BEN VORLICH (LOCHLOMONDSIDE)
Ben Lomond, our goal, from Ben Vorlich. Photo tms.nickbramhall.com
3.1 miles 671 metres
Start Thursday 16.56
Ben Vorlich 17.27
Finish 17.57
Squares: yellow - changeover, red - finish. Circles: green - this leg, red - done. Map Colin Matheson
Time: Estimated 1.30 Actual 1.00
Dave writes:
Brief sleeps through the day, generally too excited for such minor detail, I at last find myself cycling up to the Sloy dam changeover. Everyone has been storming round today, apart from on Ben Lui all enjoying good weather, although showery.
The changeover site turns out to be draughty and cold, the sun hiding behind a light shower. John comes in descending fast toward the dam, so I strip off in readiness. Exchange of baton and then away, hands and feet combine to give me upward motion as I climb around 600m in less than 1km, knackered I reach the top, look at Ben Lomond then head down.
Steep at first, too steep for my knees, I struggle down, easier running follows by the Allt Ardvorlich, before it steepens again. Rough now, bracken, tussocks, boulders the lot. Thankful I reach the track, but lower down decide to cut a zig, as the number of sheep bounding in front of me reaches about 5-6, I beat the sheep, go under the railway, along the track and into the waiting car.
Peaks done 276 time taken 12 days 15 hours peaks to go 1
I drove Dave round on what was probably the least lucky drive of the trip. Late afternoon is not a good time to drive down Loch Lomond, and the queue we found ourselves at the end of was too long to make overtaking viable. The Luss roadworks provided red light after red light.
Meanwhile the team were getting themselves into position for our final mini-relay up Ben Lomond. I had divided the path into sections for this, a final symbolic relay to the top. Dave, newly finished was to take the baton for the first few yards for me to go to the forest edge. I had given John the hardest section to the fence, with Ian carrying on to the top of the steep section. Rob then had a short flat section, handing over to Alwyn for the rest of the flattish part before Tony (who's idea the whole thing was) would mount the final cone.
Tony writes:
Tom Duncan from the charity arrived and was keen to witness the final ascent. Admitting that he was not very fit he promptly set off ahead of the runners to reach the summit in good time. Unfortunately he didn't tell anyone his sense of direction wasn't very good – and went totally the wrong way and never got out of the forest.
Pippa and Colin decided to be with the team at their final triumph – and rightly so, they had played key roles to help us.
Diana, however, came up with limp excuses about “having to cook the evening meal” and refused to leave the mothership. Whether this was because she didn't fancy the climb or the release of emotion at the end of such an arduous event is unclear. Whatever the reason, this detachment in many ways reflected the relationship between her and most of the rest of the team during the event as a whole. At times it was hard to see what she was getting out of the event – she didn't seem particularly interested in the mountains or the countryside – and suffered considerably from the ungrateful and increasingly fatigued and irritable team of runners.
There is no charge for reading this account but please consider donating to Worldwide Cancer Research, the new name for the charity that we ran for.
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