The second annual trip of the year for us in the UK! Some crazy fool decided, “Oh, why don’t we walk the three peaks in Yorkshire?!” What the heck were we letting ourselves in for! On top of that, camping was also on the cards. We are adventurers, just call us Bear Grylls — maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration😂.

Have you read about our trip to Budapest? Well, this trip was a completely different vibe, but with the same outcome really — we experienced a new place and built even stronger relationships.

Plan, plan, and plan again

There was a lot of planning that needed to go into this trip. We had to organise routes, maps, pre-training, and a support car… so thank you to Alex Dunlop, who did the most of this for us, a true (patient) diamond!

Self-organisation is an important part of our culture at Mindera. We give people the freedom and encouragement to arrange their own events, activities, talks, and more. It means that every trip like this one happened because some amazing Minders put their hearts and souls into bringing it to life.

There were 15 of us in total who went on this Yorkshire mountain outing, 2 supporting and 13 (unlucky for some) doing the actual hiking.

Day 1: travelling and pitching up!

We were all coming from different parts of the country to get to Yorkshire on Friday, 17th June, the hottest day of the year so far. It was 32 degrees leaving Leicester. When we got to Carnforth the weather was dreary — grey sky, raining and temperatures as low as 4 degrees.

The first thought was, “Ah, crikey, I am not dressed for this,” shorts on, silly tan lines from the last blistering hot few days. We 100% looked like tourists!

When we got to the campsite we were greeted by strong winds and heavy rain — not ideal tent pitching weather! Basic human instincts kicked in, though, and, without a second thought, we helped each other pitch our tents so we could all get out of the rain as quickly as possible. The people who didn’t want to stay in tents checked into a local b&b or stayed in glamping pods.

The first night at the campsite was a proper start to the adventure. We began with a welcome drink and a meal in the campsite's spacious barn.

It was a great atmosphere, everyone was so cheerful, full of good spirits and doing as best we could to ignore the challenge ahead of us in the morning. It’s so good to be together, it’s incredible what a conversation can do, especially in person and out of our normal routines.

And then to bed for a much need pre-peaks rest… or so we thought.

Sat inside the pitched tents with the wind and rain swirling around us, soaked through to our skin, nobody got a good night’s sleep. The list of things keeping us awake was discussed at length over a much-needed cooked breakfast the next morning. There were noisy campers, hooting owls, howling sheepdogs, mooing cows, 4 degrees temperature (🥶), wind, rain, snoring and needing the toilet after too many beers! We made it through the night… go us!

Day 2: OK, let’s go!

We had a shared purpose and three peaks to contend with! Off we went! The first few miles were manageable, with a bit of a gradient but we were in good spirits — continuous smiles and support. Kendall mint cakes were dished out and with that first sugar rush of the day we made it up. The first peak conquered, group photo done, and on to the next!

After the long descent into Ingleton, we were met by two angels in Mindera t-shirts bearing gifts. It was warm by now and with snacks, an inspirational Mindera banner, a beautiful riverside setting, and (most importantly) gallons of water, we took a well-earned rest.

Before long, though, it was off to Pen-y-Ghent! With most of us starting to feel the first peak in our legs, we ascended. Consistently uphill and with nothing to clamber up yet, the weather had turned. Slowly but surely the wind started to gust and what was a warm stroll turned into a breezy scramble to the top.

The wind hadn't stopped us and nor had a (pretty minor) rockfall. We were at the summit of the second peak!

From this last checkpoint, we still had a few more miles to go and unfortunately, the tallest of the three peaks still left to deal with. This one was tough!

The beautiful Ribblehead viaduct did something to sweeten the deal on the way up but by this point, even a historical monument of this nature wasn't going to help us much. The walk takes you around the base of Whernside and then comes the challenge: 736 metres of sloped rock.

Sugar was needed, a Lucozade or two, more Kendal mint cakes, anything just to be able to take a rest for a minute. With all this and our inner mettle, we made it to the top where we met a very nice chap contacting everyone in the local area via his CB radio. A few more miles, tough on the knees, to the other side of Whernside and we were done… the pub was calling us.

After a very long and hard day, we all gathered together at the Station Inn next to the beautiful viaduct. Everyone was shattered! We ate a wonderful and much-deserved meal, had some drinks, shared lots of laughs, chatted about the day, and congratulated each other on our triumphs!

Day 3: over and out

We slept well, nothing was going to keep us awake after that epic day. The morning was all aches and putting down the tents. With a long drive home ahead for most of us, we set off with the knowledge that we had really done ourselves proud and not only that, we made some ffriendships that stood the test of three peaks, blisters, sweat, and tears.

We came from such diverse backgrounds, with levels of experience/fitness at polar opposite ends of the spectrum. While we did struggle, we struggled together. At the end of the day, we are all humans and nothing else seemed to matter. Only that we supported each other, motivated each other, and shared the load — literally!

This blog post was written by James Price, Eddie Harrison, and Sally Wright.