Hi Steve. I can't say I've ever had any problems at all with Royal Mail, perhaps I've just been very lucky. I have my packages ready (one to be hand delivered, the other two to be posted) but I won't be posting them until the end of next week at the earliest as they only take a couple of days to get there and some places don't have the room to store parcels for long. Even parcels sent to me from the south of England (I'm in NE Scotland) only take a couple of days, so there is no panic. My sister stayed at Worcester (you're in that area?) and I never had any problems with parcels she sent to me.
Like I say, I could just have been very lucky.
Good luck on the Challenge and see you there!

I post my parcels in the week before the "off" - and I always use Special Delivery (by prior arrqangement with the recipients). It is expensive, but it means I can be certain that they have arrived.

If any should fail to arrive, it is unlikely I should be able to arrange an alternative parcel in time; but forewarned is forearmed, and I should at least know that I had an issue coming up which would need to be addressed.

(In case you had not picked up, I have a whole host of dietary intolerances, and organising appropriate supplies is a minor, recurrent headache!)

Try and make sure you fit in with the Royal Mail Small Parcel sizes, or it can get expensive. Also last year it was cheaper to send two 1kg parcels rather than one 2kg parcel if you have that much.

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/Tell-me-about-Prohibited-Goods

I too have always been likely sending supplies on by Royal Mail parcels, even to Loch Ossian YH which must be a bit of a stretch for the postal services compared to many places. Worth following the link above to see what you can't send, though. Some of these you really should be able to get locally of course - whisky for example... My wife's oat and chocolate cookies are not prohibited - hurray!
Always best to have a nice chat with your local Post Office for advice on posting times and the like.

Best wishes,

Windy
(ex-postie very briefly)

I sent a parcel by Parcel Force 48 last year.

It took 10 days to get from Elgin to Glencoe Mountain!

The tracked journey was interesting. Aberdeen, Central Depot(where?), Perth,
Inverness then via a local carrier to Glencoe

Suggest you don't use Parcel Force