One woman and her dog finish great trek
Audrey and Hector romp home from the hills
Perthshire’s hill-walking pair, Audrey Litterick and her black Lab Hector have completed their six-day, 60-mile walk over some of Perthshire’s Munros and mountains.
Environmental consultant Audrey set out on a slow-paced, but ambitious, trek over the peaks of Beinn a’Ghlo and the mountain of Schiehallion to raise money to repair the Schiehallion footpath on Monday, November 11.
A week later, the high altitude sponsored walk was complete and Audrey and Hector walked home to their house near Aberfeldy.
The trail had taken them round Pitlochry and Blair Atholl and through some tough wet and cold weather.
When she set out, Audrey had been keen to tailor her walking around the physical limits of her young dog Hector.
As it was, the one-year old lab was an able companion and Audrey and Hector benefited from being met by her husband Andrew to dry off in their camper van at the end of each day on the hill.
Having completed the walk, Audrey told the PA about some of the highlights of her solitary walk. She said: “I walked down to the house this morning after a fine night in a bothy on the southern slopes of Schiehallion – just me and the dog.
“I heard deer roaring and rutting in the night, but also heard a cat yowling, which surely must have been a wildcat, since we were in the middle of nowhere – miles from the nearest inhabited house.
“The rucksack weighed just over 11 kg for the last two days, which is one quarter of my bodyweight. It felt fairly heavy.
“I have super-light backpacking gear, but the addition of all the dog items added to the normal weight.”
Audrey added: “The ascent of Schiehallion on Sunday 18 was a fine conclusion to the trip. The last day looked misty, murky, damp and unpromising, but then suddenly, as we neared the very top, we burst through the clouds into a gusty blue sky. It was amazing.
“Somebody up there was looking after us, because the previous days had all been quite hard work: a lot of low cloud, strong winds and rain.”
TheJustGiving page Audrey set up has so far raised £800, and she plans to keep it open in the hope that others will add to the fund to help John Muir Trust repair the well worn walking path up Scheihallion.
The link to it is https:// mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/ audreylitterick1
Audrey and Hector ticked off Schiehallion as their last challenge on November 18