“A round of the Archies will be a many” goal for
“There are no feet on the maps. Metrification of Ordnance Survey maps started in the 1960s and the contours and spot heights are now all in metres.
“Imperial measurements of mountains simply seem old-fashioned and irrelevant to 21st century map readers.”
This is not to say that Paul does not see the benefit of the Imperial mountain lists.
He said, “Over the years, the Munros, Corbetts and others have done wonders for hill walking and tourism in Scotland by inspiring people to climb or ‘bag’ each of these summits.
“However, I felt there should be modern way to list some of Scotland’s tallest mountains and the Archies are my way of doing so, according to the metric system.”
It was in 2014, while walking with his wife Heidi, that Paul first conceived his idea. He wanted a “wow factor” way to raise funds for a new charity, The ARCHIE Foundation, which was set up to support the Tayside Children’s Hospital.
He said, “I was hiking 1078m (3536ft) Ben Starav, near Glen Etive in the Highlands, with my wife Heidi on our wedding anniversary in 2014, and while I probably should have been paying my good lady some attention, I was thinking about a crazy challenge instead.
“I started to discuss the idea for a relay between the 1000m (3280ft) Scottish mountains in Scotland and whether it could be possible – and that’s how the Archies challenge was born.”
Accompanied by almost 60 friends and colleagues, Paul set out in June 2015 to complete the unique relay journey from coast to coast by walking, running, cycling and kayaking to each of the 1000m (3280ft) high mountains in Scotland.
The adventure took 16 days and started at sea-level with a toe dip in the North Sea in the Cromarty Firth, by Dingwall on the Black Isle. It then finished at sea-level again in the Atlantic Ocean in Loch Long at Arrochar in Argyll and Bute.
Paul said, “It was an incredible challenge with people from the group taking it in turns to run or fast-hike to the summits. Each day they ticked off an average of eight mountains, which is a lot of mountains.
“We were also faced with Scotland’s typically rough mountain terrain and some monumentally fickle