A woman who was at risk of losing her foot after a fall on ice, has just completed a self-powered adventure ‘triathlon’ across England, Scotland and Wales.
Claire Hughes, 44, from Wylam, has spent her life engaging in several outdoor activities, and at the end of April she travelled across the three nations by packraft, bike and on foot, incorporating the longest lake and biggest mountain in each and cycling between them.
She’s raised more than £7,500 (including Gift Aid) for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), after she required their help following a fall in the Pennines.
In November 2021, Claire and her partner James Mackay were walking in icy conditions around the Blanchland area in Northumberland, in the aftermath of Storm Arwen when she slipped.
Due to the ice and snow, it would have taken several hours for a road ambulance to reach Claire, so GNAAS was called, and their critical care team based in Langwathby, Penrith flew to the scene in just over 15 minutes.
The team found Claire to be at severe risk of losing her foot and developing hypothermia in the -20C wind-chill conditions.
As both of the bones in Claire’s leg were broken, as well as her ankle pointing in the wrong direction, emergency treatment was delivered in a temporary shelter at the scene to help with the blood supply to the foot.
Claire was then airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where she underwent surgery to treat breaks on the three main bones of her ankle.
She explained: “They said the air ambulance guys had done such a fantastic job of pulling my ankle straight they did me some major favours in terms of recovery.”
Thankfully Claire has recovered well and on 19 April she embarked on a self-powered triathlon across the UK raising money for GNAAS.
Her challenge started in Wales, where she paddled Llyn Tegid (Lake Bala), cycled to Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) and hiked Snowdon. She then cycled to Newby Bridge, paddled Windermere, cycled to Langdale and hiked Scafell in the Lake District.
For the final section Miss Hughes cycled to Loch Awe and paddled across it, cycled to Ben Nevis and finished with a hike up to the top of Ben Nevis on 27 April.
In total she paddled 76.6km, cycled 903.32km and walked 45.5km and has raised just under £6,000 for GNAAS, before Gift Aid is added.
We caught up with her this week to find out how the challenge went:
How does it feel to complete your triathlon?
“It feels amazing to have completed it – I’ve been planning it for so long and worrying over logistics as well as just my ability to actually manage it!! But I also feel a little bit sad – the challenge really starts from when you first have the idea, there’s so much work and prep goes in behind the scenes that it’s refreshingly simple once you get to actually starting! Suddenly now it’s done there’s a bit of a gap where the challenge used to be.”
What were the highlights of your challenge?
“It was so exciting to undertake something which others could actively feel a part of. So often challenges and adventures are more far flung or confined to an organised event that apart from watching, there’s very little others can do to show their support or be involved. What I really loved about this was how involved people could get at any level. There was the tracker for ‘dot watching’, or folk could pop by and watch me come past or I even had a few friends who joined for short sections such as a section of bike ride or to climb a hill.
“The kindness of strangers really blew me away as well – when I did stay on campsites, all insisted on any fee going to my fundraising instead; a lady I had never met before paddled out to meet me for a section of my longest paddle with strawberries and lovely company for a couple of hours; another lady was waiting outside her house with a pint of iced water as she thought I’d need it after cycling up the hill near her house (I certainly did!!); bumping into people on cycle paths and enjoying random chat. I know I love the outdoors and would be happy being completely outside for a week but the human element to the challenge was an unanticipated joy.
“The weather was incredible – after the constant high winds and rain leading up to it, weather was my highest risk really. Whilst I had a cold northerly wind the whole time so my tent and kit was always frozen in the morning and it was very cold, I had so much sunshine and very little rain/hail which was just wonderful! Frozen wet clothes some mornings wasn’t my favourite though.”
What parts of the challenge did you find the toughest?
“The long days and complicated changeovers between bike and raft, always finished well after dark which was really hard but there are two particular sections that really stand out at the moment.
“The first was the day I cycled from Chester to the Lake District. I had covered less bike miles than I had hoped the day before so I had ground to try and make up as I didn’t want to use my contingency time so early on with notorious sections in Scotland yet to come. I decided I was just going to get my head down and put in a really big shift to get to my planned camping spot that night. It was also a really stunning location which I had agreed access for from the estate manager so I was excited to camp there! I cycled 220km and arrived into Newby Bridge (south end of Windermere) at 2am. I then had to inflate my raft, pack everything on and paddle 4km along Windermere to my camping spot. The conditions were utterly perfect so I was happy it was safe but I didn’t reach camp until 4am that night and only got an hours sleep before I had to set off and paddle the rest of Windermere.
“The other day was following an unexpectedly beautiful ride in gorgeous sunshine along the M74 corridor cycle route. But when I reached Glasgow, I struggled with route finding and lost a lot time which was so frustrating. It was starting to go dark, my front light broke so I had to ride with a headtorch on the front. I wanted to stay on cycle paths and off the roads as much as possible for safety but then started to encounter safety issues of a different kind, cycling along parks and canals in the dark and some interesting characters hanging out there! I eventually made it out of Glasgow at 11.30pm but was very, very cold and tired so needed to just ride until I could find somewhere to rest my head for a couple of hours. That turned out to be a bit of scrap woodland in a housing estate! Not my favourite.”
What did you do to celebrate finishing?
“The finish was AMAZING! I feel quite emotional still thinking about! The camera crew and my best friend joined me for the Carn Mor Dearg Arrete which links in to Ben Nevis from the north and is just a lovely route. We had all the weather from sunshine to heavy snow but when I eventually crawled on to the summit, more lovely friends were there waiting on an otherwise empty but sunny summit! It was a fabulous way to finish – lots of laughs, photos and incredible views. We then all went out for a curry and I pretty much fell asleep in my main course!
How is your body after completing your epic challenge?
“I feel surprisingly good and excited to get out and ride my unladen bike!!!! I have never slept so well which will have helped my recovery too. And to be honest it’s just as well – I’m cycling the Jordan Trail next week haha!”
How does it feel to smash your fundraising target for GNAAS?
“Absolutely brilliant!!!!! And I realised that all the Gift Aid takes the total to around £7.5k which is even better. My watch got notifications every time an email from my fundraising page dropped – it was such an incredible boost to get those notifications whilst I was slogging through the miles and did genuinely help spur me on through some difficult times.
“We are also making a short film of the challenge which will be ready later in the year so I am hoping that might help continue to raise a little more money for GNAAS off the back of this challenge.”
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