Wednesday 14 May 2014

Crux

Tomorrow is a key day in this massive challenge. You'll see that the schedule has changed slightly. After a long morning ticking off that cheeky outlier, Beinn Sgritheall, that sits virtually on the shores of Loch Hourn, Dan has had an epic bike ride onto Skye. Fortunately he had Aled for company as he battled west. As a result of finishing late Blabheinn has been left for Friday. Long, tough days with little sleep.

Currently Dan is trekking the relatively short distance into the Camasunary bothy, with Phil Clark as his packhorse, for a night alone in the wilds. Phil will return in the morning to collect Dan's kit (another legend doing his bit to support this adventure).

Talking of legends, how about this one; Matt Reedy finished a day at work today, but instead of going home to see Jane and Tess, maybe have a run, watch a bit of TV, relax, cook some food or fix a bike (how should I know how he spends his free time??????) he's set off north in his car. At some point, later tonight (when we're sleeping) he'll arrive in the hamlet of Bualintur and hopefully Aled will be around to meet him. Early tomorrow (really early) he'll head up the sountern most peak of the Cuillin Ridge to rendezvous with Dan and subsequently support him as he makes it safely around the 11 Munros and various other precipitous crags that form that iconic ridge. After that, it's a steep descent off Knight's Peak down to Sligachan for a well deserved and much need rest massive, tortuous drive home through the night to Kendal and another early start on Friday back at work. Can somebody please mint this boy a medal?

I should just thank Graham Patten and Aled Butler again on Dan's behalf. It's worth noting that these boys have not just spent their days sitting in the van waiting for a flash of that platinum quiff as it bobs into site across the tussocks. Behing the scenes there is so much to be done, moving vehicles, finding/cooking food, keeping in contact, washing clothes, mud wrestling (only messin'), and then, where possible, actually supporting Dan on the hill and the road. Aled told me tonight that much as he has enjoyed being involved, he'll be glad to step away from the stress of it all for a while, he's at breaking point!

Reinforcements in the form of Si Stainer, Chris Lumb and later over the weekend Chris Upson arrive. At some point it might be worth totting up everyone who's been involved over the weeks of this challenge, each one of them should be proud to have contributed to this amazing effort. And if you're not one of them, but you've enjoyed following the tracker and spotting the mistakes in this blog, and looking at amazing pictures of wild places, you can contribute too (is this a bit too Children In Need?), by donating to Dan's chosen causes.

4 comments:

  1. Worn out thinking about Matt Reedy's efforts and then scaling it up to match Dan is urm impossible!

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  2. Good luck tomorrow for Blaven and the Cuillin Ridge. Forecast looking OK. I hope Matt can stay awake.

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  3. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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  4. you're a star, Matt Reedy. Hope you manage to stay awake on that long, long drive home. Try slapping yourself a la Mr Bean.

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