Dreams of a dram keep Buckie fundraiser going on Rockall

A HOT shower and a dram are high up the list of highly desired items for a Buckie ex-pat currently on a gruelling fundraiser.

Chris 'Cam' Cameron is leading a small team toughing it out on Rockall – situated around 200 miles off the Scottish coast in the Atlantic Ocean – with the aim of raising tens of thousands of pounds for the Army Benevolent Fund and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

Accompanied by radio operator Adam 'Nobby' Styles and Bulgarian-born mountaineering expert Emil Bergmann, the trio set out for the remote and desolate rock at the end of May. Once gaining a foothold on the rock, the team had to haul their equipment – including a landpod accommodation unit which weighs 115kg when assembled and all their food and water – up a 17m cliff to then set up camp perched on a space measuring just 4m x 1.5m where they are about as far from the lap of luxury as it is possible to be.

While the team's satellite communications are proving patchy, Mr Cameron nevertheless managed to get in touch with the Advertiser and give an update on how the last two weeks have panned out.

He said: "We're about a quarter of the way through and things are fine so far, although our satellite terminal doesn't seem to want to play very much.

"Recently the weather was scorching, but it's now windy again. It was wet and cold before that which makes the surface of the rock extremely hazardous due to the guano turning into a milky slime.

"What am I most looking forward to? Well, that would be: 1. Seeing my wife and children; 2. A long, hot shower; 3. Clean clothes; 4. Egyptian cotton sheets; 5. Fresh food; 6. Grass and trees; 7. Fresh hens' eggs; 8. Real milk; 9. Free internet. 10. A dram."

He added that, as promised, he has raised the Buckie Thistle flag on the rock.

Mr Cameron had originally intended to lead a team to Rockall last year to coincide with Her Late Majesty the Queen's platinum jubilee, however, a number of factors, including the cost of living crisis impact on fuel bills and difficulty finding a vessel to take them out and back, mean that the project had to be placed on hold

To find out more about the Rockall expedition, and to donate, visit https://www.rockallexped.com/

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