Thursday 22 May 2014

Not such a torrid time

Firstly, apologies for stating that Dan would be heading up Ben Wyvis on Wednesday - madness. I've corrected the blog! Secondly, apologies, if like me, you were ready for the tracker to burst into life today on your screens. A replacement is now in Dan's possession but it has spent the day being recharged. Brace yourself, as tomorrow it will burst into life, and you will be able to monitor Dan as he completes one of the biggest days of the trip yet. More of that in a minute.

I spoke to Dan at 7pm, and unusually he'd just awoken from an afternoon nap. Yesterday went well, thanks to the support of Chris Upson on the hill and the rest of the crew working away behind the scenes. Today went even better, Andy Cox, amongst others, has answered the call and spent nine hours with Dan today ticking off the 6 big Munros that lie to the north of Upper Loch Torridan. A predicted finish time of 7pm got eroded down to 3.20pm. Not a bad day's work and maybe as a result of Sue's sandwiches (the best of all those made on the trip so far apparently - if you've been responsible for Dan's sandwiches on the trip at any point in the last 5 weeks please don't take offence, this is not a complaint).

So after the plea put out a few days ago, one or two faces have volunteered their support to Dan's efforts over the next few days. Tomorrow, as well as having Andy Cox on hand, Dan will be joined by Scottish fell running legend, Alec Keith, and Rob Beaumont for the day's efforts. This is a really good thing, as tomorrow is a monster. I know I've said this a few times, but anyone who knows this part of the world will understand what I'm talking about if they look at the schedule.

The boys will set out early to tackle Slioch ('a big old lump'), and then head 7 miles further north into the wilds to visit the Fisherfield 5. Way beyond them sit the two Munros of An Teallach, and hopefully, before dark, the team will drop down to Dundonnell.

Once done, if done (the forecast is grim), this achievement will very much herald the beginning of the end. There's still a few big days, but things are looking good for a finish on Ben Hope toward the middle of next week. Should I put the champagne on ice? (Not just yet Matt, steady on old boy!)

4 comments:

  1. Great work on the Torridon giants. And good luck with the monster day tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads." ~ Henry David Thoreau

    ReplyDelete
  3. Heaven was all around us on Day 37 when the sun finally came out. A few photos here: http://po.st/bcDG7q

    ReplyDelete