So finally, here is the first installment of our tales from the Mountain Challenge – thanks to Al and Mike for the additions and Phil for the editing! Next installment to follow later on in the week….
Friday, 11th June
We set off at about 9am in our lovely minibus (thanks Hitachi Capital). The support crew had packed the back seats tightly with boxes and bags, and more pasta than could have been found in the whole of Italy! (But as it soon transpired, slightly lacking in sweetcorn or peppers and maybe too many tins of mushrooms for some people…!).
Not much to tell you about the journey really, except that it was long! It took 13 hours and 40 minutes in all and included stops at Newton-le-Willows for lunch, a couple of motorway service stations and Crianlarich for an evening meal. We also had a brief photo stop by a picturesque lake, Loch Lubnaig; the result being a few photos worthy of a caption competition…
En route we entertained ourselves with a bit of tweeting on our Twitter feed and noting down some fines (in true Rotary style, fining people for silly mistakes or comments, with the proceeds being added to the charity total). We also checked on the progress of one of the other teams entering the challenge, “Geeks and Peaks”, a Specsavers team from Hampshire – their minibus broke down by the side of the motorway, so were keeping the RAC busy!
Our Rotary Club were having a President’s Night celebration to mark the end of President Carol Buckland’s year. We attempted to link up with the attendees through the wonders of modern technology and support crew member Guy. However, finding wifi appears to be a bit of a challenge in the Highlands of Scotland and we settled for having a phone on loudspeaker in the end!! Carol announced that she was presenting the Presidential Shield (an annual award to the club’s Rotarian of the year) to Al Gore, for the work he did in recruiting new members to the club. She also wished us well on our challenge.
We still had a further hour or so to drive after our link up, and after passing some stunning mountain scenery, we arrived at the Cuilcheanna House B&B near Fort William at about 10.40pm.
Saturday, 12th June
We had a reasonably leisurely breakfast and packed our walking bags, followed by a complete rearrangement of the minibus to make sure that the walking equipment was accessible and that items we didn’t need until the end of the challenge were not getting in the way.
We set off late morning for Fort William, popped into Morrisons for more provisions and then went to register at the marquee at the Ben Nevis visitor centre. Having registered and received our start time, we chatted to a few of the other teams (including “Geeks and Peaks” who had arrived thanks to the RAC!) and then found the nearest eating establishment.
After a hearty lunch, we arranged our walking gear, put on our boots and headed back to the visitor centre for our briefing. Even the briefings provided some entertainment – trying out the emergency shelter and fining team members (Nina) for still having price tags on their clothing! We were also given our team name for radio purposes – Team Labrador (well it could have been worse, we could have been called Team Poodle!).
Ben Nevis
And then we were off! The first part of the walk up Ben Nevis was alongside the river, across the river and then winding round from the bottom of the mountainside. We started to climb, and as we did so we started to realise what kind of views we would be able to see. Mountains stretched out on either side, a lot of greenery for this time of year. The path was quite bouldery, but nothing too tricky for us. We just walked at a good pace and enjoyed the scenery unfolding around us.
The halfway point, and our first checkpoint, was Red Burn – “Come in Challenge Base, this is Team Labrador. We have reached checkpoint 1”. By this time we could see a lake nestled in the hills behind us as we started on ‘the zigzags’. This particular bit was deceptive. It looked as if we were getting close to the summit, but we were just zigzagging backwards and forwards across the mountain, slowly getting higher!
Finally we reached the end (well almost!), with a rocky uphill, even a bit of snow… We were glad that the visibility was good, as there were some sheer drops on either side of the path. Having seen them, we could understand why it is essential to have compass skills and knowledge of the bearings required to get down from the summit safely.
There was a little bit of cloud cover at the summit and it was cold – so we posed for a celebratory photo and then started the walk back down the mountain again. As we walked back, we could see the view that we had previously had our backs to – and it was also stunning, green hills and mountains everywhere, all of them lower than the one we were on!
Eventually we reached the bottom again, checked in our radios and noted our official time for Ben Nevis was 6 hr 45. The crew had been doing a fantastic amount of work while we were walking, producing a much needed dinner of pasta and vegetables (yes, Ian, mushrooms!). They also appeared to have been attracting the local mosquito population, who also came out to greet us…
Ben Nevis (The Support Crew’s Tale)
We waved a tearful farewell to Team Labrador as they set off and our thoughts turned to gas…. Guy had brought an empty bottle of Flo gas with him, so we went off in search of a supplier to fill the bottle. A simple task, or so we thought….. After several hours and a couple of businesses later we discovered that nowhere in Scotland sells Flo gas! Still, not to worry as we bought a bottle of Calor gas; problem solved!
So, gas bought and in Scotland with several hours to kill… what could we do next? Whisky shopping of course! Guy, Catherine and Al brought whisky, lots of whisky and then carefully hid it in the bus where those pesky kids (a.k.a. thirsty Mountain Slayers) wouldn’t find it!
We then moved to a different car park where we planned to watch the football and get a snack. Whilst en route to the car park, Catherine told us that she had bought an item in the whisky shop and when getting her change had demanded English notes as she was worried that the Welsh wouldn’t accept Scottish notes. Problem averted, no Scottish notes in sight…
Anyway, we parked, bought a car ticket and went into town. Catherine needed more cash so she went to a cash machine. Quick quiz for those of you who are still awake… what do you think a Scottish ATM dispenses?
With lots of Scottish notes in hand, whisky in the van the only thing left for us to do was visit a pub! Great decision, Catherine got rid of those pesky notes and Guy bought chips and onion rings. Beats the pasta we were planning to serve to our Mountain Slayers!
We made our way back to the base camp, found a place to park and started setting up the gas bottle with our camping stove. Turns out that Al’s stove didn’t fit the gas bottle!
A quick phone call to the people who sold us the gas and a 15 minute drive we had a new regulator and the cooking could commence. Phew, major disaster averted, that could have been nasty!
After packing away the dinner, we set off for Helvellyn, with our earliest possible start time noted as 2.27am (ouch!). Back into the minibus, time for a bit of sleep and resting those legs….
