Now daredevil firefighters Lee Peyton, 32, and Garry Mackay, 33, are preparing to undergo a 300-mile sledge-pulling challenge which has been described as the world's coldest and toughest endurance event.

The Yukon Arctic Ultra expedition will seethe two to pull a sledge across Canada in eight days, where they will endure temperatures as low as - 25 C.

It comes after the pair travelled 300 miles across 15 Hebridean islands by bike and kayak in just 57 hours to raise £18,000 for cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

But this time round the daring duo are completing the gruelling task "just for the fun of it".

And the body-numbing temperatures and extreme training required make the February 2011 event their biggest challenge to date. Only around 100 people complete the Yukon Arctic Ultra, and they will have to survive on ration packs of dehydrated meals.

The duo are also gearing up for the 26-mile Edinburgh Marathon in May, followed by the 96-mile West Highland Way race in June and then a mountain marathon later this year.

Lee, from Penicuik, said: "I don't actually know why we do it. This time we'll be dragging a sledge in bitterly cold temperatures without the aid of any husky dogs. I wish there were dogs. "There was a choice between a 26-mile race, a 100-mile or a 300-mile. We decided to go for the 300-mile to push ourselves. "During the 300-mile challenge for CLIC Sargent Garry was strong at kayaking and I was good at biking, so we supported each other. This time we're training with firefighter Ewan Cameron, who competed at the Britain's Strongest Man competition a couple of years ago. He makes up some brutal training sessions." Preparations include around four weight sessions every week, two core sessions, 13-mile runs and tyre dragging. In previous years the pair have also completed runs for the Firefighters Charity including the national Three Peaks Challenge, which saw them tackle Britain's three highest mountains – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in 24 hours. Lee added: "Last time we completed a 300-mile event we were supported by Ian Rankin, Philip Schofield and the Proclaimers. The Proclaimers sent us a message saying 'We hope your 300 miles are as successful as our 500 miles'. That message definitely holds some weight this time as the two attempt to pull a sledge across Canada in eight days, where they will endure temperatures as low as -25C.

It comes after the pair travelled 300 miles across 15 Hebridean islands by bike and kayak in just 57 hours to raise £18,000 for cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

But this time round the daring duo are completing the gruelling task "just for the fun of it".

And the body-numbing temperatures and extreme training required make the February 2011 event their biggest challenge to date. Only around 100 people complete the Yukon Arctic Ultra, and they will have to survive on ration packs of dehydrated meals.

The duo are also gearing up for the 26-mile Edinburgh Marathon in May, followed by the 96-mile West Highland Way race in June and then a mountain marathon later this year.

Lee, from Penicuik, said: "I don't actually know why we do it. This time we'll be dragging a sledge in bitterly cold temperatures without the aid of any husky dogs. I wish there were dogs.

"There was a choice between a 26-mile race, a 100-mile or a 300-mile. We decided to go for the 300-mile to push ourselves.

"During the 300-mile challenge for CLIC Sargent Garry was strong at kayaking and I was good at biking, so we supported each other. This time we're training with firefighter Ewan Cameron, who competed at the Britain's Strongest Man competition a couple of years ago. He makes up some brutal training sessions."

Preparations include around four weight sessions every week, two core sessions, 13-mile runs and tyre dragging.

In previous years the pair have also completed runs for the Firefighters Charity,

including the national Three Peaks Challenge, which saw them tackle Britain's three highest mountains – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – in 24 hours.

Lee added: "Last time we completed a 300-mile event we were supported by Ian Rankin, Philip Schofield and the Proclaimers. The Proclaimers sent us a message saying 'We hope your 300 miles are as successful as our 500 miles'. That message definitely holds some weight this time."

EdTwestival a charity event arranged through Twitter by Twitterers for Tweeters. Confused? So were we. Initially. To every tale there's a backstory and as usual in this blog we end up thanking people. So, here goes.

• In the beginning there was @mikecoulter. One conversation. Two men. Twenty beers. A thousand ideas. Ok, there have been a few more conversations since but basically Mr C got me to dip my toe into the whole social media thing and more specifically, Twitter.
• Eight months down the line and after a successful 300 mile trip to the Outer Hebrides in aid of CLIC Sargent, supported by the cast from the Edinburgh Coffee Morning, @darciec nominates us as one of the candidates to become the official charity for Edinburgh Twestival Local.
• A titanic battle with @lynneschallenge (who this month, September 2009, is trying to raise an amazing £100,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust) saw us, @300miles, victorious. CLIC Sargent became the official charity for EdTwestival Local 2009!
• The amazing team from @EdTwestival including:  Thanks to @darciec for the photo

• @btocher 
• @bettinaantonina 
• @cityferret 
• @jimwolffman 
• @littledishy 
• @salidatious

Rather charitably, they added our name on the website as part of the planning team. This is confession time: we didn't actually do a whole pile. Hats off to the team for arranging what was an amazing night. Further details of what went on can be found at the Edinburgh Twestival website but suffice to say there were a few beers drunk (and there was cake)!

Lee

We've been nominated as a candidate to be the official Twestival Local charity at EdTwestival held in Edinburgh on Thursday 10th September. We're hoping that the publicity and amazing support we received during our challenge will help us raise even more money for CLIC Sargent. Get voting for us here.

Tonight we did a LIVE TV interview on STV's The Hour show with Stephen Jardine and Michelle McManus. Despite the friendliness and obvious professionalism of the crew and presenters I still found this one of the hardest things I've had to do. As is the fire service way, I fully expect plenty of abuse in the coming days!

To view my nerves click here.

Lee

Anyway..

We’re heading out to Great Bernera which represents a bit of a landmark, it’s our 15^th and final island. Lee and I stop to take a couple of photos as we cross our last causeway around half 10 and we head on to summit our last bump and head North East towards our mid-day rest stop at the Calanish Standing stones (which are amazing, incidentally). We meet up with the safety vehicle in the visitors centre car park and, as the sun begins to show itself, it starts to feel like the end is in sight. Everybody is in great spirits as we head out for the last 35 miles up to Port Nis, the small town 2 miles South of our finish line at the Butt of Lewis Lighthouse.

The cheeriness kind of dissipates as Lee and I settle back into the grind of another couple of hours of pedalling. It’s funny, these should have been the easiest miles but they prove to be a struggle as the tanks are quite empty from the previous 50 plus hours of exertions. I reward myself with a High-5 Sports bar after 10 miles, it’s amazing how dependant my mood is on my level of hydration and fuelling; the bar gives me the lift I need and we start yet another inane conversation to pass the time. It’s quite remarkable actually, 56 hours together (Not to mention a year of planning and organising) and Lee and I still haven’t run out of nonsense to talk about. Today’s topics have included favourite 1980’s sweet, drinks to be taken upon conclusion, food, sweets again, food ( I see a pattern developing) and lots of chat about how our various kit has performed.

This part is worth documenting as I reckon as time goes by the memories will fade. First off, the Felt road bikes from Chris up at Cycleworld have been outstanding. Genuinely outstanding. Lee and I knew nothing about biking when we started off and welcomed the input from Chris, we had initially thought we’d use hybrids or even mountain bikes; that would have been a horrible decision. The F70 bikes are entry level race/triathlon bikes with a lot of carbon and a very aggressive riding position, however, we’ve never known anything else and they genuinely eat up the miles.

Around half two we head downhill with the North coast on our left and the East coast on the horizon (does that make sense?) and the end is in sight. The scenery is amazing: the sky is now completely clear, the seas aqua marine and I can feel my legs burning as I realise that I never quite thought ahead to put sun cream on this morning (it was raining then!). We have been joined on our journey by all the massively supportive members of the Peyton and Mackay Clan who have made their own incredible journey to what must seem like the edge of reason when they see how far they have come. It means a huge amount to both of us and seems to validate the efforts we have made to get this far. Genuine thanks to them all.

The effort of these guys and the now seasoned professionals of our support crew culminates in an amazing finish line at the Butt of Lewis lighthouse around 1510hrs. Dad heads our peloton into the finish line in the oldest hire car we’ve ever seen; Rosco is bouncing around in the back of the open boot filming our progress. Very Tour de France.

As we approach the end of our remarkable 300 mile journey, Lee and I don’t really speak to each other. We don’t really need to, we know exactly what this means in terms of successful planning, blood, sweat, toil and steep learning curves.

We cross the line to rapturous applause (well, our supporter mob plus a few tourists they roped in) and quite a few hugs. Good times.

Rosco leaps back into action at this point in the Producer/Director role (he’s clearly missed his calling) and guides us through a number of interviews on the Adventure Show cameras. It’s a fitting end to an amazing 60 hours (well 57 hours 10 minutes to be exact!) and we’re both suitably proud of our efforts. Ahead tonight lies an amazing meal and rakes of Magners at the Hotel Hebrides in Tarbert... bring it on.

Oh, and maybe some sleeping...

To view photos from the finish line go to Flickr.

Gaz

Up sharp this morning, feeling pretty good considering the exertions of yesterday.  It’s worth saying a big thanks to the retained Firefighters of Lochmaddy at this point as they clubbed together to make a generous donation to our cause. Thanks very much guys.

So the day kicked off with a 10 mile bike up to the beach on Berneray, which in all honesty is one of the nicest in Europe. Admittedly, my perception might be slightly skewed by a lack of sleep and a genuine sense of relief at the calm paddling conditions but it is still an unbroken stretch of white sand, flanked by dunes and the blue water of the Sound of Harris. Amazing.
Lee and I paddled out with the half-way halt in sight; approximately 6k of paddling takes you to the uninhabited islands of Ensay and Killegray, which stand like a couple of grumpy nightclub doormen in the middle of the Sound of Harris, impervious to mad tidal flows and wild weather.
From there it is a similar distance to the harbour bay on Harris, but this half is punctuated by many small islands and reefs. We meet the safety boat as we pass (rapidly) through the straight between the two islands and Neil’s cry of “Christ, you must have an outboard on those two!” confirms what we suspected that we are moving well across this potentially dangerous stretch of water. I’m chuffed, as the end is in sight. The safety crew boys are mildly grumpy as they believe we’ve been ignoring their increasing desperate sounding radio communications but a quick check confirms that my VHF handheld is receiving but not transmitting. These things happen and the lads are quickly over their little tantrum. Toys firmly re-instated in the pram.
It has been fantastic to have the security blanket of the safety boat but, again, we are both delighted when the increasingly inconsistent depth forces the guys back out the ferry channel: this is type of scenery, tides and territory that requires no chat, no engines and just the regular plonk of paddles on water. It is remarkable; if you get the chance… go.
We paddle up to the deserted ferry terminal around mid morning, knowing we will have a wait for Jo to bring the van, trailer and bikes across on the ferry. Lee and I successfully negotiate with the owner of the “Butty-bus” (a converted bus, selling butties… but you could have worked that out) to provide us with a couple of bacon rolls, with the promise of payment from our “friend on the ferry”. It is a welcome rest after a decent effort and we sit in buoyant mood (excuse the nautical pun) awaiting everybody else, but most specifically our bikes!
As Neil and Ross bring the safety boat into the harbour, the look on their faces is clearer than the lighthouse behind them; something has happened. What transpired is that a pinnacle of rock on the massively tricky route into the harbour has won it’s “square go” with the propeller and the boat is now limping more than an NCP car park attendant. Not good. Phone calls are made, replacements are ordered and the rueful “what-ifs” begin. Overall, fortunately, the general consensus settles on “today is still a good day, nobody died… nobody even got particularly wet!”
Once back on the road, Lee quickly remembers why he hates biking, and the miles begin to tick by. We reach the Clisham (899m) around late afternoon and this proves to be a quite grotesque climb taking even longer than the hour and a half we had allocated for it. Never mind. As a reward we have one more hill and three more hours of biking to complete after it. Good times.
We finally call it a day some time between nine and ten by which time we are about 15 miles West of Stornoway, the end might just be in sight! But that’s tomorrow’s problem…

Garry Mac

Almost everybody crashed straight out last night as soon as heads hit pillows.. I thrashed about a bit thinking over routes, timings, weather and all sorts of other things I had no power to change! Having found a wireless network on Barra late on, I was able to do some late updates on FaceBook, Twitter and to confirm some pretty favourable weather on the horizon.

At 5.45am we were in the van complete with bikes and associated kit en route to the start point on Vatersay, a few miles south of our overnight halt in Castlebay. Like so many islands in the Hebridean chain, Vatersay is linked to its neighbour by a causeway and, as we headed south across this, all thoughts of travel, logistics and fundraising start to fade out of view. All Lee and I had ahead of us was 60 hours of adventure, effort, hills, tides and wind. Cool...

The first two hours of the day felt a bit like this: Bike, hill, bike, causeway, bike, hill, bike...harbour... Harbour? Oh-oh; run out of roads already. Lee and I arrived in Ardmhor (North Barra) a little ahead of the safety vehicle so we used this time to get some fluids on and start to prep for a 12-14 kilometre kayak crossing. Any thoughts of nerves were soon blasted away by the sight of the ferry on the horizon. We’re using their slipway to launch the safety boat and our kayaks so we end up having to get a wriggle-on to get everybody safely on the water before the arrival of big-bad Mr Cal-Mac.

Once on the water, Lee and I fell into our usual rhythm quite quickly and we moved at a good pace across some fairly friendly waters. For the first 5-6 Kilometres we used the southerly cluster of islands as protection from a force 4-5 wind coming up the Sound from open seas. The safety Rib was evident on the horizon and Ross and Neil brought it in to us periodically to get photos and chat about depths and likely routes; but, mostly, they keep their distance which we both appreciated as it allowed us to be at one with some spectacular surroundings. Easy.

6 kilometres into the paddle we cleared the cover of the islands and the full force of the wind and residual tide movement started to show their influence on our boats. Maybe this isn’t going to be so easy.

We’ve been out in a lot worse but, for me, this was still a tough old crossing with the odd wobble and a few chunky waves. Great crack though. The highlight for me was probably fighting to keep to the transit route we had selected and avoiding drifting out to sea only to look across to see Lee whooping and hollering whilst surfing his kayak along on top of back-to-back waves. Nobody likes a smart-arse Peyton.

I was relieved/excited/disappointed/thrilled and hungry when we paddled into the protection of the harbour at Eriskay. It’s always a mix of emotions for me at the end of a paddle as, on one hand, I’m glad not to have been swimming... but on the other hand I always love the sense of freedom and access to scenery and wildlife it affords us.

Hard work though; hence the hunger...

The rest of the day, although challenging and incredibly hard work, seems a bit of an anti-climax. We cover over 70 miles on the bikes, visit 11 islands in total and climb two substantial hills (and 9 much smaller ones). Ben Mhor is the pick of these, a 10k round trip on foot, rising to around 550 metres above sea level. Every one of these metres was misery, incidentally. No path in, no path out, two weeks of rain water lying on acres of peat-rich earth and two fairly tired boys in the middle of a long day. Never mind. One high-note was Lee nearly losing a shoe in a peat-bog. I laughed.

Our plan (bearing in mind this is a plan we totally made up) was to conclude the day early evening at Berneray to the north of North of Uist. This would leave us ready for an early morning crossing of the Sound of Harris.

It became evident by early evening, that we were behind schedule. It was evident because we were not at Berneray... or even close. So, as quickly as it was formed, our plan was modified.

We closed the day off at Lochmaddy (10 miles short of our next paddle start) where our safety crew were staying and we allowed ourselves a few minutes to reflect on 15 hours of tri-discipline madness before looking ahead to leg two.. Bring on the Sound of Harris!

Garry Mac

Today (Tuesday) has been an incredibly long day for everybody concerned; a six AM start still only left us with about 4 minutes to spare to make check-in for the Skye to North Uist Ferry at two in the afternoon. Some top driving completed by both Neil and Ross in the support crew to get all the vehicles and kit up to Uig.

The Ferry was a welcome slowing of the pace with a chance to refuel (eat!), discuss routes for the coming days and for Lee and I to reflect on what lay ahead. The calm crossing filled me with confidence, the mixed weather reports on my I-Phone did not. I have become obsessed with wind forecasts over recent weeks, making sometimes more often than daily checks online to see what strength and direction of gusts are forecast for Wednesday and Thursday morning (our two big paddles).

The way I see it is this: if we make it into the boats and onto the water about an hour before low tide, if our reading of the tide tables is accurate, if the wind is less than 20mph (force 4 ish) and if there are no dramatic changes to the conditions during the couple of hours we expect the journeys to take... we’ll have a great time, be paddling well within our capabilities and everybody lives.

Now, does that seem a lot of “if”s to anybody else?

I think my apprehension about the paddling is evident to Lee, he knows me well enough from previous excursions and adventures to know when I am outwith my comfort zone. Having said that, he’s not letting on, and he is maintaining an air of confidence about the whole process (including my ability) and the likelihood of success. He’s right to; we’re both strong and determined and our sessions with Colin up at Oban have seen us develop from virtual beginners to safe and effective paddlers. I’m just a pessimist when it comes to Scottish Weather, especially in the Outer Hebrides. On the upside, we’ve got well over 200 miles of biking to do over the coming days and Lee’s going to hate that......

Our day finishes at a compact fire station in CastleBay on Barra, at around 1am. All kit checked about 5 times, all support crew suitably knackered and myself and Lee wide awake and kidding on we’re not flapping at all.

Alarms are set for 5am.. That’s kind of soon!

Garry Mac

Nutrition is going to be a massive factor in how we perform during our trip to the Western Isles and it has been a growing concern over the last wee while about what to eat when we're cycling, running and kayaking the 300 miles.

Thankfully, High5 have provided us with a range of sports' nutrition supplements to keep us going. Our particular favourite is High5's Sports Bar.

Time for the technical bit. This is a high carbohydrate energy bar that has been designed to contain a specific mix of both simple and complex carbohydrate. The simple carbohydrate is processed more quickly through the digestive system for absorption in the small intestine by the glucose transporters SGLT1 and GLUT2. The complex carbohydrate then delivers a more progressive carbohydrate delivery. Sports bar also contain 18% to 20% fructose. Recent research at Birmingham University, Glasgow University, Herts University and others has established that moderate to high fructose levels have been shown to increase the rate of exogenous carbohydrate delivery to the muscles by using the fructose transporter GLUT5 and as a result of this improved performance. The use of multiple carbohydrate transport systems also has implications for improved Glycogen replacement post exercise (currently under research) as well as reduction in fatigue.

We like it because of the chocolatey goodness, the great taste and the boost it gives you when you're starting to flag!