Later this month hill runner Stephen Pyke will set off on an attempt to complete a continuous round of the Munros in under 40 days, raising awareness for the John Muir Trust as he goes.
There have been a number of continuous rounds of the Munros since Hamish Brown first achieved the feat entirely on foot in the summer of 1974. The fastest round was set by Charlie Campbell in 2000 who climbed all 284 Munros in just 49 days – averaging a marathon a day whilst climbing more than 10,000ft!
Stephen’s aim is to complete a round of the Munros under his own steam (on foot, cycling and paddling) and see if he can come close to Charlie’s incredible record. Stephen (known as Spyke to the running/hillwalking world) has chosen to promote Britain’s leading wild lands charity the John Muir Trust and is keen that people should find out more about the JMT and consider becoming actively involved in protecting the landscape. Last year Stephen tried to break the 24 hour Munro record, trying a continuous run over 31 peaks. Despite months of planning and support from an army of helpers, the attempt had to be halted after 16 hours and 21 Munros, due to appalling wet and windy weather during the night.
This Munro attempt will start on 25 April, with Spyke setting off from Ben More on Mull early in the morning in order to catch the low tide for the paddle over to Lochaline on the mainland. We’ll be following his progress here and you can also check out the blog for the inside story, photos etc. For more information about the work of the JMT see the website.
You can sponsor Spyke online via his justgiving page.