5 DAYS TO GO - JOHN PULLS OUT
The Cuillin seen from Elgol Blaven is the hill on the r. The ridge goes leftwards from Sgurr nan Gillean to the end on the l. Photo Adrian Trendall
Just over a week before the event I thought I had better get in touch with the ferryman for the trip from Skye to Glenelg which I had been assured was no problem. I got quite a shock when I discovered that the Sunday service closed at 5 o' clock. Our 9 o'clock start made this almost impossible to reach, but Mr MacLeod the ferryman was adamant that we could sort it out – his men would work on if he paid them.
It seemed unreasonable to hold him up, so the start was moved forward to 6.30 which still meant that we had not to lose too much time on schedule to get to him in normal hours.
An Teallach (c) with Beinn a' Chleidheimh (r) which has since been demoted from a Munro to a Corbett in 2020. Photo tms.nickbramhall.com
The final Tuesday morning produces the biggest shock of all. John rang saying that it was now impossible for him to make it. It was a blow, but I found myself thanking the TA for the experience I had in dealing with pull-outs. Surprisingly I managed this blow better than I had Trefor's withdrawal earlier.
I immediately rang Alun expecting that he would have already left for Skye. I got him just as he was setting off. It turned out to be impossible for him to join the team but I asked him to hang on so that we could talk later, (no mobile phones then).
I rang Dave Weir who was already prepared to join us in an emergency, but he thought he was about to get a job offer, so could not commit himself to the whole period. I then rang Mark Seddon, who had also said he might be available in an emergency. He was obviously keen, but was in a similar position job-wise – he would think about it.
I then rang Craig Harwood, (whom we had thought about approaching months before.)
He is self-employed so I started by asking, “Are you busy at the moment?”
“Not very,” he said – so he was in, with just three days until he needed to depart.
I rang Mark Seddon, who sounded disappointed that he had missed out. I failed to manage to contact Alun until late at night to tell him to set off for Skye.
Craig, (sadly now deceased,) is first and foremost a climber, so it seemed logical to swap Mark's Cuillin leg with Craig. Other than that Craig simply took over John's program.
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