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30 June 2012

TGO Challenge 2012: Morar to St Cyrus: Home Page

RANNOCH MOOR

This post pulls together all the blog posts for my 2012 Challenge, from sending off the application form, introducing the characters who I’m walking with, designing our route, looking at the costs of the walk and the walk itself.

You can click on each post (it’s in chronological order) and the blog post will open in a new window.

PREPARING FOR THE TGO CHALLENGE:

THE CHALLENGE BLOG POSTS:

The weather played a part in altering our planned route for the first week or so, as it was pretty dreadful, and so the revised statistics for our walk came out as 194 miles and 22,500 feet of ascent.

18 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. "Young Man!"
      You know you now have a slave for life...
      :-)

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  2. Of course, this post should be read alongside Andy Walker's excellent account, which can be found by clicking
    HERE

    :-)

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  3. When can you start...................?

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  4. Aye, it's true what they say - The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands.

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    1. I'll have you know I've done two lots of washing today & dried it all in between coughing and sneezing with dreadful hay-fever.

      It's hard being a washer woman.

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  5. Excellent report Alan, its made my thirst to do the TGO even stronger :-)

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    1. Thanks Dean. I have only just realised that you have a blog! So I have added you to my "Great Places to Visit" list so I won't miss you in future.
      :-)
      If you can wangle two weeks away, it's a marvellous holiday. Go on, Apply for it. The application form comes out in the October issue of TGO (which bizarrely, comes out in September)

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  6. Great stuff Alan, nice to have it all in one place to look through. Sorely tempted to give it a go in the future.

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    1. Hi Phil
      I think the biggest stumbling block to entering the Challenge is the time required for the walk - most folk travel up on the Thursday and start on the Friday, finishing two weeks latter on the Thursday (although you have until Friday to finish, if you want) so this means that you need to take 12 days of your annual leave, which is a big old chunk.
      However, having taken this plunge a surprisingly high percentage come back each year for more!
      It's addictive... (seventeen now, and counting...)
      :-)

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    2. Yeah indeed an major stumbling block, especially as I have kids. I think if I took 2 weeks off work and then didn't spend any of it with the family I would be in trouble :-) But I would still like to give it a go sometime in the future.

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    3. The children could always go to Granny & Grandad's for two weeks & you could take your wife... Just a thought...
      :-)

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  7. I'm going to sit down and read this. And that's about as close as I'll ever get to the TGO Challenge. I'll just pour a beer first.
    Cheers, Alen McF

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    Replies
    1. Alen
      Go on... You know you want to have a bash at it... Two weeks of sunshine, lazy evenings chilling outside your tent with a nice flask, the odd party or three...
      How could you refuse an event like this?
      :-)

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  8. A great series of posts for the 2012 TGOC. I enjoyed reading them as I have in previous years. Did I read that you were now having a break from the TGOC for awhile?

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    1. At the end of this year's Challenge I was physically shattered and put it down to my screwed kidneys. I assumed that with their degeneration there would be no way I would be able to make next year's walk.
      Since being back and having seen my Renal Consultant he tells me the reason I was so knackered was that I had a really low blood count (because of my kidneys) but that with intravenous iron and EPO every six months or so he thinks he can fix the knackerdness thing.
      He is still a bit dubious about whether or not it's a good idea to be away from medical supervision with kidneys currently at 15% efficiency (and falling) though.
      So! I am geeing them all up and trying to get them to agree to a transplant (I've had three offers from brothers and sisters) but they may not want to do that before next May, as they are keen to get the maximum out of the existing ones as apparently transplanted family kidneys only have a life span of between ten & twenty years.

      So - We'll have to see. At the moment I going for the intravenous iron and EPO to see how that goes. If that goes well, I'll be challenging Bradley Wiggins on the Tour next.
      :-)

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  9. Hi Alan!
    A little shamefaced to admit I've not been keeping up with your blog but I've corrected that with a cover to cover read of your TGO Challenge. Absolutely cracking read. To be honest I'm amazed you kept going through the monsoon in the middle (don't think I'd have stayed the course) but the start looked amazing and the last few days delivered sunshine at least. A tale of derring-do, courage in the face of adversity, and achievement against the odds. I think you were there too :)
    Cheers
    Andy

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    Replies
    1. Awww shucks! You're a poppet, Mr Jones
      :-)
      That's two year running we've had pretty shit weather. I think we're due some nice stuff in 2013, surely?
      It would be nice to be able to stop for a lunchtime snooze in the sunshine and have brew. This year it was too bloody cold and wet to stop - I'm sure that's why there was such a large drop-out rate this year - folk just got tired and dispirited.
      I am now all fired up - I've been on EPO for 11 weeks now, so the blood count is climbing back up - it was up to 11.3 last time I checked; up from 8.7 on the Challenge this year. We have planned an exciting route for 2013, so it had better work!
      :-)

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