The early start race

[evenyearhiker]

As hill walking and mountaineering seems to have taken a boost during COVID, it's more popular than ever. This is a good thing.

But has anyone else noticed a creeping race to arrive earlier and earlier to secure a car parking spot? This reminds me of when my wife and I did a few car boot sales, and sellers slept overnight in their cars for a start the next morning.

It's counter-productive a lot of the time. So many times I've been 'in the car park by 9 and on the summit by 1', only to see the cloud lift about 2pm as I descend. In the long summer months I now aim to arrive at the parking spaces at 2pm - inevitably these are spaces to be had as people will have been up and down and left after a 7am start, all with 8 hours of daylight left in the day!

I wonder how far it will go? Will we be sleeping overnight in laybys? Or arriving at 5am in October to climb a mountain in the dark? I'm off to look at new head torches on Amazon.

[iain_atkinson_1986]

I think there's more to it than just getting a parking space. If you're in the Central Belt, or coming through it, you want to be on the A9 or A82 pretty early to miss the worst of people who simply cannot drive. The same goes if you're up north and need to head down the A82 to Fort William. Add to that that in winter you need to maximise your daylight and in summer you probably want to be gaining ascent before it gets too hot.

That being said I do tend to aim to be early if I have to use a car park that provides access to Munros. In an ideal world there'd be better facilities but I can't see a nice car park with toilets and the like going in at Corriehallie any time soon.

[WalkWithWallace]

Yet the car parking areas for Corbetts & Grahams remain almost dead.

[denfinella]

Yet the car parking areas for Corbetts & Grahams remain almost dead.

Give it a few years, then the new tranche of Munro baggers will have started on the Corbetts

[Backpacker]

I tend to drive over the night before and kip in the van. Get a decent nights sleep before starting out in the morning.

I used to set off dead early but figured as I don't need 5 seats, bin the car and get something more practical for hillwalking

[WalkWithWallace]

Yet the car parking areas for Corbetts & Grahams remain almost dead.

Give it a few years, then the new tranche of Munro baggers will have started on the Corbetts

You'd think that, but hasn't happened yet.

[simon-b]

Nothing new about this, although maybe it's increasing. In 2016 I drove to Loch Arkaig overnight from Yorkshire to arrive at 7 am and find the car park at the head of the loch full. Fortunately I only had a little Mark 1 Yaris and managed to squeeze onto a verge. Generally, in the 2010s, though, I usually parked where I wanted in Scotland without trouble. But in the Lake District the race for spots has been going on for many years. And of course Pen y Pass in Wales has been famously like this for a long time.

People on another thread recently were talking about driving more slowly to save expensive fuel. That creates a bit of a conundrum when you're racing to get a parking spot!

[AyrshireAlps]

Is it in some part down to the UK obsession - drink?. Get it done, then get ****?. I've often spoken about going out later, instead of starting at some ungodly hour, start at lunchtime and finish as the best light of the day is around.

I can see the Galloways on my commute, and have to agree with an old pal of mine - they're 'afternoon hills' ie generally bathed in cloud in the morning, and lifts with the warmer SWerly coming in through the day. They can't be the only ones.

[iain_atkinson_1986]

Is it in some part down to the UK obsession - drink?. Get it done, then get ****?. I've often spoken about going out later, instead of starting at some ungodly hour, start at lunchtime and finish as the best light of the day is around.

I can see the Galloways on my commute, and have to agree with an old pal of mine - they're 'afternoon hills' ie generally bathed in cloud in the morning, and lifts with the warmer SWerly coming in through the day. They can't be the only ones.

Again, I think there's more to it than that. Hillwalking is a major drain on your free time so if you can earn yourself brownie points by getting back at 4pm, getting a shower then heading out to dinner with your other half or whatever then it goes a long way to maintaining a healthy hill-life balance. And if you're heading our on a Sunday do you really want to get back at 10pm when you have work the next day?

[al78]

I've never been a morning person so I get up as late as possible to do whatever walk I have planned and get back at a reasonable time for an evening meal. Yesterday I got to the Linn of Dee at quarter to nine and it was nowhere near full. I am in Braemar at the moment so travel time is small, if I am staying with family in Salford and want to hike over a cluster of Lakeland summits, I will get up and leave earlier because it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to get there and get back again.

[simon-b]

Is it in some part down to the UK obsession - drink?. Get it done, then get ****?. I've often spoken about going out later, instead of starting at some ungodly hour, start at lunchtime and finish as the best light of the day is around.

I can see the Galloways on my commute, and have to agree with an old pal of mine - they're 'afternoon hills' ie generally bathed in cloud in the morning, and lifts with the warmer SWerly coming in through the day. They can't be the only ones.

That's fair enough for shorter walks. Different when your walk takes you from sunrise until sunset in winter. Or you're using summer daylight hours to do some of the munro rounds that can take 15 hours or more. I've also done 13 hour routes in the Lakes before having to book into my b and b, then get out in time for an evening meal before they stop serving. So it's not all about a short, quick session, it's about having time to fit in what you've planned to do.

[Sunset tripper]

Yet the car parking areas for Corbetts & Grahams remain almost dead.

Give it a few years, then the new tranche of Munro baggers will have started on the Corbetts

I don't know if the corbett bagger numbers will ever reach that of the munros but far more people doing them together than used to be the case, but I doubt if anyone has done the corbetts before the munros.

There are many corbett parking areas that are used by munro goers too. Some places fill up the night before with the campervanner/roadside camper type people.

Parked at the end of road Loch Arkaig 3 times last year. The car park was full on one occassion at around 5 am if I recall correctly. Almost certainly full overnight. It's got space for a few cars and campervans, Many bothy type folk and Knoydart expeditions starting from there, also several munros and corbetts.

So sometimes it doesn't matter how early you are. North Face car park also has many overnighter camping in car park etc. and can fill real early.

[AyrshireAlps]

Iain/Simon, of course, it's merely an alternative suggestion.

[Coulags]

I often leave for far off destinations Friday lunchtime . Sleep in my car so I’m back for Saturday tea time and an evening with family .

Robin is right. This next generation of Corbett baggers isn’t materialising . How many others are doing a Graham round as I am ?

The Munros will look a lot better on their Insta feeds too

[rockhopper]

Robin is right. This next generation of Corbett baggers isn’t materialising . How many others are doing a Graham round as I am ?

Don't know how you're finding it - hard enough to link up Corbetts but seems even worse for the Grahams