Today the team did an incredible 10 Munros, all dedicated to The Rifles. Binnein Beag (dedicated to Rifleman William Aldridge), Sgurr Eilde Mor (dedicated to Rifleman Daniel Hume) and Binnein Mor. Na Gruagaichean was dedicated to Captain Mark Hale and Rifleman Daniel Wild of The Rifles and sponsored by Graham Wilson with the message "For C Company, 2 Rifles".
They also climbed Stob Coire a’ Chairn, An Gearanach, Am Bodach, Sgurr a’ Mhaim, Stob Ban (dedicated to Rifleman Samuel John Bassett), and Mullach Nan Coirean (dedicated to Rifleman Andrew Fentiman)
The day started off with a panicked phone call to Sarah at the top of a Munro in the morning. Tom and Alex could see another Munro in the distance and were not due to climb it but were worried that they were meant to! However panic subsided when Sarah confirmed that it wasn't on the list for today. Support team member Stu has done a brilliant job of altering all the summit timings and some of the route which has cut out quite a bit of time. However, in this case he went a bit over the top and calculated that the team would summit a Munro 10 minutes earlier than their previous one, subsequently cutting an hour out instantly! Sarah meanwhile made hundreds of phone calls to landowners and stalkers in order to arrange bothys, barns and pony huts as accommodation for the next few weeks. With her Florence Nightingale hat on she then took Ceri to A&E in Fort William where he had his feet and back examined.
¾ hours later, Ceri had his verdict. He was concerned by potentially broken bones (especially in his left foot) but thankfully this was not the case. Due to soft tissue damage in his feet (similar to Plantar Fasciitis but slightly worse) caused by pounding of the feet, Ceri has been told by the consultant that he cannot walk for 3-4 weeks. He also has a bruised coxyx from falling off his bike. He explains that whilst incredibly keen to continue walking through the pain, Ceri ‘took one for the team’ to make sure that the challenge was still achievable. As one can expect, having to pull out of the climbing team and fall into the support team has been incredibly difficult for Ceri but he tells us that he’s through the worst emotionally. Whilst now being a new member of the support team, Ceri is doing his bit (including doing laundry!) but Sarah is calling the shots, making sure he is putting his feet up and having an ice bath on his feet every day!
The slightly diminished climbing team, now only consisting of Tom and Alex, spent lots of time trying to persuade Ceri that he should continue on with them but understand that with his injuries he needs to pull out. This has not deterred them though and they continue on with fighting spirit. The photo below is of the two of them on the summit of one of their 10 Munros at 1930. They finished the day at approximately 2330 at a wild camp, where Stu cooked them supper and looked after them.
End of day 30 - 170 Munros climbed
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