Hello!

[AndyATSmith]

Hi all,

Been looking at and making use of this website for quite some time now so I eventually decided it was time to sign up

I used to go out hillwalking occasionally when I was at uni but then due to various reasons I stopped for a long time. Now at the ripe old age of 38, I've rediscovered my love for the outdoors. Unfortunately, years of inactivity has left it's mark and my fitness levels are at a shocking level. Saying that, I'm starting to make improvements. When I started going out again about 5 months ago, I could only manage about 250m uphill before I gave up, whereas last week I managed my first full munro (Beinn Narnain) in over a decade . I still have to stop every couple of minutes for a breather mind but hopefully that will improve with time.

I've got a couple of walking goals in life - one is to climb all the munros, though the dreaded innaccessible pinnacle is already giving me concern that I'll never achieve that one! The second is to do a long distance walk across the UK covering the 8 most extreme points of the compass and also the highest peaks of England, Scotland and Wales. My plan initially started out as a desire to walk from Lands End to John o' Groats but I've since kept adding bits to it! I guess that will have to wait till I retire. In the meantime I hope to start ticking off hills using the excellent maps on this website.

Andy

[Sgurr]

Hitting the mid-life crisis a bit early ? I started cycling to work when I discovered I couldn't even swim the length of a pool without a lengthy pause, and at 40 cycled across Scotland v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. looks as if you are heading in the right direction now. Give it another year and you might even be contemplating TWO Munros at a time.

Don't obsess about the Inn Pin. Skye guides are great at giving you confidence (you may need one).
You can CYCLE Lands End to John o' Groats without giving up work, and leave the walking plan to retirement.

[AndyATSmith]

Hi Sgurr,

Yes, I was very early with my mid-life crisis especially considering that I felt like it actually started about ten years ago!

You've obviously come a long way since finding it difficult to manage a length in the pool - I see from your profile that you appear to have climbed pretty much every hill in the UK

Thanks for the advice about hiring a guide for the Inn Pin - I definitely think I'll need it. I'll start with bagging some of the easier munros though. I've done Narnain, Lomond and Mount Keen before so, come the spring, I'll probably officially start with them since I know they have good paths. Then I'll probably do the rest of the Arrochar ones since they are easiest to get to from my home in Glasgow. Unfortunately I don't drive which makes getting to hills tricky and I've just been going out alone since I don't have any pals or family that are either interested or have the time to join me. I might join a walking group in the New Year but the thing that puts me off is that I like to go at my own pace (which at the moment is pretty much as slow as you can get!) as there's nothing worse than having to struggle to keep up with folk. Any suggestions for other good starter Munros that I can go out on while I build up my fitness levels? Hopefully once my pace improves I'll be able to join other users on here for some more challenging walks without feeling like I'm holding them back too much!

[walkingpoles]

Glasgow is excellent as a base for munro bagging without a car. I lived there for 3 years, went hiking most weekends and never had a car. It will take you a lot of weekends ticking the hills off that you can reach by public transport. And occasionaly you can bribe somebody with a car to come along or join somebody else.

Start with the train on the Fort WIlliam/Oban line. Arrochar Alps is a good start. Also Crianlarich/Bridge or Orchy hills were among the first ones I climbed. Great training ground, all year round, not too difficult. Apart from avalanches on Ben Mor, trial and error are good guides. And you'll find out whether you like your new hobby as much that doing a full round will come naturally. There is no point in thinking about doing them all when you still can remember and name all the hills you've been on.

Once the munroes get sparse, there is the Inverness train (the walk-ins are a bit longer than on the Fort William line) with more munroes to climb, or take the CityLink bus from Glasgow to go further north towards Glencoe. At some stage I had to buy a bike so that I can climb some more mountains on daytrips.

[jmarkb]

Welcome to WH!

For starter Munros see http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/our-pick-10-of-the-easier-munros/ and http://www.stevenfallon.co.uk/10easy.html
For access to hills by public transport see http://steverabone.com/MunroWalker/munros_by_public_transport.htm and http://scottishhillsbybusandtrain.co.uk/

[AndyATSmith]

Thanks both of you for the advice on starter munros - much appreciated I'll probably stick to some lower hills and flatter walks over the winter as they're easier to fit in with the limited daylight and there's less chance of snow. Can't wait for next Spring/Summer though!

Cheers!

[Michelle]

There are many smaller (or non-hill!) walks that I love every bit as much as the munros- I think you'll find plenty to keep you busy over winter

Welcome!

[AndyATSmith]

Thanks Michelle. Yes, there are plenty of nice low level walks too. I've been collecting weekly walks from one of the newspapers for about a decade now so I've got hundreds if not thousands of routes to explore!