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- The summit
I've only recently started climbing Munro's, my wife having never done one, took it into her head that she wanted to start with the biggest...and on her birthday...
My brother-in-law fancied coming along with us, so after plenty of research we found ourselves at the Visitor Centre on a dark October morning at 7am.
Confident the sun would soon follow, we set off under the guidance of our torches, sure enough, it wasn't long until we could do without the torches, as the blue light of the morning started to illuminate our way on the approach to the first serious incline.
Considering how wet it had been recently, we couldn't believe our luck, with the weather holding as we climbed on...and on....
The views were stunning until the rain and wind hit with about 35 minutes still to go till we reached the summit, robbing us of any chance of a view from the top.
I've got to be honest and admit that I didn't realise how unfit I was- my smartwatch, however, knew exactly how unfit I was and took great joy in reminding me every 10 minutes.. 187bpm was a record that I'm not looking to beat anytime soon 😁.
Reaching the summit felt like a proper achievement, being the first ones there that day and after a brief look around, with the weather worsening, we started our decline. The route down was harder than we'd imagined, with the rocks being treacherously slippy in the torrential rain.
Tired and slightly broken, we made it back to the car park 5 and a half hours after setting off. Still aching, but wouldn't have missed it for anything...