Buckie fundraiser’s book shines spotlight on bold Rockall exploits
A Buckie ex-pat who spent weeks on the remote island of Rockall for charity has launched a book detailing his experiences.
Former Gordon Highlanders soldier and serving Royal Navy Reserve (RNR) officer Chris ‘Cam’ Cameron - who is now a lecturer and lives in Wiltshire - spent a total of 30 days on the remote rock in the summer of 2023, isolated some 200 miles off the west coast of Scotland.
Initially accompanied by radio operator Adam 'Nobby' Styles and Bulgarian-born mountaineering expert Emil Bergmann before spending the rest of his stay solo, Mr Cameron’s living space consisted of a landpod perched on a ledge measuring just 4m x 1.5m up 17m of rock face.
In addition to raising cash for The Soldiers’ Charity and The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, Mr Cameron was hoping to break the Rockall endurance record of 45 days, set back in 2014 by Nick Hancock.
However, as the bad weather battering Rockall steadily deteriorated the decision was made on June 28, 2023 to evacuate him from Rockall and saw him plucked to safety by Coastguard helicopter.
It was all worth it, though, with a total of £31,000 raised for the coffers of the two charities.
Mr Cameron has now set out his journey to, and experiences on, Rockall in a new book, entitled Rockall: The Edge of Existence.
He said: ”The book is out there to tell the story and what inspired me to do it.
“To be honest I could’ve written it twice over, I had so much material. I started writing the book pretty much as soon as I came back from Rockall, pulling it together from my diary and notes I made when I was out there.
“It’s taken me about 18 months to get it all finished, which is slightly longer than I’d initially hoped. During this time I also made two return trips to Rockall to try and recover some of the kit I left behind, but I couldn’t get on.
“I’m glad the book’s done and out there. It’s sold a lot more copies so far than I would’ve thought, with books going everywhere from Buckie to Australia.”
In the book Mr Cameron takes the reader through his early childhood in Buckie to his time in the Army then his career in the RNR before embarking on the voyage that was to lead to Rockall and beyond.
In addition to the satisfaction of raising tens of thousands of pounds for charity, the experience has left Mr Cameron amazed by the generosity shown by people from all walks of life.
He continued: “The generosity shown by people has bowled me over, it’s just been incredible.
“Businesses as well have been wonderful. Steve Watson, who supplied me with the landpod, wouldn’t take any money for it, he just gave it to me for the expedition. These things are worth around £5000.
“I phoned up hundreds of companies for sponsorship but with a lot of the bigger ones it was a case of ‘no deal’. The smaller family companies, however, were so generous, it was ‘What do you need?’. It was just incredible.
“So many people also gave of their time to help us.
“If I’ve taken anything away from the Rockall expedition it’s just how generous and amazing people are. I’ll never forget that.”
With the expedition over and the book done, Mr Cameron said he was now working on a marine version of the landpod, which would probably be constructed of fibreglass. A major difference over its dry land cousin will be a greater ability to keep out water, which continually flooded in to the landpod used on Rockall.
He is also pondering a return to Rockall, although this would most likely be an entirely solo expedition.
The book is not part of the fundraising efforts, with the cash donated to the expedition itself going directly to the charities via JustGiving.
Rockall: The Edge of Existence, is available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle formats.
A documentary of the same name has also been made, with Mr Cameron voicing his hope it will be made available on general release during 2025.
