Welsh Three Peaks

I don't even know where to start with this one, I haven't actually done a blog since Arc last year by the looks of it but here goes.

The Welsh three peaks Challenge, you take on the three highest peaks in Wales, Snowdon, Cader Idris and finally Pen y fan, but rather than the standard let's drive between, I decided to run. The Route itself can be altered as it's a case of finding the fastest route between the 3 mountains, but as there was a time to beat I wanted to stay true, and follow their route so that if I did it, no one could argue about it.

This route I came across about 2 years ago but at the time no one had attempted it, and I didn't want to be the first, I like having a time to beat and to be honest I may have taken it easier and allowed myself longer breaks as I would know that as long as I completed it, I would be the Fastest known time holder.

So a year ago Tim and Steve had completed this in an epic time of 47 hours and raised a lot of money for charity in the process. This caught my attention again, I've spent the beginning of this year helping out others smashing their goals and knew it was my time to have a go at something and now there was a time to beat, but obviously a lot of self doubt came with that. Could I beat that time? How much of a logistical nightmare is it going to be? Can I recce the route? Plus loads more whirling around my already pickled head. I spoke to Mrs Smevs and it was a straight up, let's do this. I say let's do this, as it's a team effort you can't go into anything like this with no support, that would just be insane. If you think back to when I did the North Downs way Southern route in 2021, that was so successful because of the team I had around me.

I set a date of August 24th 6am start and put a shout out to get a team together. Quite a few came forward to start with, but soon everyone started to dwindle away and it was back to just me and Mrs Smevs. Would this be possible with just the 2 of us? Imagine how more epic it would be though if you did it all on your own though she said. 🤔 Yes that would be true, but things get tough and having company to run with really can give you a lift. Ali was still really keen to be involved, I'm not sure if he actually wanted to be or if he felt like he had to be after I paced him to a fantastic run at the North Downs way 100 the other week, but we were trying to find a way to make it happen, but like I said logistically it was a nightmare. But sometimes amazing people do amazing things and Leslie who lives in Rhayader which conveniently was one of our check points said that if Ali drove there and ran with me the final 40 miles to the finish, she'd pick him up and drive him back to his car 🙌🙌

So once it was decided I reached out to Tim who I previously said was one of the record holders, to ask him questions about the route, CPs and any other advice he could give me and fair play to him he gave me everything I didn't have to be able to plot something together. Ok the CPs were very vague and it was a bit like dropping a pin on a map and hoping we meet up but we had a plan, and a man with a plan is dangerous 🤣🤣

So let's cut all the other crap now, let's get to the challenge itself and it started with a 4am wake up call, a couple of Crumpets, a lionsmane coffee and 3 poos before a 20 minute drive to Llanberris. Nervously sat in the van for about 30 minutes beforehand and 05.55 we jumped out ready to go. Quick model pose for Mrs Smevs

6am came and we were Go Go Karting 👌👌 literally straight into a climb of Snowdon, I'd already warned Carly not to film it as it'll look bad as I go straight into a walk 🤣🤣 which I did, well a bit faster than a walk, a power tab up, passing lots of walkers all happy and looking forward to the absolutely mental challenge I was at the start of. I didn't want to kill myself going up Snowdon but I didn't want to mince it either as I had my own goal times set in place and wanted to achieve them. After a good climb I got to the Summit of Snowdon via the Llanberris path in about an hour 10, a quick photo at the summit and I was off again as it was moody up there

It was then a steep very technical decent via the Watkins path, and I remember thinking holy shit, my quads are disliking me already, water pouring down the paths so my feet were soaked already so I knew I'd need to be on top of my foot admin otherwise it could be game over, but we made it to the bottom and to the first Checkpoint at 8.5 miles.

Next stop Cader Idris

A couple of mistakes here, the first id actually made a few weeks before the challenge. I'd plotted the route onto the tracker and instead of adding the CPs I thought it would be cool to plot the Summits of the mountains so everyone would know once I hit the top. The problem was, that once synced to Garmin once I hit the top of Snowdon it told me, and then showed me on the watch face the actual distance to the summit of the next mountain. So 40 miles to go, I normally like to break things down mentally from CP to CP so normally only ever a max of 10 miles or so, I was alright at first, but this would eventually start to get into my head.

The second was my running vest, the plan was to do the mountains in a running vest as it was packed with full mountain kit, it's so important as you never know what could happen up there so when I see idiots in flip flops and shorts and vests it does piss me off a bit. But anyway I was then to run the in-between sections in a running belt, so I'd bought a new non bounce running belt and well it was bull shit, it did bounce, wearing it around the back felt like the bottle was trying to penetrate my ring piece and wearing it round the front was like getting punched in the nuts every step, so I had to settle with it on the side and only be able to run with one arm 🙈🙈

This section was 10 miles, so nice easy trails to start with, people walking dogs and all looking lovely, then we took a sharp turn off into the trails and we went climbing, and more climbing and masses of water and bogs and in instantly reminded me of Isle of Skye and Southern upland way. I was still loving life but I was starting to think that this was going to be a lot tougher than I had given it credit for. I actually thought the majority of the elevation would be made up by the mountains but I was wrong, there was lots of climbing everywhere. Big climbs up, just to come back down again to then go back up again. This 10 miles was taking a lot longer than I thought it would of, and the one 500ml of precision I had taken had gone. I was messaging Mrs Smevs at this point trying to find out how far away she actually was and luckily it wasn't too far, a really big decent for me and a stretch out on to the road down to Llyn mair Car park. 18.5 miles done and feeling like 40 😅

Only 6.5 miles to our next CP now in Trawsfynydd pronounce that if you can 🤣 and back to the vest, my nuts, arsehole and my arm couldn't take anymore of the non bounce waist belt. Slipped into the zone a bit on this one and can't actually remember much at all about it apart from the CP itself, set up in a little village on the side of the road, a can of coke and some frankfurter hotdog sausages which went down an absolute treat. Followed by a Marshmallow cake.

All along the route there was points that Mrs Smevs would just pop up behind me in the Camper with the hazards on driving alongside me for as long as she could. I also should have said that Tommy my boy, he's 12 decided he wanted to come along and help crew so he was there as well, which was fine at first, but as the miles and elevation started to creep into the legs. His constant smiling face and fist pumps and are you alright? Starting to gripe me a bit, which I know it shouldn't, he did an awesome job and it was great having him there, it was just me starting to be a miserable twat.

This next section only 8 miles away and a big long stretch through coed y brenin, so loads of people out and mountain bikers and I stopped and spoke to a few people and told them what I was up to, I'd also taken the music with me on this stretch. I thought it would be a good idea to have a family play list, the kids and Carly could upload songs and it would cheer me up if I was feeling shit etc. so within the first 5 mins it was baby shark, awww Nelly, then it was some Garage crap Mrs Smevs, then Concrete Angel, Betsy what a banger 🙌 then ompa lumpa from Wonka by Nelly, then more Garage, and more Garage, and more Garage, then Tom Jones and Sex Bomb and then more Garage and I had to hit the abort button. Headphones off!

I was also starting to struggle here with my urine, I felt I'd been drinking well and had been taking salt tablets but I'd wee, then within 5 mins I'd have a very intense feeling to wee again and I'd have to go just to get rid of that feeling but it wouldn't even really be a wee, then 5 mins later I was getting the same feeling. I could only really put this down to the salt tablets, so thought I'd give them a rest for a bit to see if it eased up. Thinking back I actually had the same problem at isle of Skye in May. We made it to the CP though at pont tyn Groes car park which meant we were only 7 ish miles from Cader Idris 👌

I was really starting to feel the mountain miles, the climbs, the tough terrain now and starting to feel a little sorry for myself, but knew we had to get shit done, so a quick Welsh cake which my mum had sorted out for me 🙌🙌 and I was off again. Like I said I was starting to feel sorry for myself so found it highly amusing when some bloke started running with me going I'm just going to follow this guy 🫤 soon changed his mind when I said I was running to Brecon. This stretch was a tough one, a big climb before the actual mountain big climb, a long road stretch and a sign pointing in the right direction which I sent to Mrs Smevs so she knew where I was. We voice noted quite a bit through this section

Also had a voice note from my sister who had Nelly and Betsy with her who had both recorded me a message which reminded me why I was doing this shit. We exchanged a few more messages and Nelly told me she nearly drowned on the water slide in the morning which she found hilarious, she'd called her uncle Seb a smelly man and they'd also had a bit of beef and she may have dropped the C bomb, but this made me happy, not that she was swearing, just making me laugh and feeling happy again for a bit. I remembered this road now though, a big long down into ty nant Carpark which was where I was planning on a big food top up before the climb of Mountain number 2.

Started to feel a little like a celebrity here and on the run in, lots of hikers leaving the Car park where Mrs Smevs was parked up and had been chatting to her about the adventure and reading all about it as it was splattered all over the camper. There was a group of 4 who were also doing the Welsh 3 peaks, they said to Carly we're just about to drive to Pen y fan now, and she let them know I'll be running 🤣🤣 but lots of car beeps and well dones being shouted out of windows as they passed as I then arrived at the CP

Cader Idris time Mountain 2

A big fuel up of Sausage and Baked beans, but I actually over did it and could feel it all sat horribly in my belly. But at this point I was still ahead of my goal time so knew I needed to get moving. Carly and Tommy both came with me just to walk a bit of the climb to keep me company, Tommy with a pot noddle in hand 🤣🤣 which I later found out on the way back he slipped over and poured it all over himself 🤣

They then left me to complete the climb as they went onto the next CP, this was when I really started to think of shit, what am I actually doing. The doubt came at me, I remember posting some stories on my Instagram and getting loads of messages off people which helped give me a boost to get up the mountain, but it was tough, I remember sitting down for 5 minutes on a rock, genuinely hating myself and trying to think of reasons to call it all off. Just one foot in front of the other, remember what you tell everyone else, if you feel shit, eat, if your legs feel shit, eat, if anything is shit, eat. So just eat, ok the beans and sausage was still sitting funny, but a gel squeezed in and it started to settle. I got a few 100 meters from the top and there was a little dude making his way down, could only be about 7/8, so I gave him a fist pump and told him he was awesome. It made him smile, which made me smile. I'd only ever done Cader Idris once before and couldn't see anything at the top, but luckily today it was all clear and I could see and it looked stunning. This next point was either laugh or cry, summit hit so the watch went beep. 85.6 miles to the next one 🥹🥹

The Decent of Cader Idris was tough as hell, massive steep slippy steps, fell over a good few times, so did people around me so maybe it was a game of Karma, I'd laugh at them and then they'd laugh at me. Dropping down into the Nature reserve at the bottom though is absolutely stunning, waterfalls and little bridges and just so picturesque, you just want to stop and take it all in but unfortunately I didn't have time, I'd lost time, it had taken be a lot longer on the up and down and my goal time had slipped, not out of reach but I was behind it now. Things weren't great, this was a real low point and I still had a night shift and 46.6 miles before Ali joined me.

Dol Idris Car park to Forge Road in Machynlleth a long 10 mile stretch, all I can remember about this section was how long the 10 miles felt, like I'd said before we had pretty much dropped a pin on locations, so every distance was give or take a mile and I'm sure this one was have an extra or 2. I came into Machynlleth and it was a town, and it felt like I was running through it forever, was close to 8pm so all the takeaways open so should have been a really good chance to top up the food. I eventually got to Carly who was parked next to another Camper who went straight into asking me about the challenge. Are you finished? I looked at my watch and let out a little cry for help and said no, I've still got 71.9 miles to go. Then I got to our Camper the Chip shop had moved in, we had a choice of burgers, pies and chips, but I tried a few chips and couldn't really face anymore. Mrs Smevs told me it was 12 miles to the next CP and I told her straight, there's no way I'm making that on my own.

Stay little is the next CP and luckily a long stretch of road or track that Mrs Smevs could follow alongside me, it was still light at this point but wouldn't be for much longer, I had myself my first fruit pastel ice lolly running down the main road with Mrs Smevs behind me with the hazards on, getting loads of beeps off cars and well dones being shouted at me again. What I didn't know was I had some big climbs ahead of me and it was getting dark. Followed by a bit of rain, then more rain, and heavier rain and some thunder and lightning thrown into the mix, the lightning really lighting up the sky and I was on my own again, really deep in the hole and this wasn't going to help. My instant thought at this point was I could call it now and no one can really say anything because it's the weather and it's out of my control, it's dangerous to be out there. I was trying to get my Inov-8 jacket out of my pack, and it literally took me 5 minutes to get it on, the flex in my arms is horrendous as it is and I had one arm in my jacket and the wind was causing it to blow all over the place and I just couldn't get it. Torrential rain blasting off me and I was soaked wet through. Thunder and lightning still going strong and I was 100% ready to throw in the towel. But then ........ A little while ago I put up a post about a race changing the course because of a bit of rain and wind and got a bit of stick for it, and I thought to myself that they would love it if I quit because of the weather, and deep down I absolutely love it, those weather conditions are really me down to a tee. I posted it on my story again, and within minutes Ben had messaged me saying now is the time for you to shine, you love this shit now go get it done. Within 10 minutes I had broken out of the trails, I now had my jacket done up but Mrs Smevs was waiting there. I should have changed my shorts before putting on full waterproof and becoming a berghaus wanker but I wanted to keep moving. Unfortunately for me though, these wet shorts caused me some very uncomfortable chafe on my balls, and all around my balls, we still had a good few miles to the next CP and it was back into the trails for me so Mrs Smevs went straight on to the next CP in Stay little. I was making my way here, feeling completely drained, tried, swaying all over the road and made a decision that I've never done before and didn't even know if it would work but I thought I'm going to have a 10 minute sleep when I get to Carly. This was make or break time.

The weather was still shit but the thunder and lightning had stopped, so I got out of full waterproofs, had a pasta pot, changed my kit and had a 10 minute sleep. But how would my body react afterwards?

Carly set a 10 minute timer on her watch, and I really didn't know how this was going to go but I had to sleep, I was so tired.

Matt!!!! Yes? That's 10 minutes. Already? Yes!

I had gone to sleep literally already to go, so after our very brief chat, I just opened the door and felt like I sprinted off down the road feeling epic again. Then my back light feels off my pack and as I bent down to pick it up, there was just a random man staring at a hedge, I asked him if he was ok, he said yes, So i ran off again. I did confirm with Carly that this actually happened 🤣🤣

It was then 5 miles to Llanidloes and some big climbs again along the roads just like a roller coaster, big drag up before dropping down again. I really had underestimated how tough this was going to be. I knew I was only about 15 miles from Ali joining me, but I also knew I was 55 miles from the end. I was deep in the hole again, looking for excuses to quit, but then I thought of Ali, could you imagine if I mugged him off like that, he'd be fuming and I couldn't blame him, gone massively out his way to come support me and I quit before he's even run. I just wasn't prepared to do that to him, as much as I wanted it all to be over. Did I honestly have another 50 plus miles in me??

We had a 10 mile stretch now to Ali, and the great thing was Carly could literally drive the whole section behind me as it was a track on the National cycle trail, whether she was meant to is a different story but it was 2/3am in the morning at this point and neither of us really gave a shit 😂

Carly started off following behind, but it was so slow for her she was riding the clutch, or stalling the van and the noise of it was really starting to get into my head so I had to tell her to go in front, so she'd drive a few hundred meters in front and I'd catch her up and then we'd go again and it worked well. She'd get out and open any gates and I'd close them behind me and we soon ticked through the miles, she then went on ahead to the final CP and I death marched on my own.

Elan valley Carpark - I remember running into this one to smiling faces, not from Tommy. He was still sparko, fell asleep as soon as it got dark and we didn't see him again till the morning 🤣 but Leslie, the saviour with the lifts was there to see me in, and Ali my support runner for the remaining 40 miles. He was only 3 weeks out from a 100 miler so probably not fully recovered himself but he is an absolute legend and he saved my arse and I appreciate him coming all the way to help me out. I remember him joking what's taken you so long, and normally I'd have probably lost my shit, but I didn't, I just smiled and said I wish someone had told me how hilly Wales was.

Pretty much now everything was road till the end, but I had done just over 90 miles on my own, I wasn't prepared to give up now. Having Ali was like a new lease of life and it wasn't long before we were chatting shit and having a laugh and the 4 miles to the CP blasted past, under an hour happy days. Although the last 100 metres of this but were down a massively overgrown path which stung my knees from stingy nettles which were actually buzzed for the remainder of the run and the following day, the bastards

I remember now a good 6 mile stretch to the next CP, some 25% gradient hill climbs, the weather getting shit again and me and Ali probably pushing the pace a bit, luckily we had Carly driving behind us as it really was a main road. I got her to pull into a lay by just so I could try and compose myself

A can of coke and some soggy Ham and pineapple pizza that Ali said was a week old rammed down the hatch and we moved on again, next stop was Bulith wells, I remembered this one from the drive up on the Friday as we passed through and there was a Burger King and a Greggs. I had already placed an order with Mrs Smevs for a sausage cheese and bean melt, but for some stupid reason it was shut on a Sunday! 🙈🙈

Each section just seemed now to get harder and harder, the hills seemed to be coming more and more and we were passing through a military firing range with loads of roaming pink sheep, that's serious as well, the farmer had sprayed his sheep pink. The rain was on and off but when it was on it was on and the wind howled through the valleys and I was really in need of a poo, I had been for about 6/7 hours prior to this but I was constipated and couldn't go, I tried loads of time, and Ali who had been running with me for about 4 hours had already had 2 shits ffs. I left him at the bottom of a climb having a dump while I climbed up to Cwm Owen, that was a big climb and when we got to this one Tommy was fully awake and all full of beans again. We now only had 2 more CPs before the mountain of Pen y fan and I was so desperate to finish that I let the simple stuff that I'd kept on top of slowly fizzle out so I could feel the feet getting sore and the blisters forming. But we reached the pub Carpark in Pwllgloyw where Carly had sorted us some cups of tea and got some chips from the pub, which were actually decent chips. Chips and dippy is always a winner really, didn't eat massive amounts but got down what I could and I knew there was only 5 miles to go. Was it actually going to happen, and would I be within the time to become the New Fastest known time holder.

5 miles out let's go, I knew that once we hit Brecon it was through the village onto Ffwrdgrech road and into the Carpark for the final climb, one thing I had forgot though was how long Ffwrdgrech road actually was, it's like a pre climb before the climb

We hit Brecon though and I knew we were nearly home, all I had been thinking about all day was getting to that Car park to climb pen y fan. I was dreading running down though to be fair as my legs were in bits, my chafe was horrendous and every step I took hurt my feet but I was determined to get there and get it done. The weather was bad, so we knew no questions asked it was going to be full waterproofs with gloves as it was going to be howling up there. So we came into the Carpark, and it was time to refuel one last time and make the climb.

I couldn't handle the Chafe anymore so I had to take off my shorts and free willy in the waterproof trousers. Grab the poles, not that I used them, we took about 10 meters and I gave them to Ali and he used them instead. This climb from the North side is tough, about 2.8 miles up and I can honestly say it was the worst weather I've ever climbed a mountain in, or in fact even been in. If it wasn't for this being the final piece of the challenge then I wouldn't have done it, but I had to. The wind and the rain literally took you off your feet, but this made me love it even more, I love this climb, it was awesome, we got to the top in about an hour with things considered was pretty decent. Then it was a quick picture at the top

Then the bit I was worrying about, how much the legs where going to handle getting down. Well, they loved it, all the pain that I had felt before, the miles the chafe the blisters had all gone and me and Ali were flying down towards the Car park. We couldn't see the Carpark due to the weather so there was no way they could see us coming down put we were ploughing it, legs going 10 to the dozen then we got low enough to see the gates and the bridge and yet managed to find something else again to crank up the pace over the bridge and through the gate to complete the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge

I ran 131.5 miles, climbed 3 mountains with 21,600ft of climb and 20,000ft of decent in a time of 36 hours and 47 minutes beating the current record by 10.5 hours. 🙌🙌

What a fantastic experience, lots went against us, but with a winning team around you then you can achieve anything.

A massive thank you to Ali for just being an absolute legend and going out of his way to be part of this epic adventure. I wouldn't of completed it in the time I did without him. He knew what he needed to do and kept me moving. Ali thank you so much 🙏 🙏

Leslie thanks again for sorting lifts, you really didn't have to, to you it might not seem like much but to me it was everything 😍

Thanks to my mum and Chez for having Betsy and Nelly, they had a great time

Mrs Smevs, my own wonder women. Only a month or so after her epic adventure she absolutely smashes her crewing duties and got my arse to the end. I really couldn't do any of this without you. You really are my Rock and literally the best person I know. Love you so much 🥰🥰

So that's it, another epic adventure complete. The hardest one I've done, the terrain and the weather kicked my arse, but I came back fighting and won. A massive thank you to everyone for all your support not just on Challenges but everyday

Love to you all

Mr Smevs x