Ben Lomond (my 1st Munro - June 2010)

[Gary1904]

2 years ago I was talked into doing a hill climb, non other than Ben Lomond. I had never looked into mountain walking and not even average hill walking, I turned up at the foot of the mountain with jeans and trainers on and I had no idea what lay ahead of me. At the time I was a smoker, very unfit and I thought it would be a breeze doing this mountain, how wrong I was to be .....

We started our climb on a perfect day, no clouds, sun everywhere and very little breeze, I had some sandwiches with me and 2 litres of water (they didn't last long) I was with two friends and they soon went ahead of me but that allowed me to take in what I was experiencing, the views, the chats with people coming down the mountain, it was amazing to say the least. After 4 hours I finally reached the summit, with pure determonation, I made it and I had bagged my first Munro without even realising it, it was only after the climb that I researched it and back then is what gave me the bug to do it again. It's been 2 long years since I bagged my 2nd, but Ben Lomond will forever be in my memory of how wonderful these mountains are.