Page 74 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022

Exercise HIGHLAND WANDERER CADET
OCdts Humphries & Smith
After worrying that they had forgotten the maps on two separate occasions, and a somewhat stressful journey, the expedition finally arrived in Arrochar, in the semi-autonomous but largely peaceful region of Scotland at 1800hrs on Sat- urday 13th August. After navigating through the village, the team arrived at a pre-scouted cha- let, situated in the shadow of Beinn Narnain. The expedition’s instructor, Sgt Pete Bentham, an experienced and commendably patient man, welcomed them with a brief and they quickly set about determining the location of the key local features: the pub and the local shop. The group got an early night, but sleep was elusive due to the heady cocktail of nervous excitement and Tennant’s lager. Ahead of them lay the Goliath – Ben More.
Starting as they meant to very much not go on, the group tackled the highest peak of Ben More first. On the morning of Sunday 14th, they pulled into the picturesque layby at the foot of the hill and set off with absolutely no whingeing what- soever (any claims of acts of whingeing by the group are unsubstantiated and unproven). OCdt Humphries, the most handsome in the group, led
first on the navigation up to the peak; this was a complex route that involved going straight up a set of stairs at an elevation of 1330m over 8km, taking four hours in total. As the group had so greatly enjoyed reducing their hamstrings to jelly, they descended 300m from the peak to simply repeat the experience, summiting neighbouring Stob Binnein. After a quick sandwich-orientated discussion, the team descended the peak in two hours, stopping only to drink from the fresh mountain streams and avoid aggressive sheep. Before they knew it, they were back in the chalet cooking up the local delicacy of ‘Spag Bol’ for the whole team. The overall day’s distance cov- ered was close to 12km.
Day two was the longest day of the trip, and not just because the Tangfastics mysteriously ran out on the drive to the start point... The drive to the car park for the climb up Stùc a’ Chròin took 45 minutes, which preceded a 3km walk just to get to the foot of the hill. That was when the rain rolled in, a welcome change to the searing heat of the first day. OCdt McMahon took charge of the navigation, his red hair serving as a shining beacon through the poor visibility. The view from
72 SANDHURST