to make it a success... please give what you can

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