Three of Yorkshire’s highest peaks, 25 miles, over slippery rocks with tiger costumes, dodgy knees and no mobile phone reception … what could possibly go wrong.Well, surprisingly little, which is huge testament to the human spirit  – and the thought that somewhere along the way we were doing our wet, sweaty, aching and cursing bit for one of the planet’s smallest stripiest big cats – the Sumatran tiger!It was a motley crew that set out at 6.30am from the Station Inn at Ribblehead in the drizzle to tackle the first of our personal Yorkshire Three Peaks – Wernside.

The motley element was not within Yorkshire’s finest though it included two fell runners in our party. The ‘motley’ three are from lowland Britain whose steepest training incline had been the stairs.And to be specific, me, Debbie Nicholls, the humble PR person for Wildlife Vets International.  It all sounded so easy, such a lovely adventure, when it was first suggested. Reality hit on the first climb when a vet would have come in very handy, although euthanasia only seemed a preferable option towards the end of our eleven and a half hour marathon. I was painfully aware that somewhere in the jungles of Sumatra, anti-tiger poaching patrols tackle infinitely worse every day in their battle to conserve the remaining tigers in Kerinci Seblat National Park. That thought probably crossed the mind of our intrepid challenge leader and WVI Development Director, Olivia Walter, who will be joining those patrols for a fund-raising trek with fellow conservationists across Kerinci in October. All our hard won sponsorship pounds were going towards Olivia’s target of £5,000, to be split between funding patrols (through Fauna and Flora International) and one of WVI’s core mission; to tackle the spread of canine distemper into the tiger population and help launch Indonesia’s tiger disease surveillance programme – a world first. Our ‘tigers’ caused quite a stir en route – although probably not to the same extent as will a stripey encounter on Olivia’s jungle trek – even prompting the odd donation to the cause. This group donated £5 upon meeting Tigger (aka Rachel) on the top of Pen-y-Gent.

Unsurprisingly our cohesive party had fractured by the top of Wernside, with at least one of the lowlanders sliding down the mountain on slippery grass.  Just as well I hit no rocks! Spurring me on was the thought of our first ‘cake stop’ an essential element of any ladies’ walking foray. Enter Kat, our attentive tea and cake lady, complete with stop watch and a choice of cakes worthy of the Great British Bake Off.

On to Inglebrough, a reassuring encounter with a mountain rescue chap (and his dog) and a break in the clouds.

Unfortunately that only served to show how far away sat the still beckoning Pen-y-Gent! Lunch in Horton in Ribblesdale (ok, another cake stop) so nearly saw the end of my personal journey. Sheer bloody-mindedness won, happily. Onwards and upwards. Yep, I watched their collective backsides disappearing up the path and regretted it almost immediately. Oh, but the joy of reaching the top – and to look back literally MILES to those other two peaks now conquered! The Station Inn was a rowdy place that night, although one person no doubt wondering how on earth she was going to shoulder a 60litre rucksack with all gear through a steamy Sumatran jungle.

We’ll be right behind you Olivia. OK, we’ll be thinking of you. Next morning? Crippled and hardly able to get downstairs for a well deserved guest house breakfast, we heard about a proposal for 2016 for a 6 Peaks Challenge. Put my name down to drive the cake wagon! For more pictures please see Facebook

Trekking for tigers

Sometimes with the tops rolled down, where upon we got ‘gggrrrr’ as people walked past us

  Find out Olivia’s latest trials and tribulations in Olivia’s Travels. John Lewis returns from Indonesia.

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