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Ben Ledi: Jenny's Hat-trick Part Iwell, what did I know ? She did it! And, I couldn't have been more proud. 8 years old, and standing on top of a mountain just 18 feet short of Munro status. Wow !
"No darling, you're too little.", had been my response 12 months earlier, when Jen first asked if she could climb Ben Ledi, having seen the signposts behind our cabin. When I said, "Maybe next year, if you still want to." I was convinced, of course, that she would forget, but no. And so it was, that with clearly understood rules about turning back without argument if Daddy thought she was getting tired, that we set out.
We left Alison and Fiona to return after elevenses, and pushed on, first to the bealach and then on to the summit. I could not get over how cheerful Jenny was all the way to the top. She loved the attention she got from other walkers, and I must confess, so did I.
Near the summit, she got chatting to a couple, I would guess in their 60s, and the lady said that if Jen could manage this climb, then she ought to do Ben Chonzie, a nearby Munro ! Well, that was it, the questions flowed, "What's a Munro?", "Have you done one, Daddy?", "Can we do Ben Chonzie?" ...
After spending a happy half hour eating sandwiches on the top, admiring the views of Ben Lomond and the Arrochar Alps, we set off down again. What a joyous, jaunty walk back to the cabins. By the time we got back I had told Jen of my first climbs and she had hatched her three year plan, "A mountain at 8, a Munro at 9 and a Cuillin at 10" and this time I was not going to say, '"You're too little, darling!"