Saturday 27th August
Yesterday evening saw the team make a change of plan. They decided to call it a day when they passed their camp at about 2130 instead of continuing on to do the final Munro of the day, Ben Starav, which would have seen them get into bed at 0130. Instead they arose at 0330 this morning and started walking at 0400 after a quick snack. They returned for breakfast before going on to today's Munros. Beinn Fhionnlaidh (Glen Etive) was dedicated to Lance Bombardier Matthew Hatton and Sgor na H-ulaidh was dedicated to Bombardier Samuel Robinson and Lance Bombardier Mark Chandler, all from The Royal Artillery. Bidean nam Bian was dedicated to Captain Alex Eida from the Royal Horse Artillery. They also climbed Stob Coire Sgreamhach and all the Munros climbed today are all part of a particularly stunning section of the route and involve walking down a beautiful valley featured in the Munro Mission video on you tube.
Once the climbers were off, the support team had to head back up the boggy hill that the climbers had spent the night on, to collapse their tents and bring all their kit down. With such late nights and early mornings it has become a priority to make sure the support team are well rested to ensure they are on top form for when the team are back down at camp. They are therefore taking every possible opportunity to catch some shuteye. It has also been very wet here for the past 48 hours so they are on standby for another trip to the laundrette in Fort William (the only one for miles around!) when the team return. On Friday poor Charlotte got left at the laundrette all afternoon as the team ran out of vehicles to pick her up. The support team all felt very sorry for her until they found out that the owner of the laundrette had taken pity on her and given her a bath and taken her out for tea. She also mentioned a trip to the pub so she soon lost their sympathy!
Today was particularly long but considerably shorter after some expert rearranging by support team member Stu Buchan. He suggested the team didn't use mountain bikes for one particular part as it meant they would spend a lot of time losing and then regaining height. Instead he managed to find an alternative route which kept them as high as possible and cut numerous hours off the day. Stu navigated them to a rendezvous point at the foot of the last 2 Munros, Stob Dubh (Buchaile Etive Beag) and Stob Coire Raineach, where he handed over to Lucy at 2020. After a quick break to change socks, powder feet and eat some food, Tom, Ceri and Alex were ready to crack the final leg of the day.
The team were glad to have a good footpath up to the saddle in between the final 2 of the day which were done in the dark. The winds really started to pick up and by the time they reached the summit it really was quite blustery. The team could see the end of a very, very long day in sight and managed to get back down to the road in 3 hrs which was very good. They then met up with Stu and Becky who administered the change onto roadbikes. Becky set off with them for the 8km cycle into the camping spot at the Kingshouse Hotel however she got a puncture about 1 km from the tent and had to push her bike the rest of the way. Back at camp Sarah had a very warming bacon risotto waiting for everyone which was much appreciated. The team ate their supper in their sleeping bags and were asleep by 0100. However they were up at 0400 the next morning for another very long day....The team are doing very well but are looking forward to a decent night’s sleep!
End of day 27 - 154 Munros climbed
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