November 2006 - Canoeist Magazine

End to End
RECORD SMASHED BY 3 DAYS
THE DAILY SCHEDULE
Day 1
Land’s End to just south of Bristol (185 miles)
Day 2
South of Bristol to Bala (190 miles)
Kayak and swim Bala (5 miles)
Day 3
Bike from Bala to Snowdon (35 miles)
Run up and down Snowdon
Snowdon to Liverpool (85 miles)
Day 4
Liverpool to Newby Bridge (80 miles)
Kayak and swim Windermere (11 miles)
Ambleside to Seathwaite (35 miles)
46
Keith Longney (Kendal) and I (Windermere) supported by Martin
Richardson (Askam in Furness) and Claire Longney (Kendal) smashed
the End to End Quadrathlon record by some three days in September.
The End to End epic involved cycling from Land’s End to John o’
Groats together with running up Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis and
also paddling Bala Lake, Windermere and Loch Lomond, finally
swimming the last mile in each lake.
We managed to complete the challenge in 6 days 17 hours,
smashing the record by over 3 days whilst also just beating our own
target of 7 days.
We had favourable weather conditions so vital for the mountain and
kayak sections of the challenge. The only exception was Snowdon
where driving rain reduced visibility to two yards and made progress
slow.
Apart from a few minor setbacks such as choosing the wrong route
from Welshpool to Bala (going over the hills instead of round), briefly
loosing our satnav in Bristol, having to paddle and swim Bala in the
dark and Peter falling off his bike in Glasgow, everything went
smoothly.
Our hardest day and make or break day regarding our seven day
attempt was day six. This involved cycling 35 miles through Glasgow
at 2 in the morning, paddling and swimming the 22 miles of Loch
Lomond, cycling 65 miles to Fort William and then finally running up
and down Ben Nevis. Once day six was complete we knew the seven
days was within our grasp.
For the kayak sections of the challenge we had given a great deal of
thought to which kayaks to take, bearing in mind the different natures
and sizes of the three lakes. In the end we decided to pass on the two
man and went for the more flexible combination of the Kirton
Talisman and the Kirton Tor with Loch Lomond always in our minds;
we had to press on whatever the conditions.
Day 5
Run up and down Scafell
Seathwaite to south of Glasgow (150 miles)
Day 6
South of Glasgow through to Loch Lomond
(35 miles)
Kayak and swim Loch Lomond (22 miles)
Loch Lomond to Fort William (65 miles)
Run up and down Ben Nevis
Day 7
Ben Nevis to John o’ Groats (185 miles)
CANOEIST November 2006