Three loops of the traditional Yorkshire 3 Peaks circuit, starting from Horton-in-Ribblesdale car park.
Even though the first loop went exactly to our schedule, neither of us were feeling as good as we had during training, which was really frustrating.
We re-stocked on food/water at the van in Horton and got on with the second loop.
Both of us felt a bit better on the second loop, relatively speaking. And although slower than the first loop, (as we anticipated), felt more confident we’d get round a third loop. We took the opportunity to get an extra little top up from the vending machines at the camp site after Whernside.
Re-stocking on food/water again at the van, we started the third loop tired & heavy-legged but with enough strength to be confident we’d make it round again. The weather was kind and it stayed light enough to go without head torches for the first peak. It stayed relatively warm & calm through the night, for which we were very grateful.
Our pacing plan had us completing the 3 loops in a total time of 21 hours, completing each loop a bit slower than the last, to account for the build up of fatigue. We were extremely pleased to beat our plan by 20 minutes.