Mountaineer completes Britain's Toughest Trek
28 June 2016
Mountaineer, explorer and NTU alumnus Lee Farmer (BSc Residential Development 1996) has just completed Britain's Toughest Trek, the Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland in just 15 days.
The Cape Wrath Trail is unique, combining a complete lack of signposting and way markings and a variety of routes options rather than one fixed trail. It is a challenging and often remote route and has often been described as the hardest long distance back packing route in the UK. Starting in Fort William the 230 mile long trek finishes at Cape Wrath; the most North Westerly point on the UK mainland. There is nothing between Cape Wrath Lighthouse and the North Pole some 2,700 Km away. It generally takes 16-22 days to complete the trek and only around 120 people a year attempt the challenge.
Lee spent many weeks planning the route of his June solo attempt at the trek, as well as what food and equipment he would have to carry. He was able to send three food supply parcels from home to key locations along the trek, held on his behalf by hotels for his collection. He generally walked for up to thirteen hours per day averaging fifteen miles per day and either wild camped or spent the night in mountain bothies. Lee said: “There's around 100 bothies situated throughout the remoter parts of the UK, simple stone buildings with no electricity, sanitation, or water, but on arriving at one after a day in the wind and rain and being able to dry off next to a log or peat fire is good for morale.”
“It's a tough testing trek for anyone and you'll have to brave remote featureless moorland and mountain terrain over which you need to navigate comprehensively. Suffer wind, rain, midges, bogs, several tricky river crossings, negotiate tidal areas, as well time your arrival at Cape Wrath when the MOD are not using their firing range area at Cape Wrath. If that wasn't enough there's then potentially a further eleven mile walk, or if you're lucky room on a minibus carrying sightseers can take you to a pier to catch a small passenger ferry that runs twice a day depending on the mercy of wind and tide to take you over the Kyle of Durness and to the nearest road at Keodale near Durness.”
Lee completed the Namib-Naukluft Trail in 2014 the toughest Trek in Southern Africa and is looking forward to planning his next expedition.
Photo: Lee at Cape Wrath Lighthouse