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After climbing my first Munro at Cairngorm in 2009, I’ve been lucky enough to have now climbed all 282 Munros – I still can’t quite believe it! I started going for walks in my local area in my teens and then progressed to going for hillwalks. Passing my driving test obviously helped in being able to drive to the hills without pestering my parents for a lift or attempting to link up bus timetables to get to the hills.
Back to 2009. We were on a family holiday at Aviemore and my Dad and I walked up Cairngorm and met the rest of my family to take the funicular back down (I’ve been up Caringorm subsequently so have walked up and down it incase I’m accused of cheating!) It wasn’t until the following year that I did some more Munros and then the numbers started to really stack up once I finished my professional accountancy exams and had my weekends free from studying.
Many of my Munros have been walked alone (173 solo Munros). However, I have met some great friends along the way. It has been a privilege to share my days on the hills with all my walking companions over the years – a huge thanks to everyone for their company and sharing their experience to help me on my way. Walkhighlands has been a brilliant tool for planning walks and meeting up with fellow hillwalkers, I’m very glad I discovered the website early on when I started walking.
A big thanks is also in order for my family putting up with me leaving to go to the hills in the middle of the night and generally being a great support team – nothing better than returning to a nice meal after a day in the hills
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I love getting out on the mountains for the amazing views, wildlife and general enjoyment in planning trips to the highlands – Scotland has so much to offer and I know I still have lots to look forward to in exploring and revisiting all of the different areas.
After a fantastic trip to Knoydart last week, I only had the 5 Munros at Fisherfields left to compleat. I had originally intended to keep Bynack More for last so that family and friends could join me for an ‘easier’ Munro but in the end decided that it didn’t really matter which hill I kept for last. I hope to revisit many of them in the future and knew that whichever Munro I did last would be special.
With an amazing forecast all week and then predictably rain arriving for the weekend, I managed to get a last minute day off work on the Friday and left home at 2am to get a nice early start (I have done quite a few insanely early starts over the years – walking by 3.15am is the current record!
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I decided to take my bike along the track for the way in and out – I’m not sure I really saved any time since the track is quite rocky and I had to push my bike quite a lot, even on the descents (dodgy brakes so didn’t want to risk falling off!)
It was great watching the sunrise lighting up the mountains – An Teallach looked spectacular all day. This was an incredible walk with amazing views the entire day (can’t believe I have left it until now!), I will let the pictures do the talking.
The wind was pretty strong on the summits as was forecast, especially on the last 2 Munros so unfortunately I wasn’t able to do a self timer picture on the last summit, just made do with a selfie.
- summit selfie
I saw red deer, ptarmigan, ravens and a dipper during the walk.
With the dry weather, the river crossings were fine on the way up and coming back to Shenavall, although there were still a few boggy patches.
I stayed at the bothy and then walked/ cycled back out in the morning.
- Shenavall bothy
- looking back along the track
It was looking like the rain would arrive and it was another very windy day so I decided to go for a walk at Loch a’Bhraoin rather than heading up the hills and then got a celebratory fish supper at Ullapool for lunch before driving back. An amazing day to round off the unforgettable experiences of a Munro round – here’s to many more days exploring Scotland!
