Patrick and Trevor's Drakensburg traverse

I got contacted out of the blue a few weeks ago by an English guy called Trevor Hughes. He'd asked my friend Steve Black to try the 'Drakensburg Traverse' but Steve cried off, suggesting me instead. So I found myself out at 4am in the Northern Berg climbing up steel ladders in the cliffs following Trev's head torch as the wind whistled around us on the approach to Mont aux Sources. The entire traverse is just over 200km and the record is just 60 hours! I had enough pasta and jelly babies in my rucksack to feed a small army and set off into the dark wondering what lay ahead ......

We stopped for only 13min in the first 9 hours but the high altitudes (constantly over 2800m), difficult terrain and heavy pack took its toll and by 7pm on day one, I was so tired I was just fit to sleep. But sleeping on frozen ground in a bivvy bag at altitude isn't that comfy! We decided to drop down off the high berg the following day, with thunderclouds threatening and our chances of beating the record receding, having 'only' covered 100km amidst magnificent mountain scenery in 2 days. The run back down the valley was fantastic, skipping down trails back to the campsite to meet Hannah and the kids and Lucy, Trev's wife.

My feet took quite a beating, taking 5 days for the altitude induced swelling to go down, but still leaving me with 4 black toenails, one swollen ankle and two blistered heels! Time to chill out with great memories of the high mountains and a pint of Castle Milk Stout I think ...