On Monday 14th April fell runner Dan Duxbury will start an attempt at a very fast continuous self-propelled Munro round. All going well, he aims to cover all 282 3000-foot summits in just 38 days, running on the hills, cycling between hill groups and kayaking where necessary.
If he's successful - and it must be a big if - then Kendal-based primary school teacher Dan will shave about a day from Stephen 'Spyke' Pyke's 2010 record of 39 days, nine hours (see this UKH article).
'In 3 days I am travelling up to Scotland to begin my round of the 282 Munros' he writes in his blog. 'It feels like an epic task just getting to this point and I haven't ran a mile yet!'
The sheer scale of the challenge is well illustrated by his bonkers route schedule. On day one alone, Dan will start with a 4-mile round trip up Mull's Ben More, followed by a 15 mile road bike stage. A 1.5 mile sea kayak then brings him over to the mainland at Lochaline. After this it's 30 miles on a road bike to the 300m kayak crossing of Loch Linnhe, then six more miles on the road to the foot of Beinn a' Bheithir. The day ends with seven miles of hill running over two more Munros, then four final miles on a mountain bike. On day two it's 19 miles of running over seven Munros in Glen Creran and the western half of Glen Coe, but only a mere 4 miles on a road bike.
And the schedule goes on like this, day after day, for well over one month. Dan Duxbury is clearly no average bloke - though he claims not to be in the same league as Spyke.
'Thankfully I have the eminently capable Matt and Jane Reedy and John Fleetwood with me for [the] first three tricky days' he writes. Quite.
The state of the ground is likely to be key to his initial progress, after a winter of unusually deep snow cover up high.
Through the trip Dan hopes to raise money for wild land conservation charity the John Muir Trust, and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.
You'll be able to follow his progress (and donate) via his blog.
Comments