Sunday 18 May 2014

More news from the north

Si Stainer has been in touch as him and Chris Lumb head south to the comfort of home and work with a bit of news about the last few days.

As you know these two joined Dan on Friday's jaunt over the fells. The day started well as they ticked off the last 3 peaks of Cuillin but the weather started to deteriorate as they romped towards Blabheinn. So much so that when Dan proposed a crazy scramble in strong wind up to the summit they left him to it and met him on the path at the other side. They did benefit from a tailwind as they rode east back onto the mainland which made the cycle a little easier.Saturday was a big day, with 12 Munros ticked in 12 hours. Again the day started with decent weather but by 1pm the wind and rain picked up. By 4pm things got really miserable and wet. That is possibly why the tracker has given up, too much water in the workings?

Despite a few missing slates the bothy afforded a reasonable nights sleep, with food (carried in by John Dunbabbin - who has apparently been a great help logistically over the last few days, so big thanks to him - buy him a pint if you know him!) and a decent fire. The rain lashed down through the night (and the roof) and by this morning the rivers were roaring. Fortunately as well as a bothy someone had built a bridge - very thoughtful. Not just for Dan you understand.

Today Si and Chris stuck with Dan for the first 5 hills. On the ridge they met a fella out for a walk, who asked, 'Are you Dan?'. He'd been following the blog and hoped to bump into him. Not many folk out there I suppose. In the pub the other night he also met Hamish Brown, the first person ever to complete a Munro round. As you can imagine Dan got very excited. He'll be even more excited when he finds out Hugh Symonds has also made a comment on the blog. Thanks to Hugh and Pauline.

Dan has presumably completed the 3 more he planned to do and is now snuggled up in the planned camp (again in a tent carried in by John). Over the next few days camping is a necessity as he journeys into even more inaccessible parts of the countryside to track down those hills. He's going strong according to Simon, and after these hills are ticked off it seems he might be on the home leg. No more camping, fewer hills (still big days).

Chris Upson is with Dan over the next few days, so don't be surprised if the schedule and pin chart don't get updated. As soon as I hear/as soon as I can I will update his position and progress here. In particular for folk who are hoping to meet up with him. I am in contact with Sue and Phil Clark in the motorhome. Again, definitely worth mentioing those two again as they are doing an amazing job of supporting his Lordship's every need.

And finally, can I categorically confirm that Dan definitely made it to the summit of Ben Avon. The tracker stops short of the summit because, as explained in previous blogs, Dan dumped his pack to lighten his load as he ran to the summit and came back the same way. The tracker was in the pack. We have witnesses to this event and even photographs.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Matt for the Ben Avon matter. He did the same above Glen Shee but limped back for his tracker, we had a photo anyway.
    That was the day when his ankle began rescheduling the challenge and even in pain he was vigilant about evidencing his Munros.
    Yesterday Stu Shuttleworth and me grimly struggled around the Old County Tops, we had 3 hours of cramp twinges and in those dark moments, we thought about Dan and his challenge and put aside our doubts about finishing.
    Roll on Dan!.

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  2. Thanks Gary. Yup. Puts things in perspective.

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