Sunday 14th August 2011
Sunday has to be the longest day for the Munro Mission team so far without a doubt. On Saturday night the boys didn’t arrive at camp on Blair Atholl Estate until about 2400 which was extremely late considering they had to be up again at 0400 the next morning. As one can imagine, they were incredibly tired, but the support team were there for them on arrival with food and made beds (or sleeping bags...). They team were tended to and force fed before being put straight to bed without much chatter as they all knew what they were facing the next day.
The next morning (or perhaps the same night, it’s hard to know which one’s which sometimes.) the team were up at the ridiculous time of 0400. Alex was really struggling with his feet as they were so swollen that he could barely get his shoes on. But the team have to push on regardless so the boys gritted their teeth and walked out into what was luckily a dry morning. Thankfully there was no rain and so the boys had dry feet (which makes a change) but unfortunately a river crossing put an end to that.
Feet never stay dry for long...
The climbers walked until 1300 and ticked off the first four Munros of the morning without too much trouble. They then picked up their mountain bikes and continued on them for a while. The climbers caught up with the support team at 1500 and were provided with a late but very substantial picnic lunch consisting of sausages, soup, pasta and more to keep them going. This week the team have also been joined by Jack Lister and Steve Taylor which is great as new faces make a big difference to all of the Munro Mission team.
After a very substantial meal, everyone headed up one more Munro (Beinn a’ Ghlo) while Rupert, Jack, Steve and Henry pushed the mountain bikes to top so that the team could cycle them all the way down to the foot of the 6th Munro of the day, Braigh Coire Chrunin-bhalgain, kindly sponsored by the Griffiths family. The bikes were then transferred to the support team again so that they could cycle them to the next point for the climbers to ride them back to camp at the end of the day. Rupert and Jack up walked slighltly up the hill to meet the team and bring them to their mountain bikes. Tom is really enjoying the cycling and it gives the team a welcome break from being on their feet, but unfortunately not everyone feels the same way (Ceri!)
During all of this Henry and Sarah came back to catch up on sleep whilst Lucy and Sean made dinner. After a lot of waiting, the boys finally arrived back at about 0130 very very tired. Despite the gargantuan effort that today required, the team were very thankful for it to be out of the way and they were looking forward to a bit of a lie-in the next day.
A welcome break from rain..
The team are now beginning to reach a point where they are not only physically tired, but mentally exhausted too. They are doing incredibly well yet the end still seems so very far away. Incredibly though the halfway point is approaching and they are keeping their eyes on the prize.
It is an incredible achievement to even be as far into the challenge as they are now, and 90 Munros are safely under their belts. The support team are also doing an incredible job getting up with the team (or even before!), going to bed with them and making sure everything is in place inbetween. They are working together like a well oiled machine and they will be getting some more new faces over the next few days so the whole team will appreciate that a lot.
Please show the DecAid Munro Mission team that what they are doing is worthy of support, and help us reach our target of £80,000 for our military charities. They have raised almost £18,000 already and deserve every penny and more.
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