In June this year, a small expedition group will land at Rockall, an isolated granite rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to live for one week in an epic adventure set to raise £1 million for charity.
Led by Campbell (Cam) Cameron, from Buckie, a former Gordon Highlander and current Royal Navy reservist, he will be accompanied by GP Dr Chris Grieco and experienced mountaineer James Price. They will also be joined by Adrian “Nobby” Styles for a day, who will operate a HAM radio on the island.
The 100-yard wide rock sits 21 metres above sea level and 220 miles west of the Outer Hebrides. Here, they will share living space and food, and forfeit all privacy as they work to achieve their goal of raising cash for The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity and the Children’s Hospice South West.
Team training
And 52-year-old engineering lecturer Cam is under no illusion of the challenge that lies ahead for the three-man team – or what it will take to get in shape for the event.
Last weekend the team got together to undertake their first training session to prepare for climbing the rock, haul equipment and supplies up 17 metres, and assemble their custom-built survival pod on a tiny, uneven space.
Cam said: “Rockall is the most inhospitable place in the UK, and some people have said it’s the most inhospitable place on the planet.
“It’s 3 metres by 1.4 metres for a week. We are literally isolated 260 miles from civilisation, and the sea is all you can see. And there’s going to be no privacy.
“The good thing is that we are all servicemen, or current military personnel, so we’re kind of used to that.”
Personal challenge
For Cam, an added dimension will be to undertake a personal challenge during his time at the rock: to tackle, head on, the ferocious tides that batter Rockall and swim its circumference.
“The issue is not with the rock,” says Cam. “The issue is the huge volume of water that’s passing by. We’re talking millions of gallons of water flowing, and you can get pulled away from the rock.”
But Cam will be tethered at Rockall. “That’s the trick. If I’m not tethered to the rock and I can’t get back, there are no rescue services.
“It’s a 200-metre swim. It’s not that long but it’s beating against the swell and the tide, that’ll be the difficult thing.”
Recently, Cam took part in some training at Portknockie, captured in his video, Bow Fiddle Sponsors, taken by Charlie Lovelace, from Buckie. Filmed in December, the air temperature was a bracing -1C.
“Those were relatively calm conditions,” says Cam, who swims without a wetsuit. “The water will be around 12 degrees celcius at Rockall, but it’s still four degrees Celsius more than the Bow Fiddle swim, which is really quite cold.”
Cam thinks 20 minutes will see him complete the swimming circuit around Rockall, but is keeping an open mind. “It could be two hours,” he says, “But if it takes two hours then I’m coming out!”
Getting in top condition
Being older than the other two men, Cam has committed to ensuring he is in the best possible condition for Rockall.
“I’m an ex-soldier so in my previous life I was extremely physically fit. I’m not trying to be a Royal Marine Commando but I’m toning myself up so that I have the upper body strength, that’s really important.
“I do 20 press ups in the morning, I do squats, Russian twists. If I’ve got five minutes I’ll do these in the office or at home. It really makes a difference on the core. I go for a short run, and at lunchtime, if I’ve got an hour, I go for a walk.”
Nutrition has also played its part in getting in shape for Rockall, with a keto diet seeing Cam cut out carbs completely on the advice of Chris.
“I’ve literally lost a stone, which is amazing. I’m trying to lean myself up and gain muscular strength. It’s about tiny little tweaks in your lifestyle that make you feel better about yourself.”
But he doesn’t believe you need to bulk up to be in open waters. In fact, Cam cut his wild-swimming teeth on the Moray coast as a child and it is paying dividends as he looks towards the swim around Rockall.
“I’ve been wild swimming all my life, and my children are now confident wild swimmers,” he says. “The story is my dad chucked me into Macduff harbour, and that was my first swimming lesson when I was about two years old!
“I love the water. I’m a qualified diver and I have no fear of it whatsoever. In fact, I’ll probably take my mask and snorkel and fins and do some snorkelling around Rockall.”
Every step has been taken to make the expedition a success, and despite the hardships of living in a tiny cramped space for a week, Cam and his team know it’s worth all the effort for the charities that will benefit.
Cam adds: “It’s potentially dangerous and potentially extreme. But it could do a lot of good for some other people.”
For more information: rockall2022.org
To donate: gofundme.com/f/rockall2022
