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Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike 2011

With the blisters healing and having stopped walking around like a penguin, I thought it was time to look back at last weekend's Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike. The challenge, in aid of Maggie's Cancer Care Centres, was to make the 73 mile trip along the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness in under 24 hours. I was part of a 5 strong team. Fiona, Mel and myself were participating while Jane and Su were our support team. The story begins on Friday afternoon ....

We arrived in Fort William at 4pm and proceeded to the Nevis Centre to register for the event and collect our all important Maggie's t-shirts (l-r me, Jane, Fiona, Su and Mel):

A bit later, we attended the event safety briefing. Some of the participants taking part who had been affected by cancer were invited to the stage to share their stories of visiting their local Maggie's Centre. One woman in particular had just finished her course of treatment 2 weeks prior but was looking forward to taking part in the challenge the next day. A true inspiration indeed.

We headed back to the Smiddy Bunkhouse, our base for the night, and carbed up before getting some sleep as we had an early start.

We were up at 4:45am on Saturday morning to grab some breakfast and then make the short cycle from Corpach down to Neptune's Staircase at Banavie where the event started at 6:30am. Conditions at the start line were good. The sun was shining with only a slight ESE wind and so we set off on the bikes for the first 30 miles in good spirits. 

The first 7 miles riding alongside the Caledonian Canal was fairly pleasant with minimal ascent. After Gairlochy, the route followed the shores of Loch Lochy with great views back to the Nevis Range. Progress was good and we passed through the half way point of the bike stage at 7:45am. Our team then hit a few problems after I stopped to take this photo of Fiona and Mel on the route:

At the 17 mile mark I went through a rather large crater on the track which was all too much for my front tyre. Instant blow out. So out with the spare inner tube and the pump while the rest of the field careered past! I was back on the bike again 25 minutes later and intent on catching up on some time. I was sure that the next time I would see my team mates would be at the finish of the bike section but to my surprise I caught up with Fiona and Mel at the 27.5 mile mark only to find that Fiona had also suffered from a puncture to her back tyre and Mel had to retrieve a mudguard that had fallen off enroute. Not surprisingly we were relieved to finish the 30 miles of biking! Here we are crossing the locks at Fort Augustus at 10:09am at the end of the bike section:

Our time to cover the 30 miles on the bikes was 3 hours 40 minutes. We were slightly disappointed with that but I guess punctures happen! We didn't want to let that get us down as we still had 43 miles to walk and therefore tried to spend as little time as possible at the checkpoint. Jane and Su were there to greet us and had all our kit ready for the walking section. They also went to get some baked potatoes so that we could refuel:

24 minutes later and we were ready to tackle the first walking section; the 8 miles to Invermoriston. With the sun still shining, we headed off at a really good pace and we climbed through the pine forest with glorious views over Loch Ness to the south east:

It took us 2 hours 46 minutes in total to cover the 8 miles from Fort Augustus to Invermoriston, where we arrived at 1:23pm just in time for lunch! I recall a lovely selection of food which had been put on at Glenmoriston Village Hall (the tray bakes really hit the spot!). 30 minutes later, refuelled, we hit the road again for the next section of the journey - the 15 miles to Drumnadrochit. The sun continued to shine with the temperature peaking at 24°C and we were all glad the organisers put on an extra water stop after a particularly gruelling 500m ascent at the 46 mile mark. Our support team, Jane and Su, met up with us again at the water stop just after the 49 mile mark (shades and bandana essential obviously!):

I enjoyed a rather nice cup of tomato soup at that water stop which got me through to dinner. Talking of which, we arrived at Drumnadrochit at 6:41pm having taken just under 5 hours to walk the 15 miles from Fort Augustus. I demolished a plate of vegetable curry in 2 minutes and then tended to my feet which were starting to give me a bit of bother! It is fair to say at this point that I had lost all sense of time. We had been on the go for over twelve hours and because we hadn't really stopped for breath at any point there wasn't much time to think about what we had done or what was still ahead. We just knew we had to keep on putting one foot ahead of the other. An hour later and having changed our clothes and kit for the walk through the night we were ready to start the last section of the walk - the 18 miles to Inverness:

The skies remained clear and so we were blessed with excellent light as we made our way north east until finally we veered north away from Loch Ness and into the forest. We arrived at the water stop just before the 62 mile mark at 10:12pm. Jane and Su were again there to help us out and cheer us on. A small mention must be made here to all the amazing volunteers along the route who manned the water stops and encouraged everyone who was taking part. A massive thank you to them all! We were definitely grateful for the coffee and bananas at this stop!:

The temperature suddenly dipped and therefore we all added a few layers and put on the head torches before we set off again. We had started the countdown at that point, only 11 miles to Inverness! I can't remember much about the miles we covered until the next water stop except that when we left the forest into the open it got very chilly! I was starting to feel the strain as we approached the stop before the 67 mile mark just after midnight. I was, however, given just the boost I needed in the form of a haggis burger! Trust me, haggis has never tasted so good as you can probably tell from this picture:

The orange glow in the sky from the street lights in Inverness appeared ahead as we set off for the last 6 miles, all the while enjoying the comradery of the other people who were taking part. I remember taking my time on the descent into Inverness as my right knee was letting me know that I had covered a few miles that day! Those last miles walking through the empty streets in the outskirts of Inverness seemed to take forever. We finally made our way across the Tomnahurich bridge and then into the grounds of the Inverness Aquadome to cross the finishing line at 2:37am on Sunday morning accompanied by cheering from Jane and Su and numerous event volunteers. The 18 miles from Drumnadrochit had taken us just under 7 hours. We were all tired but happy to be finished:

The time it took us to complete the 73 miles including all breaks was 20 hours, 5 minutes and 45 seconds. We came 136th out of the 321 people who made it to Inverness. The woman who won the event did it in 9 hours and 50 minutes which is quite incredible! Times and stats aside though, I'm overjoyed that our team finished and I'm so glad that I agreed to participate. I have to say a massive thank you to my team mates, Fiona and Mel, and our incredible support team, Jane and Su, for all their help and encouragement along the way. It was a great experience if not a little surreal! 

The most important thing though was being able to raise money for Maggie's Cancer Care Centres and help the charity continue the great work they do in supporting those who suffer from cancer across the UK. All that is left for me to say is a big thank you to all those who sponsored me - it really means a lot to me! And don't worry, if you would like to donate but haven't already, you can visit my JustGiving page here.