Your donations to the fundraising effort of cycling up Ben Nevis are much appreciated - thank you.

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Wheel High for Water : The Ben Nevis Challenge

The last time I got to the top of a Scottish hill, since being paralysed, was on a hen weekend – in the back of one of these all-terrain quad bike type machines. It ploughed through water and heather, with me in the back bouncing around on a double mattress. We drank blue cocktails on the top, in thick cloud, and it was all very effortless.

So hand-biking to the top of Ben Nevis seemed the next obvious step when I discovered the “One Off”, a hand-bike mountain bike, which goes places I’ve never been able to go before (or not for a long time). Buoyed by the opportunities it seemed to offer, I picked the top of Britain’s highest mountain as the obvious place to take it, and decided to use the challenge to raise money for a rainwater collection system in a Tanzanian village I have some connections with.

I planned it for June, but due to injury and long-lasting snow, I decided to delay until late July. So, last Monday, the 21^st I began the long-climb, along with Andy and his kids, Ella and Ewen, and their granddad, Pete Kirkpatrick. A motley crew. Within the first hour, and at the first serious obstacles – boulders in the middle of the path, we picked up Ricardo, a helpful Spaniard, who became passionate about my climb up the mountain and spent the day with us – he is a psychiatrist – so a helpful kind of chap to have around.

The first few hours were a mixture of hard pedalling and challenging route finding, often on grass and turf to avoid the rocky obstacles. But the path was more challenging for the bike than I had ever expected – steep rocky steps, like something I imagine in Macchu Picchu, and I couldn’t pedal without extra help to get the wheels over giant drainage ditches, and boulders.

Have you ever seen “Beyond Boundaries” – the BBC TV series about teams of disabled people going on challenging journeys through wild land. The wheelchair users in the programme are often being dragged and pulled around by the other participants, and that’s not the way I enjoy having adventures. I like to be able to propel myself if possible, and not feel like a sack of potatoes getting heaved along!

So, part-way up the mountain, when the balance tipped from pedalling to being pushed and pulled, I realised that it wasn’t what I’d wanted. Andy, his dad, and his kids, hadn’t signed up to drag me up Ben Nevis, and I didn’t want to get up it that way. If the path and the bike weren’t compatible, then I would have to put the summit to rest in my mind – for now at least.

Through hard work, grit and grind, we made it to the “Halfway Lochan”, funnily enough, halfway up the mountain. We spent a great night there, joined by my friend Nick, in the rain and clag, camped by the loch. The next day, a retreat by the way we came would have been even more epic than the ascent, and we found a route out, where I could pedal largely unaided, through heather, mud and turf, to fantastic views of the valley, and the North Face of Ben Nevis. The cloud swirled, the sun lit up the rocks, and it was magical.

So, I didn’t get the joy of the summit, but I got the joy of a great team, the spirit of the mountains, and a sense of accomplishment. And raised £1500. So, for anyone else considering Ben Nevis, the path isn’t wheelchair accessible unless you have a team of Marines, or similar, and like that feeling of being a sack of ‘tatties’!

An independent film-maker filmed the event, so watch out, there may be a film to look out for.

The ONE-OFF handbike mountain bike has been funded by a SportScotland lottery grant, and will be available for anyone who cares to try it, to hire from Glenmore Lodge Outdoor Centre near Aviemore, Scotland.