Petestack Blog

Less than two days to go till Saturday’s Ramsay’s Round attempt and it’s getting difficult to sit and wait, but this week has to work as a ‘mini taper’ if my five-week plan of post-WHW Race recovery, some decent exercise (peaking at a slightly unplanned 68 miles/25,300 ft of proper hill running and some cycling last week!) and some necessary rest is going to come off. Which means nothing more strenuous since Saturday than some walking, an easy 5.4 mile/1,600 ft trail run yesterday and relaxed 20 mile road cycle today despite me pretty well climbing up the walls with that ‘can’t wait’ (don’t wish your life away!) feeling…

So what about this schedule Murdo asked me for the other day? Well, as I said in Saturday’s post, we’re talking broad brush strokes rather than fine detail but, after meeting Jon and Noel the other night to thrash it out, here’s the score:

• I have four accomplices (three pacers in Jon Gay, Gavin McKinlay and Ritchie Cunningham + my ‘base camp manager’ Noel Williams), we’re going for a midday start (like Charlie Ramsay’s original round) and Jon will be pacing me through the Mamores to at least Loch Treig.
• We’ve got team maps marked up with the route, Charlie’s times (which appear to be rounded to the nearest five minutes but already need treating with caution because at least one known mistake left him chasing an unbelievably fast finish) and 4km intervals (enabling comparison of what he did to a notional 4kph schedule). Maps will be laser-printed from Memory-Map (NB you can just get the whole round at 1:50,000 onto a back-to-back sheet of A4) and laminated to be folded once to carry at A5 size or possibly twice for A6.
• We’ll be meeting Gavin (who’ll have brought us some goodies on the 5:50pm train from Spean Bridge to Corrour) at railway bridge NN 342 681 (or somewhere between there and Creaguaineach Lodge) sometime between ? and 10:00pm to tackle the Loch Treig peaks overnight.
• We’ll be joined by Ritchie (who’ll have come in from Fersit with Noel) sometime between ? and 2:00am Sunday at the Loch Treig Dam, where we’ll be able to get more ‘proper’ food, clothing, shoes or anything else we need before continuing over the ‘Easains’ by night.
• While Jon will be there primarily to pace me to Corrour, my original suggestion was that we try the whole thing together and he’s likely to continue for as long as he’s going well (possibly/hopefully the whole way).
• While Gavin’s ‘shift’ officially finishes at the Lairig Leacach (leaving Ritchie as designated pacer from the Grey Corries on), he’s likewise welcome to continue further. But anyone holding up proceedings (hopefully not me!) will simply be left to find their own way off and contact Noel.
• Whoever’s still on their feet should be arriving back at Glen Nevis Youth Hostel sometime between ? and midday Sunday, which I’m also predicting means arriving at Carn Mor Dearg with a little more in hand (say two hours) than Charlie’s 70 minutes! To which I might just add that I’d still be looking for a finish (thinking experience for ‘next time’!) if things don’t quite work out within the specified 24 hours.
• Regarding the dreaded weather, things could be worse with MWIS now suggesting low cloud and spells of drizzly rain with some gusty south-westerly wind (not in itself too bad for an eastbound traverse of the Mamores). So I’d say perhaps the biggest thing there (assuming the wind’s no worse than forecast when MWIS tends to be ‘pessimistic’) might be the loss of anticipated help overnight from the nearly full moon. But beggars can’t be choosers, the whole thing’s been built round support team availability and (given what the WHW Race heat did to me) I’m not even sure I’d swap for the clear, blue skies and sunshine hopefully being enjoyed by Bruce Poll and Alan Smith (who are up there attempting the round right now and expected to finish early tomorrow afternoon).