The 2014 Challenge: the Draw for Places

And so, the time came again when I filled in my little piece of paper and sent it off to John Manning with my £40 cheque, eagerly hoping to secure a place on the 2014 Challenge. And after a while, the news came back, that I was not successful. Still, never mind ... I was at number 32 on the Standby List, and that meant I had a reasonable chance of getting on. The official blurb says that "every year between 20 and 30 people regain a place from the Standby List" ... and of course, it is always possible that some of the 31 people ahead of me might withdraw. In 2009 I got on the Challenge, having been at number 60 on the Standby list. So I was quietly hopeful that I would nevertheless be attempting my 9th crossing in May 2014. And there was a new start point to play with, too - Kilchoan. So I scrapped the route I had been planning from Plockton, and set about planning a new route from a Kilchoan start. Now, at last, I could see opportunities for taking my Challenge to Mull!