A mountaineer has completed 'Britain's hardest hike' in record time in memory of his dad who passed away suddenly.
Paweł Cymbalista, from Mallaig, took on the gruelling 230-mile Cape Wrath Trail, which runs from Fort William to the most north westerly point of Scotland, unsupported and in a time of 86 hrs 49 minutes - beating the previous record by eight hours and 56 minutes.
Considered to be the toughest and most remote hike in Britain, the trail includes a combined ascent which is higher than Mount Everest.
Dad-of-two Paweł, who is originally from Pile in Poland, slept for just 95 minutes in more than three days as he ran most of the route.
The 35-year-old told the Record his challenge was in aid of local mental health charity Lochaber Hope after his father died following a battle with alcoholism in 2022.
Paweł said: "Losing my dad was hard. "He was struggling with alcoholism. He was up and down all the time, but there was nothing to indicate that he would die. Then he just passed away suddenly.
"He was always proud of my running so I decided to take up the challenge for him.
"I checked the record times of everyone that had done the challenge before and I realised no one had ever done it unsupported. That's where the idea came from."
Paweł, who works as a harvest technician for a fish farm, said that during the challenge, he would often get lost at night, having to rely on a combination of GPS and a map and compass to find his way as he crossed tough bogs and steep ascents.
He said that the most difficult part of his journey began at around the 60km mark, when a combination of pain and hallucinations from lack of sleep started to make him doubt that he could complete the hike.
He added: "At around 60km I started to hurt. I had only slept for a total of 95 minutes in 15 or 20-minute naps.
"I was hallucinating from the lack of sleep. It was so realistic that I believed that other people were running with me. I was shouting to them before I realised that they weren't there.
"I even saw my father and we had a good chat. That really motivated me and helped me to keep pushing."
Paweł says that dreamt about beating the time record for the challenge, despite having never attempted the route before.
He continued: "I had secret dreams that I'd break the record for the challenge, but it is still absolutely shocking to me that I did it and I don't know how it happened. I was just so happy to finish."
Paweł has raised £2,200 for Lochaber Hope for their work with mental health and well-being support in the community.
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