Day 14 - Glen Lyon and Lochay

News from Spyke late last night was that he completed a set of 6 varied hills. This means he's done the following 6 out of 9 of the remaining hills at the heads of Glen Lyon and Glen Lochay: Meall nan Tarmachan, Meall Bhuidhe, Stuchd an Lochain, Meal Ghaordie,  Meall Glas and Sgiath Chuil.

Ben Chonzie, Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin are the plan for an easier day today.

Note that the days through the Bridge of Orchy and Arrochar hills have been re-shuffled to hopefully gain 2 days on the original 40 day schedule.

Day 13 - Schiehallion, Glen Lyon and Ben Lawers

News just in that Spyke completed 12 Munros yesterday to take his total to 102. Yesterday's outing took in Schiehallion followed by the Carn Gorm group of 4 in Glen Lyon, followed by the Ben Lawers group of 7 Munros.

Day 12 - Beinn a' Ghlo hills

Day 12 was duly completed over the Glen Tilt hills, which means Spyke has now notched up 90 Munros in 12 days, and has finished all the hills east of the A9. Tomorrow's outing will begin with the mighty Schiehallion before pressing westwards along the Glen Lyon ridges.

Day 11 The Tarf and Tilt hills

No post birthday celebration blues, clearly the ONE pint had not hung him over, it was however a later start than usual, as the equipment for a nights camp was sorted and loaded into an enormous rucsac, Mike Nelson the volunteer porter looked evermore concerned!! The amount of food for Spyke, was enough to make a Sherpa cringe, but 8000 calories a day is a lot of grub.

The day began in earnest with Spyke being dropped off with his bike at last nights finishing point in the ski station car park, then plummeting back down the road before, turning along the track heading towards An Socach. Meanwhile a bikeless Digby was left to scarper in as quickly as possible to accompany Spyke on todays' trip which will finish at the chosen campsite near Loch Mhairc.

I drove Mike to Blair Atholl, and watched him trudge off from Glen Tilt car park towards the rendezvous point, looking like a giant Sherpa.

Lastly a big thank-you to all who have posted comments, and from Spyke many thanks for all the birthday greetings.

Day 10 Driesh to Glenshee

Spyke, Digby and Mike left Glen Doll at 09.20 to take in Driesh, and the hills to the West, Spyke was on good form today so on reaching Glenshee the trio then climbed the Carn a Gheoidh, The Cairnwell and Carn Aosda before descending back to the ski station.

The night was spent at Braemar campsite, we all consumed a hearty dinner at a nearby hostelry, our hero even had a pint of beer (well it is his birthday) one to remember I suspect!!

Day 9 (cont')

Spyke, Digby Harris and Mike Nelson arrived safely in Glen Doll at 22.00 hrs, were duly filled with nourishment and quickly retired to a cool bed, ready to tackle Driesh, Mayar and the rest of the hills East of Glenshee.

Day 9 - Mount Keen and Lochnagar

This morning Spyke cycled from Linn of Dee to Ballater, and then on to Glen Tanar to tackle Mount Keen using the mountain bike. This adds on considerable extra distance compared with climbing Mount Keen from Glen Muick, so it was looking like being a late start for the Lochnagar group in the afternoon.

No news yet whether Spyke has completed the Lochnagar group of 5 Munros this afternoon, but hopefully he made it safely across to Glen Doll, and is still on schedule after the 2 monster days in the Cairngorms.

Day 8 - Corrour Bothy to Linn of Dee

After spending a night at Corrour Bothy, Spyke headed out for the big group of the main Cairngorms stretching from Ben Macdui to Ben Avon. Spyke was accompanied on this section by Mike Nelson, with Digby Harris also joining as far as Beinn Bhreac, before baling out with 3 hills to go. Ellie & I bumped into Sam and Digby at the van parked up near Linn of Dee last night, whilst JC and Alan were taking mountain bikes up to Derry Lodge for Spyke and Mike to use at the end of a long day.

PS. Spyke and Mike arrived at Linn of Dee around 10pm after a 14 hour day to complete the main Cairngorm group.

Day 7 - Glen Feshie to Corrour Bothy

Hi all Spyke left Glenfeshie yesterday morning (Saturday) to take on the mammoth task that is the Cairngorms, we had a brief call about 2 hours in, to say he was fighting a snowstorm, and advise Digby Harris and Mike Nelson, who joined us on Saturday afternoon to bring ice axes and sunglasses with them.

Mike,and Digby left Braemar at about 15.30 to join Spyke at the Corrour Bothy, Sam and Alan accompanied them to restock Spykes food bag, and supply a change of clothes before returning to Lin of Dee. They have now returned to the bothy, leaving just after 6.00 Sunday morning from Braemar to bring out any surplus kit before Spyke, Digby and Mike tackle the rest of the Cairngorm massif, in a mega day which is not expected to finish before 22.00 this evening . I will try to keep you updated but getting a mobile internet signal is tricky at times, a huge thanks to Chris Upson who is filling in many of the gaps utilising his extensive knowledge of the scottish hills and IT expertise.

The route so far...

Six days in, and Spyke has already climbed 43 of the 283 Munros. You can see from the map that Spyke is currently sweeping across the Central Highlands from left to right.

The next 2 days should cover the 18 Munros in the main Cairngorm group.

Then the following 4 days should collect the 29 Munros from Mount Keen (most easterly), over the Lochnagar group and through to the Beinn a' Ghlo hills behind Blair Atholl to finish all the Munros east of the A9.