Taken on TGO Staff Writer Will Renwick’s Challenge
With just a few days to go until the end of the 2016 TGO Challenge, this weekend proved challenging indeed – with many participants experiencing heavy rainfall and difficult river crossings. But not everyone. The team on Challenge Control tell us that those reporting in from Ballater over the weekend were trapped under torrential rain, while those phoning in from Braemar to the west and Banchory to the east had sunshine!
Generally, the weather has been good compared with recent years. The first four days of this year’s walk were blessed with sunshine, followed by a very wet day on Thursday. “It’s been boring – but in a good way,” said Challenge Coordinator Ali Ogden at the end of last week. “There have been no major incidents so far.” Let’s hope it stays that way!
As usual, there have been some withdrawals from the event due to minor injuries and personal circumstances. The tally is currently up to 28 and we don’t expect this to go up too much over the next few days. One highlight for the coordinating team was a pre-rehearsed Morris Dance performed by Terry Leyland and his party at Newtonmore Hostel last week. And we are all very much looking forward to the wedding of Jenny Wheeler and Ian Adamson at the Thursday night Challenge dinner. Congratulations, Jenny and Ian!
In the meantime, keep an eye on this website for Will’s blog and on the TGO Challenge Twitter feed, where we’re sharing Tweets from this year’s Challengers. Not far now, everybody. See you in Montrose!
