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This journey (compleaton) has been far from a sprint, in fact it is not far off a marathon as it has taken 22 years
I apologise for the length of the initial introduction but some of you may find it interesting. It all started on Schiehallion in July 1994 and over the next 3 years I managed 19 Munro’s with my late wife Jean, who sadly passed away in Oct 1997 at the young age of 43. She loved the hills and will be watching down from on high, probably quite pleased that she got me involved in this time consuming pastime.
This journey is dedicated to her.
and one of me in the 'olden' days
For those of you who are setting out on the journey all I will say is enjoy it
You will see parts of this beautiful country we are so lucky to live in that the majority of the population don't realise exist. You will drive literally thousands of miles, spend hours struggling uphill in all weathers only to reach the summit and see a couple of shades of grey. On the plus side you will see Scotland in all it's beauty from on high
After 1997 I only really dabbled with the hills and my plan was to reach 100 and then hang up my boots – which I thought was a good plan and almost as good as compleating. In May 2013 I signed up on Walk Highlands and little did I know how this nice relaxing pastime would take over my life. Like most newbies on WH the first thing we do is turn all the red balloons blue. All my walks are logged and my 100 Munro’s would only turn 98 balloons blue, I checked my list 3 times and then realised I had climbed 2 demoted hills!
That meant hitting the hills again, so Creag Meagaidh was going to start the ball rolling again, unfortunately as I was doing the 3 hills no matter which way I walked the middle hill of Stob Poite Coire Ardair would be my 100th and it is hardly the most exciting hill. Shortly after Meagaidh I volunteered to head to Kintail and tackled the South Glen Shiel Ridge and then came the “biggy”, one of the walks all of us dread Aonach Eagach. That was definitely one of the days that will stick in my mind probably forever and I would like to personally thank all my colleagues that day. I remember reaching the summit of Am Bodach then to be told and shown where we were heading next. My immediate thought was absolutely no way, I was convinced I would not be able to manage the ridge. We had a discussion before continuing and I was persuaded I would be able to manage and I did, I have to say I have never, ever been so scared and didn’t enjoy it one bit. I really must be stupid because last year I returned to the scene of my fear and traversed the ridge again in glorious weather.
In June 2015 I reached the next milestone of 200, this time I had actually planned the event and had selected Ben Macdui but not the normal way, I was approaching from the south.
Most of the WH regulars will be aware I have been chomping at the bit to compleat, which sounds very strange coming from someone who never, ever intended to visit all the Munro’s. I knew I could never conquer Skye as my fear of heights and lack of mountaineering skills, little did I know a few years ago that would all change.
Last year I was invited by a small group of Walk Highlanders to go to Skye and say hello to the ridge – with the help of a guide. To say I was apprehensive is an understatement, but our guide Paddy (McGuire) was superb and helped us all along the way.
Unfortunately our Skye group was thwarted by the weather (not unusual) and we had to return again in June to finish off with the 4 trickiest hills Skye has to offer in a 2 day window. Luckily this time the weather was kind to us so the compleation dream was becoming a reality.
In the build up to Skye I was out in all weathers with a view to compleating shortly after. 2016 has been a truly memorable year and some of the hills I have visited have been awesome, I also opted to do quite a few walks on my own.
One question that we all ask each other is what is your favourite hill and my answer is always my last one.
Another thing I should mention is that although I have used my bike a few times I have not camped at any time – mainly because I don’t have a tent! As I don’t have a tent one group of hills was really starting to concern me – Fisherfield. I read every walk report and studied the map and was wondering if I could manage the route in one day? Anyway I decided to bite the bullet, wait for a bit of a weather window and as the end of May has plenty of daylight hours I went for it. My longest walk prior to Fisherfield was 10hrs 30mins and that was in Glendessary and was really tough because of the conditions, however my 14hrs 30mins was easily the toughest day by far and just made it back to my car before my head torch was required.
Enough of the pre-amble and onto the final day on the fabulous island of Mull.
Obviously I wanted to share my special day with my family and secondly with any of my friends who could join me.
The plan was to meet up at 10am at the car park using the ‘tourist’ route up Ben More. The majority of the participants travelled over in the morning catching the early ferry, whereas I travelled over on Friday as I was taking my wife out for a celebratory meal just outside FionnPhort, at a restaurant called the Ninth Wave, for anyone who wants a quality meal you won't get much better.
The plan as described above worked out fine we were all early and everyone was introduced to everyone else. There were two notable absentee's Chris (jepsonscotland) and Andy (flump) who had missed the ferry at Oban, I will let Chris explain
The walking party consisted of Tommy (tommyatr), Andy (AJNicholls), Martin (mg1976), Karen (kmai1961), Evie (sunny speyside), Jimmy (james jones), David (stirling davo), my children Melanie, Russell & Gemma, Melanie's partner James and my grandson Jude (5) and I really did appreciate the effort made by everyone to join me, especially as it involved a ferry crossing
My youngest daughter smiling
My son Russell waiting for his sisters
My grandson Jude posing for a photo with his daddy
Getting ready for the off
Tommy sorting out his dogs
Someone's away in my car
Fiona (my wife) is not a hill walker, so she was heading to the bright lights of Tobermory and would return later
We are at the right place
We set off about 9.45 ish, I didn't actually check the time
I was fully expecting the going to be tough underfoot as the rain was non stop on Friday
and my fears were realised, the path uphill was an extra burn
It wasn't long before my family had wet feet as the they only had sturdy trainers. When we reached the first burn crossing my youngest daughter Gemma slipped on a damp rock and ended up doing a "Polly", however she managed to get more than her backside wet
Being a trooper she emerged laughing and we all offered some dry clothes
One of the first photo's looking back
Waiting for the stragglers
Jude doing very well with his little legs
First water feature
Jude striding out on the flat
Yes we have got to cross
The advance party heading up into the clag
The crossing of the river was a real team effort, with everyone helping each other. I would imagine crossing the river isn't usually a problem as there are plenty of rocks to assist. After Gemma's 'incident' we were all very wary as wet rocks and damp footwear are a recipe for it all to go wrong
Tommy trying to create a crossing point
Still lifting large boulders
Second water feature, quite impressive
Indicates how 'damp' the path is
Not exactly on the path, no idea where he gets that from
Nice view back down Ulva on the left, Eorsa on the right
Nearly in the cloud now
Once we entered the cloud, the temperature dropped and the fine drizzle was making everything damp. As we entered the clag we also reached the rocky/stony part of the path which made for easier going. Jude was getting a bit fed up with the non stop ascending, but his little legs managed it superbly - not bad for a 5 year old, who told everyone he is 6 next month
My only summit shot with the camera, the rain and wind arrived at the wrong time
Summit shots, apologies for the quality
Once we all reached the summit I cracked open one of the 2 bottles of bubbly I had carted all the way up, Karen also opened a bottle as well and no sooner had we started to sample the fizz the heavens opened
Our timing couldn't really have been worse
As soon as the rain started we all made a hasty exit, not only was it pouring down, it was windy and jolly cold, we were all beginning to wonder what month it was. Temperature wise it was more like November
The descent definitely didn't take anywhere near as long and I stayed at the back and escorted Jude downhill, once we reached the grassy part of the hill Jude was in his element - if his trainers got muddy he then had to find a wet area to jump in to clean them
Don't we just love little boys
Not too far now, Jude enjoyed the descent, his feet were already wet and he wasn't happy that we only crossed 2 burns. He did make up for the lack of river crossings by splashing in any water that was nearby
Martin had to find a spot to pose
The walk really did seem to pass by really quickly and once we had all changed into dry clothes it was time to say our goodbyes, all the Walk Highlanders were booked onto the 6pm ferry - one of the problems of compleating on Mull
What Tobermory is famous for
A tad on the bright side
Finally a HUGE thank you to all who joined me on Mull in pretty appalling conditions
I must also congratulate Pauline (pollyh33) who unfortunately opted to compleat on the same day but on Skye
I did give you a wave
This compleation thing is really catching on as we are all heading up to the Cairngorms for Gill's compleation in just under 2 weeks, looking forward to that
And the big question is what to do next, I don't want to start 'bagging' the Corbett's although I will definitely be climbing the odd one. I will definitely visit the rest of the Donald's as they are almost on my doorstep, but that still leaves a big void
I am contemplating the 3 peaks next year, so if anyone fancies joining me, let me know? Having said that the thought of walking up the Ben Nevis tourist path again is far from appealing
