An Alyth woman has completed an incredible two-year challenge to raise money for Help for Heroes by climbing every Munro in Scotland.
Lynsey Fitzpatrick (38) has spent every weekend and holiday since June 2012 climbing Scotland’s 282 Munros with her Labrador Rabbie.
She decided to take up the challenge after her husband Ruairi broke his back while serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
He was flown back to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where all service personnel injured overseas are sent for treatment.
Ruairi, who has now made a complete recovery, was unable to work for a year and a half while his back healed.
But it was seeing other injured soldiers and their families that inspired her to climb ever mountain in Scotland over 3,000 feet in height.
She said: “It was quite a hard time and it was quite an emotional time.
“I left my job to look after Ruairi and I started walking Rabbie up the Alyth hill and that’s where it began.
“Because it was quite a hard time it was good to go up to think about things.”
Her adventures have seen her conquer some of Scotland’s most treacherous mountain in dangerous conditions, despite little experience before she embarked on the challenge.Post by Lynsey & Rabbie H4H Munro Challenge.“I had only climbed Ben Nevis and Schiehallion with Ruairi when we first started going out,” she said.
“By the end I was just walking up a Munro without even having to take a drink of water whereas at the start I was going through so much water just going up 200 yards.
“But, as it was over two years I didn’t really notice the change.”
Lynsey has raised £8,000 for Help for Heroes, which provides support to veterans, and was helped in her fundraising quest by the John Clark BMW dealership in Dundee.
They lent her a branded 4X4 so that not only could she reach some of Scotland’s most isolated spots, but also advertising her fundraising efforts as she went.
“It was really good for raising money as people would come up to you and start speaking about it. We are still getting donations now.”
Lynsey visited the dealership to return the car on Tuesday and present Help for Heroes with the money she raised.
But that does not mean the end of the quantity surveyor’s mountaineering exploits.
“I’d love to join the Mountain Rescue and be a dog handler with them or doing something like that,” she said.
“It’s something I’m looking at now.”
Lynsey’s Facebook page has photographs and videos from several of her climbs including the most challenging Munro in Scotland: Sgurr Dearg on Skye.
She completed the climb while wearing a camera on her helmet and you can watch the results below: