The “Unbreakable” Three Peaks Record

In memory of Joss Naylor MBE and Frank Davies

In 1971 The Climbers Shop founder Frank Davies was focused on breaking a record: The Three Peaks.

Rules dictated the time was measured from the moment a runner placed a foot in the sea at Fort William, Scotland then taken by vehicle in turn to Ben Nevis, 4,406 ft, Scafell Pike 3,209 feet in Westmorland and finally to Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa 3,560 ft. At the foot of each mountain they have to run to the summit and back. After leaving Snowdon the runner and driver go to Caernarvon where the clock is stopped as the runner puts their foot in the sea. Total route distance: 480 miles. Frank, a keen driver, had a rally car arranged, all he needed now was a runner. Having recently heard about a local man setting a new 24 hour record for visiting 61 peaks over 96 miles in 24 hours, Frank asked Joss. For the record to stand, the attempt was officially timed and in addition Joss had to obtain signatures from observers on each summit.

The race was on.

Source: Mountgreen Website (British Auto Vita History)

Deep in the archives of a long gone British Racing Company there is a black and white photo of Cumbrian fell running legend Joss Naylor. He is looking tired, dressed in running shorts and a string vest, sitting on the bonnet of a specially prepared rally spec Ford Vita 6 Capri drinking tea out of a china cup. It’s 1971 and sat on the bonnet leaning towards him is a smiling chap covered in considerably more clothing – the driver; Frank Davies.

Climbers Shop Director Cathy Casey takes up the story:

“Sitting on Joss’ sofa discussing the poorly lambs visible from his lounge window, I clutched a cup of tea made for me by the legend himself. It is a china cup because: “Yul be wantin’ a laedies cup” was the decision he came to before I could understand his broad dialect let alone answer. I am an unmistakeably soft southerner who runs a bit. Joss, on the other hand grew up among the fells of Wasdale, was born a shepherd and has a stream of British and International fell running records to his name. One of which is unbreakable.

“I wussn’t avelable fust time so he drove Peter Hall from Barrow” Joss explains when I ask whose idea it had been to make the record attempt. On this trip Frank and Peter had smashed the 1964 record with the scorching time of just over 12 hours but Frank was convinced that with Joss as his runner they could beat it. So, on the 7th July 1971, after milking the cows and seeing to the farm Joss met Frank at The Climbers Shop and they set out for Fort William in a borrowed 3.0 litre V6 mk1 Capri complete with a specialist long range fuel tank. It’s fair to say that the car played a key part in this story, as did the new, modern and comparatively empty motorway network. Any other variables couldn’t possibly be commented on.

Heading into Glasgow, Frank wanted to be sure of the route through the city through which they would shortly be returning in the dead of night. They were so busy memorising street names that it was only on the third passing of a police officer they noted his queer look and thought it best to get on their way. It was early afternoon when they arrived at Glencoe and starving hungry, stopped at a roadside caravan offering hot dogs and tea. Joss describes both as being rank, throwing the hot dog away after just one mouthful and muttering to Frank; “They want putting out of business.” The next thing he knew, Frank had backed up to the caravan hatch, threw the car into second gear, dumped the clutch and zoomed off leaving a cloud of dust and grit and likely a choking and cussing owner.

It was to be another four years before the Ballachulish Bridge was built so, rather than driving around Loch Leven, Frank had worked out it was five minutes faster to take the ferry and after ensuring the ferry would be at the right side of the Loch at the right time they continued onto Fort William to sort out the issue of who might officiate Joss’ arrival on the summit of the Ben. As luck would have it, Frank knew of 2 Scottish lads, just out of the RAF who had decided to open their own gear shop in Fort William. Frank decided to take them out for dinner and exchanged some of his retailing knowhow for sitting on top of Ben Nevis to clock Joss in. They must have paid attention because Nevisports is still trading to this day (although the original owners have since retired). 

At 9pm the following evening, July 8th, Joss was witnessed touching the sea water below Ben Nevis, the time was duly noted on a hand typed schedule and they were off driving through Fort William to Glen Nevis. Joss describes the weather as “dreich” when he left the car for the 4,406 feet climb, running almost the entire route in darkness, battling through storm force winds and driving rain while following the route entirely from memory. The red typed record signed by the Nevisports boys shows his arrival on the summit as 22:05.

By 10:36pm Frank was driving them away from the Glen Nevis youth hostel towards Scafell Pike and Joss was ready for a drink. “I’d popped a salt tablet inta some orange juice but top flew off!” The tablet had reacted with the citric acid and the two or three mouthfuls he’d drunk before he realised it was off upset his tummy enough so that he didn’t eat for the rest of the run. Heading back towards Carlisle they got caught up amid the lorries that had come off the ferry at Stranraer in the sheeting rain and spray. “Eet was a bit hairy meeting wagons like” explained Joss, Frank had been concentrating hard, consuming Mars bars to keep up his energy levels and didn’t take kindly to any comments Joss made regarding the car or his driving.

As Frank brought the car to a halt at Seathwaite in Borrowdale, Joss climbed out of the hard rally seats and shot off at 2:45am to arrive on the summit (3209 feet) exactly one hour later. After a swift drink from Alan Evans and he took the path back down to Langdale at such a pace that he was back on the road with Frank 55 minutes later heading towards Snowdon.

Roadworks on the M6 meant that they had to drive through Liverpool before taking the A5 to Betws Y Coed. It was so foggy when they arrived at the town that Joss opted to change from running up the Pyg Track to following the Llanberis path to ensure he didn’t get lost. Frank stopped the car at 7:30 in Llanberis with Joss running off a cramp and counting down the railway sleepers in very limited visibility, arriving with Eddie Hammond at 8:14am. The summit was in a glorious temperature inversion with all 14 of the Welsh 3000 peaks poking out in brilliant sunshine above the soft white cloud. While Eddie had been waiting in his peaceful eyrie, he said he could hear the roar of the Capri’s engine come all the way through Capel Curig, over Pen Y Pass and down into Llanberis!

The last leg was back down the railway to the waiting car at 8:35am ready for the drive to Caernarvon to finish the challenge and turn off the clock. Frank explained that they had plenty of time, and as all of the kids will be on their way to school he followed the speed limits to the castle where Joss dipped his hand in the sea precisely 11 hours and 54 minutes after leaving the Scottish loch.

Total driving distance: 474 miles

Total driving time: 7 hrs 24 mins

Total running time: 4 hrs 30 mins

And this time Frank made it into the record books.

Source: Frank Davies Collection

“Joss was 81 years old when we met and I swear he recounted the entire story in real time as if he were still there running it. I put my tea cup down exhausted at the insane running times and processing just how little he’d eaten and drunk throughout the entire event but then this very same man has been known to complete a fell run wearing a plastic farm bag as a waterproof.

“I did it ugen twenty one year laiter” he said. Frank was at the wheel again on this trip which Joss completed to raise money for a local childrens charity. This time Frank had a friend along, Grant Edmondson; “They were like kids, nivver stopped talking about rally driving.”

The original time sheets and a flyer for Joss’ third three peaks run in the early 90’s.

The 1971 record Frank and Joss set still stands and is now considered unbreakable due to road changes and speed restrictions.

More details and images about Frank’s first Three Peaks attempt with Peter Hall in 1967 are available in our Big History however, the friendship between Frank and Joss extended long after their charity event in the early 90’s, even beyond Frank’s passing in 2014.

When The Climbers Shop and The Brathay Trust created the Ambleside Trail 60 in 2019, Joss was delighted to support our event as Patron of the charity and to celebrate The Climbers Shop 60th Anniversary. His words “Yan must be knackered!” adorned medal labels and he was even the poster boy for a limited edition Race beer created by Hawkshead brewery in his honour. At the venerable age of 83, Joss joined us for a very special evening recounting the story of his “unbreakable” Three Peaks challenge. As the story was expertly teased from Joss by author and fell runner Steve Chilton, you could hear a pin drop and the audience’s collective jaws were on the floor!

Among the audience were Frank’s wife and son Cate and Ben Davies which made for an emotional re-union as they met with Joss for the first time in many years.

Cate Davies, Joss Naylor and Ben Davies.

 A lifelong supporter of children’s charities, Joss very generously gave his time for free, allowing our customers to raise £1680 for the Brathay Young Minds Matter mental health campaign.

The “unbreakable” Three Peaks record is just one of a stream of incredible physical achievements by Joss throughout his long running career. There are endless tales of endurance achieved by this hardy, humble Cumbrian that simply stagger the listener. Many of his running records have stood for years and were set in a time before technical footwear, lightweight clothing and endurance nutrition were even heard of.

Ask any of our staff members about Joss and the first word they will reply with is “legend”. His love for the sport and passion to see young runners come through was evident when he appeared at events to simply shake a hand and say “aye”, out in all weathers until his well into his 80’s.

While Franks legacy lives on in The Climbers Shop and the amazing work of the El Rio Trust, Joss' own legacy expands beyond the thousands of fell runners he has inspired to the countless children whose lives have been positively impacted by his tireless fundraising across the years.

An incredible legacy from two guys setting out to chase a record.

An inspiration to us all.