Taking advantage of the longest day, a fine forecast and a Waning Gibbous Strawberry Moon, John Ryan and I headed North to the Cairngorms for a Rigby Round attempt. First completed by Mark Rigby on 24-25 July 1988 in a time of 22 hrs 44 mins the round takes in the 18 Cairngorms Munros over 75 miles with 19,000 feet of ascent. By tradition it has become an on-sight, solo run, without support.
Leaving the Norwegian Stone at Loch Morlich on the stroke of midnight we first headed for Braeraich, reaching the summit shortly after 2am. The night was never fully fully dark, with an orange glow out to the east, there were few stars, but the moon kept us company well into morning.
We kept a consistent pace throughout the day, only stopping to refill bottles or get something from our laden packs. The route rarely follows any of the walkers paths, and requires constant reference to map and compass to pick the quickest line between summits. The terrain is varied with some very rough ground to the outlying hills.
The weather was superb all day, a cool breeze and the tops clear of clag which aided our navigation, although we still made a few minor errors. We reached the summit of Cairngorm just before 9pm and were back at the Norwegian Stone after 21 hrs and 46 mins.
The Cairngorms have a unique character, unlike anywhere else in Scotland, the hills dominant the open landscape and the sky somehow seems bigger. A superb day out, and good training for our Swiss Peaks Race later in the year.
Graham Nash