A BLOWN tyre, no mobile phone signal and a three-hour wait for a mechanic failed to stop fundraisers from taking part in a 24-hour charity trek up the Three Peaks.

Marathon man Mike Buss, led a team of eight people from Swindon to raise £500 for military charities last weekend.

Mike said: “When we reached the summit of Ben Nevis, the weather was closing in fast, cloud cover was low, visability was down to no more than 20m.

“Heading down the mountain the weather was getting worse, the cloud cover getting lower and the first sign of rain was coming. The team made it up and down the mountain in a respectable five-and-a-half hours.

“We then started driving to Scafell Pike in the Lake District. When we were on the country lanes in the late night of Saturday, disaster struck. The minibus had a tyre blow out, and with no signal to call for recovery, the team attempted to change the tyre, but with the spare welded to the undercarriage of the minibus, I had no choice but to head for the nearest civilisation as there was no mobile phone reception.”

Mike and his team were stranded for three hours, which blew their chance of hitting the 24-hour target for all three mountains.

“Once the RAC man had sorted the spare wheel, the team had decided that due to the loss of time and the weather reaching extremely bad conditions, it would be best to go straight on to Snowdon and miss out Scafell,” said Mike.

They reached Snowdon by 7am on Sunday and started the climb but they were faced with heavy rain and 50mph winds.

“The point of no return had passed and it was a climb to the summit as fast as possible,” said Mike.

“The team really attacked the mountain with a two-hour climb to the summit. The summit showed its true force with possibly the worse weather I have seen in Snowdon in five years during normal climbing season.

“The group made it down against all odds in a good time of three hours. They did great to summit two of the three mountains, and the two toughest mountains at that.”

Mike is running an extreme three peaks challenge on February 1, which is only open to experienced mountain walkers.

He thanked Lime Square Vehicle Rental Ltd who donated the minibus free of charge, as well as ISO2 Nutrition, Aligra Recruitment, Hi-Tec, OMM, Craghoppers and Leki. To book a place on a future trek call Mike on 07791 356 482 or email activelifeuk@hotmail.com