Campbeltown pals scale the heights for charity
Campbeltown pals Danny Rich and Leona McCallum put their best feet forward and upward last Friday when they tackled the UK’s tallest mountain to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Friends for the last 17 years, the duo share a passion for the great outdoors and decided to test their hiking abilities by walking up Ben Nevis on Friday July 9.
Danny, a customer assistant at Tesco, and Leona, a council tax assessor, reached the summit in a commendable three-and-a-half hours.
‘The start of our climb was tough, being so steep,’ said Danny, who raised money for Rethink Mental Health in
April by walking 10k every day of the month.
‘About three-quarters of the way up was the toughest part. It was steep, hot and the mist came in so visibility was poor.
‘Reaching the top together was very emotional; such a good feeling knowing we accomplished our goal.
‘We were absolute jelly-legged heading back down though and we were glad of the walking aids we had brought.’
Danny, 32, and Leona, 31, are both fairly fit and active and love to hike.
Since lockdown they have been visiting trig points around Kintyre and have reached 12 so far.
‘We both love doing it,’ added Danny, who bagged his first two Munros earlier in the year.
The pair chose Macmillan as their nominated charity having both lost close friends and family to cancer.
‘In our small community we wanted to fundraise for those going through this just now as well,’ added Danny.
‘We will be fundraising again next year for cystic fibrosis when we plan to do Snowdon in Wales.’
To donate to Danny and Leona’s Ben Nevis charity fundraiser go to their Ben Nevis Hike – Danny and Leona July 2021 JustGiving page.