Their story, in their words…
The expedition started off well, we arrived on the isle of arran at around midday and got lunch at a nearby co-op, we then started moving along the coast. We covered a lot of ground in the first few hours. We then got to the part at which we planned to stray from the coast and started along the mountain path. However we discovered that the path that we had planned to take was closed for logging, this left us with two choices either regress and walk back to the coast or try to navigate around the closed area.
We attempted to navigate around using google maps however we ended up in thick marshland that was difficult to navigate. We still attempted to push forward but ended up not making any progress. In the end we ended up blocked off from the coastal path with no way of getting back. We ended up having to call mountain rescue as rain started setting in and the terrain became more and more unsafe. Mountain rescue got to us quickly and we decided to set up camp by the beach on a golf course. This day shook the team significantly.
After a good night sleep we got ready to leave, laid out our kit and got the tents down. We decided to make our way to our next campsite bus in order to make up for lost ground. We were dropped off at the campsite that we originally planned to stay at on the first night. We then started walking and make it 10 km down the coast before tiredness and fatigue set in. We were also despite filling up at the first site were running out of water having tried to get water at a local restaurant but getting denied. We purified some water from a local river using tablets and used it for cooking. That way we minimised risk of infection by boiling the water as well. A local farmer let us stay in his field so we were able to set up camp for the night pretty easily. We cooked our food and went to sleep.
The next day we assessed our position and as we were unsure of how we would continue with a dwindling water supply. I suggested that we continue and try to find water, however two other members wanted to head back so we got the bus back at around midday to our original campsite and set up camp there, we set up a fire on the beach cooked, set up camp and went to bed. On the fourth day we made the hike back to the ferry port and got a ferry back and begun our journey home.
Due to our early mess up with the route the teams confidence was shaken so that affected the rest of the trip. I think that if we hadn’t have got lost then we would have been able to make it. I also think that we should have researched water points better however the only reason we were not able to get water was because of the café refusing to fill up bottles. This made the rest of the trip unsafe. Overall we did hike some of the way and attempted it to the best of the abilities of those in the team and pushed our self in tough and unexpected conditions therefore I believe we challenged ourself even if we did not acheive the objective.
