Highland March 4 - Day One Report

[CaleyJulz]

mon the lot of yas me mad uncles and cousins and got to mention egg loves yas all !!

[Guest Lauraness]

8 MILES 8 MILES OOOOOOO ALMOST THERE NEARLY THERE!!! YAYAYAYAYAY

:021: :021: :021: :021: :021: :021: :021: :021:

[Guest Lauraness]

AND UNCLE YOMPA SAYS BEATONIOs new name is CHUMBA!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHa :021: :021: :021: :021: :015: :015: :021:

[Guest Lauraness]

.............cause he gets knocked down....but he gets up again..!! hahaha :015:

[Interthenet Jnr]

I think my dad has got it arranged to have the ICT physio have a look at him when he gets to dunfermline. His feet are really bad. They are just one big blister and he expects to lose 3 toenails..... BUT HE IS GOING TO DO IT :crazy03:

[Interthenet Jnr]

He's only about 5 miles away now and caught up with the others last night.

[Mrs Pauliebee]

Has Dozza joined yet?

Top work all - have a very well deserved beer per mile when you finish

Gringers - we've got them lined up in the Shaky for you - superb - you've lead the newbies through again!

Mrs PB

x

[Interthenet Jnr]

They all made it but my dad seems to be in alot of pain, when i spoke to him on the phone, but the pride cancelled that out.

[Yompa]

Before I get onto the March itself, I want to say something about Caley D and Caley Canary.

Caley D came onto the team at the 11th hour when Colin had to pull out of the driving duties for TG and the Canary only managed to get a five day pass to TY a couple of weeks ago. These guys were immense! I salute the pair of you and you are true Generals of the Highland March. Obviously I spent most of my time on the road with CC but every report and experience I've had with Caley D has been first rate. So laid back, so competent, so accomodating... I could go on all day!

The Canary was everything I knew he would be... and more. Fetching, carrying, buying, driving ahead and sussing out routes and checkpoints.... all I had to do was spot the short cuts, overtake him 'on the inside' then text him to pass on the good news... :004:

Next up I must say a huge, huge thank you to Laura Murray at TCS for her quiet efficiency in making things happen. As recently as yesterday morning when Laura should have been enjoying her day off, I had to make one final request to have a medic check out my feet, which by this time were completely wrecked. Half an hour later and Laura had fixed me an appointment with the ICT medics before the game.

And so to the march itself...

Every HM is different and this was certainly no exception. We were treated to the fun and companionship of our mad wee nieces on day one and wow, did they have some fun. I'd love to think that once the pain of the last few miles has subsided, C3 and Lorramess will be down the sales searching out some proper footwear fro next year... ain't that right, girls!

For me, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were days of torture. The waiting was torture, made all the worse by the news drip feeding through that the others were making steady progress down the road. Mind you, as the Megabus drove through all that rain on Tuesday, I did have a wee smile to myself... :003:

Throughout Wednesday, I just wanted to get started. Even the game itself on Wednesday night was a bit of an annoyance because I knew what lay in store afterwards. I'd done a few 'through the night' training walks but hadn't walked all the next day too, and certainly not over the kind of terrain I had chosen (which just happened to be the shortest route).

The night walk was a piece of cake. I'd borrowed Mrs Yompa's head torch and the trek through the forest at Slochd was a piece of cake as a result. When I got to other side of the wood where my route split off from TG's route to Sluggan Bridge, the dawn was only an hour away, leading on to the most magnificent moment of any of my HMs to date.... I was crossing the top of the Monadhliath Mountains as around 5.15am when the first flicker of sun peeped above the cloud way out to the east. In an instant, the snow covered Cairngorm peaks in front of me turned a warming shade of orange and stayed that way for a good few minutes until the full power of the sun’s rays put everything back to normal. A truly wonderful moment in the wilderness!

I’d promised the Canary bacon butties at Kincraig Stores at 7:30am and was mildly surprised to be only ten minutes late for my share. It was a lovely spring morning as we sat outside the shop, me taking on fuel like it had gone out of fashion, and the Canary planning his day in the sunshine awaiting my arrival at Blair Atholl in twelve hours time. :011:

My plan was to walk down Glen Feshie then over the high level Minigaig drovers’ track. Glen Feshie, however, was a huge disappointment. I’d expected a gorgeous glen with an interesting forest path, but what I actually got was about twelve miles of tarmac, a wild headwind and not much to see. Fortunately visibility was good so by the time I got to the top of the climb on the Minigaig (2994ft), I could still see where I was going and had no need to resort to either GPS or compass navigation (all of which slows you down). I felt the little toe ‘pop’ on my right foot leaping across the peat bog of the descent, an injury that was to come back and cause more than a little discomfort the following day…

After I’d passed Bruar Lodge on the way out of the Glen, I was treated to the sight of about 70 red deer speeding their way across the plain like some great herd of wilderbeast…. And then there was my wee friend the white mountain hare, who I’d spotted peeping out of the heather before finally scarpering off into the distance when I got within out five yards…

The Canary and I met up again in the bar at the Atholl Arms Hotel, but it was a short stop as the destination for Thursday was Pitlochry, which we made at around 9pm as the light was fading. Of course, there’s feck all open in Pitlochry at that time of night at this time of year, so it was off to the Co-op to get medical provisions and the chippy to get a fish supper! Alf Tupper, eat yer heart out…. :017:

There have been many defining moments in my sporting life, moments when you find yourself asking “will I or won’t I”. I had one such moment in 1994 when I was cycling from Manchester to Glasgow in a day for charity, only to fall off through lack of concentration at Carnforth, breaking my elbow in the process. On that occasion, I just put a tubigrip bandage on it, got back on the bike and cycled the remaining 175 miles one handed. Well I knew before I set out on HM4 that Thursday wasn’t going to be the the defininf day, as long and as difficult as it seemed on paper. No… that day was reserved for Friday, 57 miles of toil in the sun, about 95% of it on tarmac, and on feet that were by now showing great signs of wear and tear. A long time ago, I learned about chiropody felt and how you can use it to ‘cradle’ blisters so you can keep on… well, keeping on. The Canary emptied Pitlochry of it’s entire supply of chiropody felt (after we found out that Dunkeld didn’t have any!) and the single layer became double once the blisters started touching the ground again. :019:

Anyway I digress…

I’d long given up on the schedule for Friday, as time really didn’t matter. Only one thing counted, and that was MTG, or Miles To Go for short. I got a text from EGG at what must have been half one-ish saying TG had stopped for lunch in Glenfarg. This was interesting because that told me that they’d taken the easier but longer route round the side of Perth and down through Kinross. Easy doesn’t appear in the Team Yompa handbook… I had chosen the direct route down from Forteviot, through the Path of Condie and a couple of private estates (good yomping territory if ever there was…) and had substituted hills for miles. At around the time I double layered the chiropody felt, I reckoned that the pain of running couldn’t be much worse, if any, than the pain of walking so I started jogging. I hadn’t actually intended to do any running during HM4 because of a long-standing foot injury I’d had since last summer but what the feck, I was hurting anyway, so I reckon I probably ran about ten of the last twenty miles of day two, finishing, as Team Gringo had done some three hours earlier, at Cleish Mill, some eight miles from Dunfermline. But more importantly, we were now all back together, swapping stories and experiences, and looking forward with relish to the triumphant march into EEP the next day. :011:

Saturday was a surreal day. Gringo Junior had supplied a trophy for the HM Pool Championship, which he then watched become a two horse race between Caley D and Chumba (the marcher formerly known as Beatonio). It all came down to the last game which the hobbling Yompa had to win (against Caley D) to secure the trophy for Chumba, but alas it wasn’t to be and Caley D, the dark horse, went home with the HM4 championship. :001:

And so on to EEP. I went on ahead of the rest in order to get my feet looked at. I was up on the couch in the ICT dressing room with the players looking on as the doc (painfully) removed the dressings. Cue Liam Keogh… “look at the ******* state of that” with that cute wee chuckling smile on his face. Then a few others came over, had a look and gave it the “oh my gawd…”. :010:

By the way, news of the March is clearly spreading, albeit slowly. On my way through the stadium, I came across Jim Leishman chatting to a couple of ICT officials. “Is this one of the Marchers”, he asked, and we shook hands. The reception we got from the Dunfermline supporters was quite out of this world and I cannot thank Dunfermline Athletic enough for the magnificent way they treated us yesterday. As somebody said in passing… “there are some true football supporters”. :021:

And so on to next season, HM5 and beyond…. Now, how do we get to Gretna…. :004:

[CaleyD]

Arrived back from HM4 last night and finally finished my HM4 duties this morning.

Haven't finished typing up my diary for the week but it was an experience unlike anything I have ever enjoyed before. This last week has been so much more than I ever anticipated, and I mean that from a positive point of view.

I am humbled by Yompa's comments about me above, especially as I had the honour of spending the last week with some of the best people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I am proud to have been able to assist them in achieving what they have, not only from the point of view of the walk itself, but for what it has achieved in terms of the money raised for MFR Charity Trust and Team ICT. A totally selfless act on the part of each and every one of them and they deserve as much applause for that as they do for completing the route itself.

A big :021: to everyone who took part (regardless of how far they walked). They all gave 100% and nobody can ask any more than that of anybody. It's people like this who stand as an inspiration to others and I am already looking forward to HM5.

[Yompa]

I can see it now... "HMV - Sponsored by Virgin" :004:

[CaleyD]

We saw a Virgin in Falkland - maybe it was a sign :015:

[Beatonio]

Don, you're a legend, thankyou and well done. You did a very good job behind the wheel all week, I suppose you can be excused for the Daffodils in Newtonmore! I was surprised, and frankly quite disgusted, to see you keep up with Gringo Jnr's endless 'Frog Treading'. And if it wasn't for a shocking pool table in Newtonmore I would've had that trophy! :015:

As for Yompa, the man is just a hero. Completing the walk from Sunday to Saturday was tough, but from Wednesday night - astonishing. Seeing his feet when he joined up with Team Gringo on Friday night made me ill, huge blisters and cuts covering almost every inch of skin. A tremendous achievement sir! Dont you ever do anything like that again... without me at least. :016:

It was a pleasure meeting you all, I had a braw time and can't wait for next year. I hope to see you all again then for our walk to Hampden :004:

[CaleyJulz]

Hey beatonio you were very quiet on the wee stroll ermm hows the arm ???

[+Gringo]

What a fantastic week that was - out on the road with some truely amazing people, this is what HMing is all about. I'll be compiling a 'match report' soon so I wont bore you hear with that.

Suffice to say that all who took part - even for a few miles, were pure class and it was a pleasure to be in your company along the route.

My HM4 experience hit a sour note on the way home as we (that's Mrs G and Me) endured the journey from ****. Our overnight sleeper service from Inverness was cancelled at Edinburgh due to works on the line. We were woken up from our slumber at 0140 and had then had to endure a coach journey down to Preston which didn't leave until just before 0300. This got to Preston at around 0640. We eventually got home at 1000. Journey time by rail from Inverness to Coventry was 13hrs 35 mins - would have been quicker to walk.....

[Beatonio]

CCC - unlike you female types I prefer to cut the chat, get my head down and walk/run. I reckon the only reason the two of you were falling behind was that you couldn't stop yakking! :016:

My arm's fine, cheers. It was the sunburn that was annoying me the most. How're your feet? Still nicely blistered?

And more importantly, are you walking with us lot again next year?!

[CaleyJulz]

Beatonio i have fully recovered now thanks blisters are all heald sunburn is now all lovely and brown and yes we did yak all the way but it was intresting yakking well was to us and yes we will be there next year we are planning to do the 1st and last leg so you are now warned .!!!

[Guest Lauraness]

how excitingage!!! i have been instructed to wear the bunny ears next time though.............. :bunny: :bunny: :bunny: :bunny:

[CaleyD]

First lot of pics from HM4 uploaded to the Photo Gallery http://hmssneck.com/ict/index.php?option=c...;g2_itemId=5197

[Mrs Pauliebee]

Superb!

Vast improvement on the "wildlife" photo's taken by Fro in last year!

Can you get that Blonde's number for King Beastie please? :004:

[Beatonio]

Nice one Don!

I see you've left the swear in too, hehe!

[Interthenet Jnr]

Superb!

Vast improvement on the "wildlife" photo's taken by Fro in last year!

Can you get that Blonde's number for King Beastie please? :004:

Chris's pictures were top class last year. Dead deer, crap, you name it he snaped it. :014:

When i get over to my dads tonight i'll see if the video of the diggers is on the computer see if i can get it on the site. Has to be one of the funniest things i've saw. :021:

[+Gringo]

My batch of pics from HM4 (and others) can be found here....

http://heighlandarchiles.fotopic.net

[CaleyJulz]

Hey uncle Gringo yer pics are really good lol can ya send me the one with sis unckle yompa and myself please ?

[Alex MacLeod]

Gringo, getting back to the main objective of the march. What's the final monetary count and who won the raffle.