By the time you get round to reading this, the guys will be almost through with day two (assuming they've finally escaped from the Winking Owl) but here's a quick resume of day one...
The day dawned bright by cold down at TCS and sporting a wide variety of headgear, the marchers set off from the stadium at 8:20. Gringo had clearly had a bad hair day back at the cave whilst Gringo Jnr resembled some kind of failed rock star. Nessie appeared to have laid an EGG whilst the only 'normal' end to ender was Beatonio, although he of course had a stooky on his arm courtesy of a footballing accident a fortnight ago (probably explains why he seemed to be carrying the regimental flag for most of the day!!!!).
Along for the day the group had ITN Junior, a 'veteran' of days six, seven and eight last year, and the 'groupies'... Lauraness and C3 from the Familyness. Suffice to say at this stage that whilst the Charlie's Angels heargear made it through the day, the wings were well and truly clipped come Moy!
The early miles were uneventful as the regiment made it's way up the west side of the A9 (on the verge I might add) before coming under friendly fire at Bogbain from messrs Yompa, ITN Minor and Micro. Once the troop had crossed over the A9 at Daviot and descended the steps and made the river crossing over the Nairn, Minor and Micro joined in the march and walked the next wee while with the main body of troops. I say main body for Gringo Junior had long since shot of the front and wasn't to be seen again until the Tomatin Inn.
By the time everyone regrouped at the Inn around half one, the first reports of blisters came in over the wires. Lauraness and C3 were happy to use up almost half the bar supply of new beer mats to make purpose-built blister cushioning insoles whilst everyone was just happy to get some relief from the midday sun.
The post-Tomatin session was particularly unspectacular, except for a failed final ambush by Team Yompa and Minors (the troops were spotted and taken out by the Gringos not long after the latter had wasted most of their ammo on an unsuccessful attack on a fire-watch platform...
The girls, after a long (and for the most part happy) day in the sun, finally called it a day at 20 miles and climbed back aboard the bus. Everyone else made it to the finish, and special credit must go to ITN Minor, aged 8 who covered 12 miles and ITN Micro, aged 6 who did 8 miles. Indeed, both of the wee ones walked offroad from the German soldier at Slochd to the finish just past Sluggan Bridge on the road headed west out of Carrbridge.
The evening was spent in traditional HM fashion... reliving the highlights of the day over a communal scoff of pasta and stuff in the bunkhouse, followed by a bedraggled stagger by Beatonio and ITN Junior up the road to the Cairn Hotel in order to engage the locals on the pool table, the result of which is better left unstated by all accounts... ;o(
I can't finish this account with mentioning Caley D, or 'The General' as he has now been christened. Someone asked why we didn't have a 'General' ranking in our HM list and it was EGG, I believe, who suggested that it had probably been reserved for the the driver... General Dogsbody of the team. General, you were fantastic on day one. At a time when the troop were spread over a couple of miles, you did a great job of running to and fro, keeping tabs on everyone, and probably the best compliment the team can pay you is to say that no one would have guessed that you'd never driven for the regiment before.
By the time you get round to reading this, the guys will be almost through with day two (assuming they've finally escaped from the Winking Owl) but here's a quick resume of day one...
The day dawned bright by cold down at TCS and sporting a wide variety of headgear, the marchers set off from the stadium at 8:20. Gringo had clearly had a bad hair day back at the cave whilst Gringo Jnr resembled some kind of failed rock star. Nessie appeared to have laid an EGG whilst the only 'normal' end to ender was Beatonio, although he of course had a stooky on his arm courtesy of a footballing accident a fortnight ago (probably explains why he seemed to be carrying the regimental flag for most of the day!!!!).
Along for the day the group had ITN Junior, a 'veteran' of days six, seven and eight last year, and the 'groupies'... Lauraness and C3 from the Familyness. Suffice to say at this stage that whilst the Charlie's Angels heargear made it through the day, the wings were well and truly clipped come Moy!
The early miles were uneventful as the regiment made it's way up the west side of the A9 (on the verge I might add) before coming under friendly fire at Bogbain from messrs Yompa, ITN Minor and Micro. Once the troop had crossed over the A9 at Daviot and descended the steps and made the river crossing over the Nairn, Minor and Micro joined in the march and walked the next wee while with the main body of troops. I say main body for Gringo Junior had long since shot of the front and wasn't to be seen again until the Tomatin Inn.
By the time everyone regrouped at the Inn around half one, the first reports of blisters came in over the wires. Lauraness and C3 were happy to use up almost half the bar supply of new beer mats to make purpose-built blister cushioning insoles whilst everyone was just happy to get some relief from the midday sun.
The post-Tomatin session was particularly unspectacular, except for a failed final ambush by Team Yompa and Minors (the troops were spotted and taken out by the Gringos not long after the latter had wasted most of their ammo on an unsuccessful attack on a fire-watch platform...
The girls, after a long (and for the most part happy) day in the sun, finally called it a day at 20 miles and climbed back aboard the bus. Everyone else made it to the finish, and special credit must go to ITN Minor, aged 8 who covered 12 miles and ITN Micro, aged 6 who did 8 miles. Indeed, both of the wee ones walked offroad from the German soldier at Slochd to the finish just past Sluggan Bridge on the road headed west out of Carrbridge.
The evening was spent in traditional HM fashion... reliving the highlights of the day over a communal scoff of pasta and stuff in the bunkhouse, followed by a bedraggled stagger by Beatonio and ITN Junior up the road to the Cairn Hotel in order to engage the locals on the pool table, the result of which is better left unstated by all accounts... ;o(
I can't finish this account with mentioning Caley D, or 'The General' as he has now been christened. Someone asked why we didn't have a 'General' ranking in our HM list and it was EGG, I believe, who suggested that it had probably been reserved for the the driver... General Dogsbody of the team. General, you were fantastic on day one. At a time when the troop were spread over a couple of miles, you did a great job of running to and fro, keeping tabs on everyone, and probably the best compliment the team can pay you is to say that no one would have guessed that you'd never driven for the regiment before.