3 peaks

[ACE2M]

How did you navigate? (While on foot) GPS? Map & compass? All three? Did you have any problems finding your way on the mountains or were there big well worn obvious trails?. How did you know where to start and finish?

You should take a compass/maps/gps, we did but never needed them as there were always other people in sight on the paths and mostly the paths are obvious or the walkers have made piles of stones to guide you - only Scaffel pike is tricky enough for you to get lost imo (at the top it looks like a different planet). The weather was pretty good for us so not sure how cocky i'd be if it was rough weather.

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

[RED-DOG]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

[gatso]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

yeah but you want to find your car, not just the bottom of the mountain

I was talking to a friend last night about doing this sometime next year hence the bump. biggest challenge in the whole thing seems to be finding a driver

[ACE2M]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

yes true, there are routes from car parks or off the road, you get these as postcodes or locations beforehand from websites and then have them in your sat nav.

[ACE2M]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

yeah but you want to find your car, not just the bottom of the mountain

I was talking to a friend last night about doing this sometime next year hence the bump. biggest challenge in the whole thing seems to be finding a driver

Strangely we had several volunteers to drive our bus. Its no picnic for the driver though there were some frayed tempers along the way but he was a mate so it worked out, if you can get 2 to drive and share the driving its advisable. The other guys hired someone to drive and he was totally professional and just got on with it. Drivers get shorter sleep oppotunites than the walkers.

[gatso]

how much did they pay to hire a driver?

[ACE2M]

how much did they pay to hire a driver?

Not sure exactly but i heard £15 a head mentioned and there were 8 or 9 on their bus, might have included a tip.

[gatso]

cool. that's way less than I was expecting

[ACE2M]

cool. that's way less than I was expecting

We had a connection who sorted out the buses for us for nothing so i don't know if the driver was on the cheap as well.

[RED-DOG]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

yes true, there are routes from car parks or off the road, you get these as postcodes or locations beforehand from websites and then have them in your sat nav.

How did you decide which routes to take?

[ACE2M]

We had sat nav to get us to the base of the mountains.

I'm not being flippant, but I should imagine the base of the mountain covers quite a large area.

yes true, there are routes from car parks or off the road, you get these as postcodes or locations beforehand from websites and then have them in your sat nav.

How did you decide which routes to take?

The only major choice was Scaffel, you can take a longer but easier route if your driver will drive round to another pick up point after dropping you off, you save driving time then so it saves you having to do the harder route to avoid losing time. This was the point of the falling out with the driver as he wanted to sleep!! We ended up going up the hardest route and coming down the same way.

[outragous76]

Tom

The 3 peaks web site gives you the official starting points for each leg, and that pretty much dictates your route. As ace said, scafell is the only 1 where you could get lost. Also most people do this in summer months, and due to the popularity you are rarely on your own.

Also don't underestimate the drivers task in this, if he is support too. I drove for 3 friends in the summer and its pretty tough too. If you start BN at 4, the nighttime drive to scafell is long and tough, esp as you near the lakes.

And sleeping in a car is always cold and uncomfortable even in the summer, and I was in a decent size 4x4 too!
Still all very rewarding.

Top tip is leave loads of time for traffic/ parking at snowdon. If u have a driver who isn't walking he can drop you at the start then drive to remote parking! Paying for a driver is worth it's weight in gold at this point!

Also don't fk around at bottoms of mountains! If you have lost time on roads you regret it as you get to snowdon if time is pressing

[celtic]

Any more pics from the top of the mountains?

[ACE2M]

Any more pics from the top of the mountains?

the actual peaks looked like this  -

Click to see full-size image.

on the way up nevis -

Click to see full-size image.

[thetank]

Loving the photos