Challenging Reflections on the 2017 TGO Challenge

Early Morning Reflections in the River Findhorn 

And then it was over.

The Beach at Redcastle

Paddling in the North Sea at Redcastle

Alan Sloman at Redcastle

Himself

We arrived at the wonderful beach at Redcastle in beautiful sunshine, I pouted for the last time as Al pointed his camera, then mine, to capture the moments, and after that we walked to the Lunan Bay Café to eat cake and ice cream and phone a taxi to get us to Montrose.

It was lovely to get to The Park Hotel. It was heaving with Thursday finishers and too many old friends to mention. Robin Evans, Johnboy Sanderson, John Woolston, Andy “Mad ‘n’ Bad” Walker, Crocodile Dundee from Croydon with his new hat, Hugh and Barbara Emsley oozing their loveliness, Mick and Gayle, Humphrey Weightman and many, many others. Happy, smiley fit people. People who, as Al says, are made of “the right stuff”. The people who make the Challenge what it is, and why so many come back year after year. People were already discussing where they would start from in 2018.

As for me, I know I shall not be back (what I should write really is “I do not think I will be back”).

My 2017 Challenge was a very different experience to those I did in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The weather, in the main, was better for a start. And I climbed more hills on the way across, including five Munros, and generally walked longer days, with longer stops and pitched camp later.

Oh! Another difference! I bought an excellent cap, in which, at a hundred metres or so, I could be taken for Field Marshal Rommel. Yes that cap. Hideously overpriced at £20 in Braemar Mountain Sports when it is on sale for £19.99 in at least one online retailer.  Al loved it so much he got one as well, but in a different colour. Mine is a steely grey, which will nicely set off my eyes when I wear it in the early evening sunshine.  I later found that Johnboy also has one that is identical and, to quote him, “it’s essential backpacker apparel to engender fearlessness and occasional foolhardy actions. People will look at you in a way which says there goes a man who embodies the very essence of an outdoors expert”.  How right he is. I shall wear it on all future backpacks.

Field Marshal Rommel of the Africa Corps in a bunker on Driesh

The main difference, though, was the fact that I had a walking companion for the entire crossing. This did not, of course, make the Challenge any less demanding physically.  I was still exhausted at the end of most days. But it made an enormous difference. For me, without a shadow of a doubt, it is far easier to successfully complete the Challenge if walking with someone rather than going solo.  It’s all in the mind you see. The extra sense of reassurance, especially for a born worrier, of having someone with whom to share (or indeed take on) most of the decision making does make the event that much less daunting. The companionship goes without saying, although say it I just did.

It seems to me that there are three wonderful things about the TGO Challenge. Firstly, the sense of achievement it provides. I know that my crossings are something that I will always be proud of. That's always and for ever. Right to the end when I shuffle off this mortal coil. Secondly, the Challenge has a spirit of its own, especially of commaraderie. The people you meet, the friendships you form are what make it so special. This has to be so as we could all go off and do long backpacks anytime and anyplace rather than stumping up our £50 entry fee to the publishers of the TGO magazine. And thirdly, there is a wonderful, liberating simplicity in the rhythm and routine of a long walk. You get up, you walk, you cook dinner, you go to bed. Only if you have experienced this day after day can you understand, and the Challenge, at two weeks, starts to provide a little understanding of the motivations of those who through hike the much, much longer trails of the USA and Europe.

But I will not be there next May or in subsequent Mays. I think not. You see I did not relish the Challenge of the walk. I'm not made of the right stuff. On too many mornings I woke thinking more of the difficulty of walking up to 30 km in a mountain environment, knowing for much of that time I would be shattered. Too often I did not appreciate the magnificence of my surroundings, but rather wondered how much further I had to go to our chosen camp spot or B and B. I don’t think there was a single day when I was not thankful when it was over. For me, as I approach 60 years of age, walking for up to ten or more hours with a large backpack starts to make each day a chore rather than a joy, in a way in which a four or five hour walk does not. I am not made of stern enough stuff.

Then there is what is happening to Scotland. The wild landscape is being trashed with the connivance of rich landowners and the government. Wind turbines and massive electricity pylons blight extensive parts of the Challenge area. And the massive and numerous new hill tracks. I need to be clear that I don’t think on the Challenge I have ever not thought 'thank goodness' on getting on to one of these and being able to walk on it after being on rough or boggy ground. But they are despoiling the landscape in the most appalling way. Any mountain lover must weep, at least metaphorically, when they they see what has happened to large parts of the Highlands. Again, you have to see and experience these to understand the point. Those that run elevated over the the summit plateaus are perhaps the worst of all. I do not understand how the nation of Scotland, so proud of its Highland heritage, can have allowed this to happen.

And finally, when I am away I miss my family and I miss my dog and it puts additional burdens on them, even though they are able to eat salad every day and can skip meat and starch and puddings and stuff (not the dog obviously, as he shares my attitude to salad, which is distinctly hostile).

The TGO Challenge: In the words of Scotland's finest, The Proclaimers, it's Over and Done With

Despite the paragraph above I hope I will do more longish backpacks before I hang up my boots and bin the sleeping mat, and not just of the overnight variety. But it will not be on the Challenge. I am almost sure about that.

And my final words on my 2017 are simply this. Thanks, Al. It was a privilege to walk with you. Only eight more to go and you'll have done thirty. And you mind what you write about me when you get your own blog written.

Alan Sloman: A True Gentleman of the Road

Challenging Obstacles

Crossing Loch Ness, one of the Challenge's pleasanter obstacles, given the use of a boat is allowed.

It was Tuesday and Day 5 of the Challenge. We were supposed to walk from Struy to Drumnadrochit over the area of high ground called “The Eskdale Triangle”.

After a couple of miles along the road our route took us along a track and up into a forest. Except it didn’t. The landowner, known for his flouting of the Scottish Access Code, had installed a deer fence across the start of the track. This was on top of a small vertical bank. And directly behind it he had planted a number of saplings, all of which made it look like any attempt to climb the fence would be problematic. Al suggested a diversion that would mean walking several extra kilometres. We saw no alternative, and both reluctantly agreed. The road was eventually left three km further on, when we could head up another track through the forest. The first deer gate was unlocked; the second was locked but easily climbed; the third was also locked and leaning. I was about to try to climb it when Al spotted a smallish triangular shaped gap in the wood work.

“We can get through that”, he said.

I put my right leg through the gap. But the opening was too narrow to get my left leg through; that or my knee was not bendy enough.  I tried it with left leg first.  No joy.

“Head first”, said Al. “Go through head first then you don’t have to bend your legs”.

For the life of me I do not know why I didn’t just climb the fence. Against my better judgement I knelt down, then started to wiggle through, head first. The gap was some way off the ground. I had my head and one arm through, but I could not reach the ground with my hand. My other hand was bent backwards and my wrist felt ready to snap. If I went any further I would fall through, flat on my face. At this moment I realised that the bastard, for that is the only way he can be described at this moment in his life, was sniggering out loud and was taking photo after photo from behind me as I wiggled and squirmed, my backside sticking up in the air on one side of the fence, my head down on the other, making it look like I was trying to eat a grass sandwich. He asked me to turn my head around so that he could capture the look on my face. "You have to see the funny side, he said. And you're not pouting". I somehow extracted myself, tried it again leg first and managed to get through.

It was Al’s turn. I made him wait until my camera was ready. Revenge would be sweet. Then do you know what the bastard did? He climbed through with the grace and elegance of a ballet dancer. As I said. What an utter bastard.

The bastardry continued, although to be fair to Al the next time it was unintended. It was Thursday. Day 7. This was a long day, taking us ten and a quarter hours to walk the 30km, and climb almost 1000m, to get from Glen Mazeran to Aviemore. As we approached the top of Carn Dubh Ic n Deoir (750m) we spotted a new electric fence on our side of the cairn. Fortunately there was a gate which allowed us through and we sat in beautiful sunshine for thirty minutes having a snack at the cairn.

We set off again, back through the gate, then down hill for fifteen minutes, walking parallel to the fence. We then realised we should have stayed on the other side of the obstacle. Was it on? Al decided to test it, doing this in a very British way. He prodded it with his metal walking poles. Nothing happened. He then tapped it lightly with his finger. 

"It's off", he announced.

By placing a boulder near the fence we reckoned our legs were just about long enough to step over it. Al went across. I, too, then tapped the wire with a finger. Nothing happened. I started to follow. I realised that the top strand of wire was that bit too high. It could be dangerous to my manhood, such as it is. I then grasped the wire to push it slightly lower. I jumped back with a high pitched yelp. The sort of yelp you might let out if you’d just got an electric shock. In fact, it was exactly that sort of yelp. I do not understand electrickery but somebody later explained something about intermittent pulses. Well, all I can say is I wish those pulses were more intermittent. I walked back up hill to the gate, muttering darkly laughing happily about life’s little twists and turns. 

Fording a very low River Orrin

Al walks on water

There are pleasanter obstacles to be overcome on the Challenge, providing that the weather is benign. Water and peat are two. The dry conditions in Scotland in the weeks before our crossing meant that rivers were low. Thus, fording the delightful River Orrin, which was wide but shallow, just after the Luipmaldrig Bothy was possible. This allowed us to avoid a short but marshy detour upstream to the bridge. Clad in trail shoes I just walked across; Al in his boots managed to rock hop and remain dry shod throughout.

Descending through the peat

Peat is another notorious obstacle in the Highlands, making for slow progress on some trackless ground. It can potentially add significant distances to a planned walk as you must detour to get around the hags. The exceptionally dry ground this year made our lives much easier. Indeed, Al led us for long distances down gullies in the hags that would normally be impassable. What could have been tortuous sections of our route became thoroughly enjoyable. As a result of Al’s ingenuity and cunningness in this matter, I have taken him off my list of bastards, which he went on temporarily after the incident of the deer fence. Mind you, if he publishes those photographs of me attempting to get head first through that gap his name will be straight back on the list. In capital letters.

Al laughs to himself as he thinks up a shocking fate for me

Challenging Amnesia

This water near Strathcarron is a tidal inlet of Loch Carron and the Atlantic Ocean - honest

I remember being born.  That might sound fanciful but it's true. I'm not going to explain further here. If you want to know more you will need to read my autobiography. I shall be writing that once greatness is thrust upon me. But given the fact that I can remember my earliest moments in this world it may be all the more surprising that I cannot for the life of me remember much of the detail about my walk across Scotland last month.  This is partly the fault of my excellent walking companion, Alan Sloman .

My three previous TGO Challenges, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, were undertaken solo.  I planned those routes completely by myself, and was entirely responsible for navigating successfully from west coast to east coast.  In 2017 Alan and Phil Lambert did almost all the route planning, and on the walk, I am afraid to say, I let Alan take the lion’s share of studying the map every few minutes. Thus, I was less involved with the thinking that goes into such a walk, both before and during. In addition, having Alan as company every step of the way meant that a good deal of chatting took place. When you walk solo you are possibly more aware of your surroundings, although Alan frequently reminded me of the importance of enjoying the Challenge. This means regular pauses to stop, take in the views, the shape of the land and so on, both that under and around your feet, and also that which stretches to the distant horizons.  So for these reasons I recall less of the walk.  Alternatively, it may just be that my brain has finally become completely addled.

As my recollection of events is hazy I am not planning a day-by-day account in a succession of blog posts.  Instead I will provide a jumble of random thoughts and memories about the 2017 experience.  This approach means that I will not have to embellish or make up any interesting anecdotes to pad out my posts. Every word that I write will be true. Every word, mind. Every single one.  

Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee, who hails from Croydon in New South London. Or something like that.

So let me start with Mick Dundee from Croydon, South Australia.  Why?  Because the day before the walk proper started Mick and I pottered along from the official start point at the Strathcarron Hotel to the sea.  Well not exactly the sea, as the bit we got to looked like a small river, but the OS map showed it was a tidal inlet, so that was sufficient for me. 

Now, Mick is an extraordinary man. Let’s face it. He looks completely radgered.  His, clearly, was not an easy paper round.  When he is walking he always appears to be completely done in, and he never looks like he’ll survive the day, yet alone get to dip his toes in the North Sea.  But Mick was almost always ahead of us on the walk and, more importantly, he is one of the most generous and entertaining of Challengers. He is also one of life’s philosophers. He asks questions that put you on the spot and makes you think. Thinking is a dangerous pastime. I try not to do it more than is necessary.  But we walked together in the sunshine and Mick asked me questions, in that strong Australian accent he has, and I answered.  When Mick asks you a question you answer.  You have no choice.  You answer.  It just feels safer that way.

Al and Mick. Just before Mick wisely headed towards a valley whilst we headed upwards. That hat went walkabout later in the Challenge. Mick was not best pleased.

The next day Alan, Phil and I headed off.  Phil was feeling well below par and decided to go back. Al and I continued. By mid afternoon we came to this ridgy thing we were supposed to follow. It was called Creag a Chaorainn. Indeed, it probably still is called this. The topography is complex. The ridge is divided by a series of seemingly deep valleys coming in at odd angles. Overall route finding was easy. The day was sunny and it was obvious where we were heading; but we constantly had to tweek our direction to minimise the myriad of uppy and downy bits.  Well Al tweeked, with me usually in front on this last part of our first day.  Al was just behind.  “Left a bit”, “right a bit”, “head towards that boulder”, “go to the left of the lochan” and so on.  He was Sandy Shaw.  I was the puppet on a string.  It could have been irritating.  But it wasn’t. I’ve been hill walking now for the best part of fifty years. I like to think I have some skill based on those years of experience.  Yet it soon became apparent that Al has a sort of sixth sense when it comes to picking out the best line to take. A sixth sense, together with the experience of twenty-two Challenges as well as a walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats under his belt.

Al also kept whipping his camera out and stopping me with requests such as “I need some perspective in this photo.  Drape yourself over that boulder…..Come on, pout for daddy.  That’s lovely”. Or “Wow! Look at the view north. Just go and stand over there. Oh come on. Look heroic. And I’ve told you before. Pout.”  I stood on the exact spots, just as directed. "Left. No. Right six inches. Yes, just there". I also had to sit on boulders, and my pouting became so practiced that it would have made Kate Moss look like an amateur.

We camped by a lochan on a bealach in the sun.  We woke to clag and rain.  We abandoned the planned Corbett and did our foul weather route.  No soft touch as it involved several trackless kilometres and a steep pull up to the Bhearnais Bealach and then a long trudge by the River Meig to a super camp spot with lovely Emma already in residence, smiling away and brewing up for us. Soon after, lovely Humphrey also arrived and then spent the evening doing his impression of the most chilled and relaxed man on the planet.

Not a bad spot to make dinner. On the shores of the lochan at our first night camp spot

The first wild camp of  the 2017 Challenge

Having been forewarned about my snoring, Al pitches his trail star at the minimum safe distance to my Scarp

The Great Outdoors Challenge 2017: A Plot is Hatched

My apologies for the quality of photos in this post. All pictures were taken using telephoto lenses during covert surveillance by a well known government agency investigating reports of cannibalism in the Highlands of Scotland, rumoured to take place each May. 

October 2016

A telephone conversation is taking place in those "lonely hours" between country pubs closing for the afternoon and re-opening for the evening.

Peer of the Realm (PotR): I’m not sure I want to do it again, Al. Lugging a heavy pack all across Scotland.  It’s not really the camping equipment. It’s all the food. Weighs a ton.

Lord Elpus

The String Puller (TSP): Don’t worry Phil.  I have a plan. We take food that can walk itself across.

The String Puller

PotR: I’m not herding sheep and chickens across the Highlands.

TSP: I wasn’t thinking of sheep or chickens.  I was thinking of something rather more special if you get my drift.

PotR: “Special stuff?”  Now you’re talking.  But Mad 'n’ Bad has been on that 5 and 2 Diet.  He’d be no use.  All gristle and bone.

Mad 'n' Bad

TSP: How about Mick Dundee from Croydon?  Plenty of meat on him.

Mick Dundee from Croydon

PotR: Are you crazy?  We might just take him if he’s in a drunken stupor or really fast asleep.  But we’d likely end with our limbs torn off.

TSP: I’ve got it!  Fellbound.  He’s become a right porker since he stopped walking as much, what with that alleged gammy leg.  We’ll invite him to walk with us.

Fellbound

PotR: Genius.  I'll bring along a nice bottle of Chianti. The evening meal on Day 4 will be one to remember.

April 2017 The Lake District Pre-Walk Daunder

Furtive whispering on Scotgate Campsite, Braithwaite.

PotR: The bastard’s been on a diet too. He's lost weight.  Now we’re saddled with a guy with a gammy leg who’s no use to anyone.

TSP: I’ll bring some Smoky BBQ sauce anyway.  In case we get desperate.  And we can send him ahead in the boggy bits to work out the depth. Anyway, I'm getting rather bored with only having you to photograph.  He's actually rather pretty now he's lost weight.  He could make a half-decent model....[Shouts]: Hey, Fellbound, drape yourself over that table would you? I just need you in the foreground to put those hills into proper perspective. And pout, man, pout. 

Fellbound after losing 20 pounds of fat

TGO Challenge 2017 Gear List

Cooking stuff: Evernew 0.9l pot and 0.4l mug,  MSR Micro Rocket stove and Primus windshield, Platypus water containers and Pod dry bag for rubbish

Well as any fool knows, the key to a successful completion of the Challenge is not experience in backpacking or hill walking.  It is not a cunningly crafted route or the ability to navigate in the foggiest of fogs.  It is not strength of mind and being made of the right stuff.  It is not determined training, regularly lugging a heavy pack up high hills in the wind and rain from New Year to the end of April. Of course not.  It is about the possession of an accurate set of kitchen scales and the ability to create an Excel spreadsheet and to weigh your gear to the last gram.  It is a well known fact that all other Challengers want to know about you is what are you taking with you. 

Z Packs Duplex, lovely and spacious, very cuben fibre light, but single skinned not as toasty as the Scarp 1

Tarp Tent Scarp 1: My almost perfect shelter - except for the weight

So here is my starter for ten, with my current thoughts about what I shall be carrying in May.  The eagle eyed reader will spot that there are probable and possible columns.  The possible column generally relates to potential last minute changes which will depend on whether we have a particularly clement or inclement weather forecast.  Forecasts are, of course, notoriously unreliable in mountain areas and my probable column should see me okay in most conditions.  If there is still much lying snow or, better still, in the highly unlikely event that Scotland is sitting under a blocking anticyclone in the first week in May, then the items in the possible column may come into play.

TGOC 2017 Gear List
PROBABLE	Pack	Worn/Non-Pack	POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES
	(gr)	(gr)
Pack
GG Mariposa	1015		ULA Catalyst (1530gr incl pack cover) or Z Packs Arc Blast (590gr)
Z Packs CF Packliner	54
Shelter and Sleeping
Tarp Tent Scarp 1	1455		Z Packs Duplex (685gr)
Tent pegs	250
Sleeping Bag Z Packs 20 degree	660
Rab Silk Liner	116
Sleep Socks - As Tucas Down Socks	90
Rohan Silver Core Zipped Base	255
Rab Meco Long Johns	148
Silk Liner Gloves - Lowe   Alpine	30
Klymit Pillow	85
Thermarest XTherm (large)	580
Tent J Cloth	12
Cook set	410
MSR Micro Rocket + stand and windshield			Ti Tri Inferno + Starlyte Burner (saves 120gr)
Evernew 0.9 litre pot
Evernew 0.4 litre mug
Sea to Summit long spoon (alloy)
Lighter
Classic Swiss Army Knife
Water purifying tabs
J Cloth
Hydration in cf stuff sack:	181
Platypus 2 litre
Platypus 1 litre
Sawyer small water filter + medium pouch
First Aid Kit	290
First Aid Kit Dry Bag
Elasticated knee bandage
Tick remover
Safety Pins
Scissors
Sudacreme
Plasters and compeed
Wound Dressings
Micropore tape
Paracetamol
Ibuprofen
Imodium
Hayfever tablets
Gehwol Foot Cream			Smidge
Lanacane Anti-Chafing Gel			Sun screen
Wash Kit in dry bag	420
Mini toothbrush and paste
Comb
Dr Bronner's
Deodorant (tiny)
Towel - Lightload Mini *3
Contact lenses
T Roll
Hand Sanitiser
Lighter
Ear plugs
Tissues
Trowel (MSR Blizzard stake included with tent pegs)
P Bottle
Navigation/Tech
Silva compass	40
Ortilieb map case + Map		80
Ortilieb A4 Case + Map printouts + 2 maps	270
Galaxy S7 Smartphone / GPS		157
Phone case		60
Phone charger	45
Camera charger lead	30
Power pack	125
Watch - Suunto Core		64
Camera - Lumix DMC TZ60 + case and spare battery		400
Batteries *3 (watch and headtorch)
Spot Gen 3 Messenger	60
Repair kit in cf bag	63
Dyneema cord
Duck Tape
Thermarest puncture kit
Shock cord
Tenacious tape / cf tape
Accessories
Whistle	15
Headtorch - Petzl E Lite	30
Midge head net	50
Notebook and pen		52
Reading glasses in case	107
Pacer Poles - Alloy		650	Black Diamond Trail Pro (if Duplex taken)
Multimat foam sit mat	42		Thermarest Inflatable Sit Mat (90gr)
Wallet	100
Rail tickets	10
Clothes
Trail Shoes Inov8 Roclite 295, +  Blue Superfeet insoles		740	Ecco Xpedition III Torre GTX Mid Boots. Micro spikes.
Dirty Girl Gaiters		68
X Socks Exped (2 pairs)	62	62	Bridgedale Merino Fusion Trekker (if boots worn)
Bridgedale Coolmax Liners (3 pairs)	40	20
Compression Socks	90
Under Armour Boxers	90
Helly Hansen Boxers		88
Trousers - Montane Terra		357
Rohan Ether trousers	216		Montane Prisms (348gr)
Rohan Merino Shirt		286
Berghaus Extrem 7000 Hoodie Mid Layer		475
Montane Prism Gillet		284
PhD Minimus Down Jacket + Hood	478
Montane Fleece Beanie		60
Buff	38
Montane Prism Gloves	60
Waterproof Overmits	41
Montane Litespeed windshirt		204
Rohan Elite Jacket	375		Paramo Velez Adventure Light Smock (685gr) + Z Packs Death Jacket (200gr)
Berghaus Paclite Overtrousers	250
Hi Tec Zuuc Shoes	450
Total Base Carried	9108
Total Worn		4107
Food, Drink and Fuel
Gas	380		Meths (500gr)
Dehydrated food (3 days) main meals and deserts	1500
Total other food (3 days):-	500
Soups (1 per day)
Tea bags (4 per day)
Drink choc (1 per day)
Condensed milk - tube			Nido full cream milk powder
Instant porridge (1.5 per day)
Cereal bars (3 per day)
Trail mix
Chocolate
Primula and wraps
Food bags
Nalgene Hip Flask (full)	400
Water (0.5l in Evian bottle)	520
Total Food, Drink, Fuel	3300
Total Pack Weight	12408