20 miles, 3 peaks - and not a Munro to be seen!

After six Munros in three weekends, it was finally time for a rest!

Now, in my book, a 'rest' involves a long-lie in, lots of food, not a lot of activity and even more sleep. In my mum's book, a 'rest' involves a bike ride, a dog walk, and lots of other activity. It doesn't involve much sleep, or much actual rest.

This weekend, she 'encouraged' me and my wee bro Ross to take part in a local charity event to raise money for St Andrew's Children's Society. A very worthy cause, and a well-planned event that involved three local hills and plenty of cycling inbetween: http://3-peaks-challenge.com/

I was quite concerned how I'd get on with the cycling part having not been on a bike for around 10-15 years! I didn't do any training and was just hoping for the best. We were sceptical that the route was as far as the 20 miles it proclaimed and so I thought, ach I'll give it a go.

I left Edinburgh around 8.45am on Saturday morning, and drove to West Linton wondering what had happened to the girl who could sleep til at least 1pm on the weekends.

Mum and I then drove to Newlands, a very small village around 3 miles from West Linton, with our bikes in the back. Ross, clearly too keen, cycled to the start! After registering and getting our team 'Murray Magic' photo taken, we set off just after 10am.

We walked a mile or so along the road in the direction of Peebles before heading off the road and up into the hills. The sun was shining and it was warm when the wind wasn't blowing.

We followed the signs marking our route, and all seemed well. The views were nice and easy on the eye, the sun was shining, on and on we walked....until we'd been walking for rather a long time without going up...surely we should've conquered our first peak, Drummaw, by now? We kept going until we met one of the organisers, who confirmed that we'd missed an 'up' arrow - and so had most others! He recommended doing the second peak, Wetherlaw, first as it was the tougher one.

So we started heading up. It was reasonably steep initially, and after nearly two hours of walking, it was a tough test. My legs were certainly struggling after the previous weeks, but thankfully this was shorter, sharper, and over quicker. Soon we were on top of the hill and could see the trig point in the distance.

Hooray! Our first peak, Wetherlaw, 479m! It was windy and hazy at the top, but the views of the Pentlands in the distance were still fantastic.

We took some photos and then began the descent. We were swithering about heading up Drummaw - those extra miles we'd done having taken their toll. After speaking to a number of the other competitors who'd made the same mistake as us, we were reassured that Drummaw was the easiest of the hills and wouldn't require too much extra effort.

It certainly felt tough going initially as it started steeply. My legs were screaming for me to stop. Again, it was short and sharp, and soon we were at the summit. Ross and I were pleased - but of course not surprised - to see mum follow us up to the top. She said she'd give it a go, and even if she didn't think she would make it, we never doubted it.

Yay, our second peak, Drummaw, 445m!

A short climb up meant a short descent and soon we were back on level ground (phew) and heading back towards Newlands.

It took a wee while to get back but thankfully it was reasonably level and straightforward. However, by the time we got back to Newlands it was almost four hours since we'd started. This was turning out to be more than an afternoon's activity! I was now even more concerned about the cycling...

After some much-needed cake, we were off on our bikes. Immediately I knew this was going to be hard going. First of all because I was getting a face-full of midges. Second because within the first five minutes the saddle was giving me...issues. I couldn't figure out the gears and my limbs were actually screaming at me to stop the pain.

There were a few small but challenging hills on the way to our third summit. These roads were our roads though, as we cycled past our house and towards the golf club. Soon we were leaving our bikes in the allocated field, filling up on more cake, and then walking towards Mendick. I was so so relieved to be back on foot.

These signs kept us going on the tricky latter stages of the day.

Mendick is a hill the Macnabs are very familiar with, having grown up with it just a short walk or bike ride away from the house. We were dragged up there many times as kids, until we started going ourselves! I even dragged Dave up there on Boxing Day 2010 in the snow - it's a short sharp hill, quite steep, quite boggy on the top, with lovely views.

This was a whole new experience, with our legs just wanting to stop. We went a different way to the top than we were used to - but it was a good route, and one we'd choose again. But finally - finally -

Woop! Our third summit of the day, Mendick, 451m!

Then the descent, and a walk through a wet field, before we were back to the bikes. OH NO my legs and bum were saying but what choice was there - we'd come this far, it was just a couple of miles until completion.

Our support team - Dad - was waiting outside the house with chocolate biscuits as we cycled back again - yay!

I stood up on the pedals for as much as the cycle back as possible - it was just too painful to sit down! I had one main concern (apart from my bum) - there is one horrible hill on the way back to Newlands. It had been in my thoughts for much of the day.

Soon it was upon us and soon it was over. It was sooooo painful! But the best thing about it was as soon as it was over, it was a 5 minute cycle back to Newlands centre where we'd begun this crazy day!

Our time - 6 hours and 40 minutes - wasn't a winning time, but the feeling of achievement on completion was incredible! I'm so proud I managed to keep going and not give up. It turned out it was a 20 mile route after all - and we'd done extra miles!! Mum is of course a legend for completing it herself, having not been feeling well. I think it's safe to say it may be some time before we're dragged - I mean encouraged - into the next event. Maybe not as long as I hope, knowing her....

A barbeque followed that evening, and then it was eventually time for bed. I slept so well and woke up in such pain!

The event raised over £1,000 for charity (and still counting) and I'm really glad to have taken part. It was a much different challenge to a Munro, but I'm keen to improve my overall fitness. Most of all, I just want the pain in the following days to not be so bad!!