Around the Corbetts in 70 Days

We all thought Manny was mad, and he has proved us correct by today completing his astonishing self- and wind-propelled round of Corbetts in 70 days.

From the eve of London Marathon on 25th April, until Wimbledon men's semi-final day on 3rd July, Manny has been relentlessly chasing his dream right through the months of May and June. The only 'rest' days in the whole 10 week epic came due to getting stormbound between Jura and Arran at the end of the first week, and then much later 3 days R&R were needed after crashing off his bike just before Strontian.

The first weeks saw some of the coldest wettest windiest early May weather on record, with Manny getting repeated batterings during his progress through Galloway, Moffat and Arrochar. The tide finally turned for the epic trip through from Loch Lomond to Ben Ledi, and the scene was set for a mighty sweeping move north through the southern and central highlands.

But of course Manny was only half the team, and Brenda has been working overtime the past 10 weeks keeping Manny fed, watered and motivated through the countless ups and downs. And just when the finish appeared to be within grasp on the penultimate day, the story saw one final cruel twist with Brenda crashing off Manny's bike and badly breaking her right shoulder. This happened at the base of Foinaven on the track past Gualin House. Brenda was on her own, and when I had returned from Durness found her in the van clearly in pain and distress. I took her straight to Durness, but discovered they could nothing more than put her arm in a sling and give her 2 x Tramadol and suggested we head straight for Raigmore Hospital at Inverness.

Seriously tired and head-nodding, we arrived at Raigmore A&E around 8.30pm where Brenda was fast-tracked through. They put her straight on morphine and off for an X-ray. It was around 11pm when we finally saw the orthopaedic surgeon who seemed quite impressed at the comprehensive damage Brenda had done to her shoulder.

All slighty surreal and shell-shocked I found a bed at a complete strangers house in Inverness courtesy of Brenda, and left first thing Friday morning to head back to Raigmore Ward 3A. It looked likely they would operate this afternoon, so there was no question of Brenda making an appearance at Ben Loyal for Manny's final hill.

After a hospital cooked breakfast I blasted back up the Lairg road followed by single-track to Tongue and found Manny just as he was dropping off Beinn Spionnaidh with Mindy Macleod. Manny then flew off round the coast on a hilly 22-miler on the bike getting paced by Alec Keith for the last few miles. We all reconvened at Ribigill Farm for the final ascent, with a group gathering at the summit of Ben Loyal around 4.30pm.

We were all keenly aware of Brenda's absence, but has we were hunkering down on the summit in the howling wind Brenda was in the midst of a 5 hour operation to re-construct her shoulder. I dropped by at 9pm and she seemed bright enough and good spirits after coming round from the general anaesthetic.

Once again, a massive well done to Manny and Brenda on a truly remarkable achievement, and I hope Brenda is soon up and about and making a speedy recovery.