Two thousand feet up, a kayak and fishing rod on his back, and
the tail end of a hurricane is all just in a day's work for
Autosheen's Paul Fennell, who has raised more than £1,200 for Help
for Heroes.
Kayak fishing in the highest fishable waters in England, Wales
and Scotland was the name of the game for Paul and his fellow
'trekker' Martin Hurst as they completed both the Welsh and
Scottish legs of their three tarn challenge to raise funds for Help
for Heroes. The English Red Tarn leg had to be cancelled until next
year due to hurricane winds.
After vowing 'never again' on completing last year's Burnmoor
Tarn trek in aid of the same charity, Paul Fennell,
managing director of Autosheen, a professional valeting company,
went against his word and took on the challenge once
more.
Paul said: "We really wanted this to be a challenge worthy of
every donation, and it certainly was. Winds in the night reached up
to 60mph and our tents struggled to cope.
"As I am ex-Army, I enjoy such endurance challenges and also
have a particular affinity to Help for Heroes charity.
"It was a fantastic experience, despite the wind and rain, and
for a very worthy cause. The mountain Pike caught at Loch Callater
were a real bonus. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so
far.
"Just to make it really challenging we increased the number of
tarns visited from one to three. To make it a true GB
challenge we tackled a tarn in Wales (Snowdonia) Mellyn Llyn at
over 2,100ft; England (Lake District) and will take on the Red
Tarn, (Hellvelyn) at 2,330ft and Scotland, Loch Callater in the
Grampians."
"The Red Tarn stage will now take place in early summer of 2012
and will break our own record of 2,100ft set by our Welsh leg. The
ascent is expected to take a full day. For perspective the event is
the equivalent to towing a kayak from the sea to the top of Ben
Nevis over rocks and through mud. Not to mention the 50lb pack of
camping equipment."
To view a video of the tarn challenge please visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1yPVbmuw94
To donate visit http://www.justgiving.com/threetarnchallenge