The year of the 2017 Bells Bothy Challenge is drawing to a close, and what a successful year it has been! Our last walk in of the year had us reflecting on the ups and downs of the Challenge.
Firstly, Thank you to everyone who took part! It was a great opportunity for personal challenges, getting folks together and meeting friends, old and new, having fun and helping the environment and of course raising money for the Trust. To date we have raised over £4,000 and I know that there is more to come. With Gift Aid on some of it, hopefully we will reach the £5,000 mark. Well done everyone! Also to come are some reports ………………… James, Alex/Daniel, Paulette, to name but a few!
There were many individual challenges including ……………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………….. Andrew, Alice, Ruth and Mark, Well done!
The highlights of the year included a trip down the Murray River, setting off the challenge in Australia in January, with Lewis and Jorg.
Beach clean and weekend in the “Big House” at Camasunary. Thanks to you all for coming, and for your hard work – David & Lesley, Kenny, Ruth, Kath and Geoff and for all the food and drink you brought in.
Canada Day beach clean with Carly and Kelsey who were over from Vancouver on The Neil Mackenzie Adventure Grant. We had to postpone our BBQ for 24 hours because some over zealous helpers carried out and dumped our food – it had been wrapped in a black bin bag and left in the porch in the bothy!
MS Bike event on Vancouver Island where we cycled 60km and raise £2,600 for MS in Canada and about £800 for the Trust
The Three Unwise Men, David, Doug and Gavin who cycled off road from Farr, near Inverness, to the bothy, and raised money by holding a competition to guess the total height they gained on a 4 hour cycle in November in Strathnairn.
and finally ………………………………….. probably the youngest person to take up the challenge – Orla, aged 3 months who walked in to the bothy with her parents Aengus and Paulette from Elgol in October.
There were others – walkers, cyclists, climbers, paddlers – thank you all. If you didn’t manage to do something challenging this year – The Challenge continues next year – Anywhere, anytime. Please let us know what you are doing for YOUR Challenge.
I mentioned that there have been downs to the Challenge. I will not dwell on it. However I just want to mention that although we have cleared a lot of rubbish from the bay, there is a lot still there. Furgusson Shipping are going to remove what is collected in due course. It is a pity, if we had had the support of the landowner, the Mountain Bothies Association and the John Muir Trust we would have made a much better job of the beach cleans. Unfortunately without their support we will not be continuing this part of the Challenge next year.
The Neil Mackenzie Trust 