Day 3

04 July 2007 - First off is a lovely run up the Urgha Beag track... It is a wonderful place, calm, peaceful and with no living soul in sight, save for the birds. The only sound is birdsong and tumbling water, residue from our heavy downpours.

At an hour too horrible to contemplate. Perhaps my slothful body will adapt to five hours sleep –it has no choice, it will need to buckle under! Quick check at Sir E Scott school, our start point. All seems well. My duties for this morning involve placing CPs with my map, compass and back-up from my trusty Garmin e-trex. First off is a lovely run up the Urgha Beag track. My mantra is now: I-must-train-I-must-train. I am happy on the downhill bits but a little less so on the up…It is a wonderful place, calm, peaceful and with no living soul in sight, save for the birds. The only sound is birdsong and tumbling water, residue from our heavy downpours. Mission accomplished! I am going to enjoy my next off-road CP just as much: the ‘summit’ of Beinn Scorabhaig, the highest point on Eilean Scalpay. It is only 104 meters high but the approach is via hag-ridden and slimy bog. Wonderful views, though! Located on a so-called ‘Heritage Trail’ it has the odd post as statement that it is a trail –but I wouldn’t like the totally-devoid-of-nav rambler to try it in a mist!

Next task is to somehow get CPs onto the remote Harris and Lewis hilltops (at 799m An Clisham is the highest, but there are others more remote and difficult to access). I am now on to about ‘Plan Y’ and I’m taking up Willie my HMCG Station Officer’s suggestion of wooing our new helicopter company…

Well, I set up one helo landing site but am hampered by a flag it is impossible to take down…helos and flags just don’t mix. Undaunted, and urged on by my trusty Sector Manager, I set up another –my main task being Litter Lady for some considerable time. As the helo comes in, sets down and an extremely gorgeous young Irish co-pilot takes the kites and punches from me, all seems to be going swimmingly, except for that worrying cloud on the hill tops, rising and falling like an excitable elevator…

Check in at Scalpay hall where OF COURSE Annag and her ladies are in full swing! They have catered for almost all of the (???14) races I’ve been involved with here. They love it! We love them! The Scalpay meals are the stuff of legend and this does not disappoint. Upstairs in the office, Victoria is again battling with a hot Excel Spreadsheet. We do need John’s help on this one, to get any results out this evening! Our results service has never been this pathetic before!

Phone contact is difficult from Scalpay hall but I do manage to ascertain that the helo mission was unsuccessful: just too much low cloud…another attempt in the morning. Complication No 2 is a burst water pipe on Scalpay, rendering the hall a water-free zone for a wee while! Thanks heaven for Eilean Marquees and Kenny’s porta-loos and for George MacDonald of Scottish Water who has most helpfully had water bowsers placed exactly where I asked for them, the whole length of the islands!

Sleep happens somewhere, sometime…I am too exhausted to care…I AM adapting to 5 hours zzizz, or even less!