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This is my first report. About twenty years ago or so, I was a very occasional hillwalker, but after stumbling into early retirement in February, I decided I needed something physical to do, so in April aged 62, I decided to start hillwalking again. I told friends and family that I was going to climb Mount Everest this summer, but to take the stunned look off their faces, explained that I was aiming for combined ascent of 30,000ft in the Scottish hills. I'm happy to say that I passed that on my eleventh walk on Ben Ledi. Making it even more enjoyable was the fact that for six of these walks I was joined by my 9 year old grandson, Matthew, giving him something to do during the school holidays.
For my twelfth walk Matthew and I set off for Beinn Narnain, which would be his third Munro after Ben Lomond and Schiehallion. (Conic, Cobbler, and Ledi being his other walks). After studying a Youtube video we found the small path that cuts into the trees almost immediately after beginning of the main path (just before the telegraph pole). The rain on Friday meant that we were soon walking in a stream and negotiating boggy bits and by the time we cleared all this to reach the first grassy plateau, Matthew was in a fair old state. He had sunk to his knees a few times and had also sat back on his behind, so he was "mockit" from the waist down.
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- near the start
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- at last, a view.
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- first view of the cobbler without cloud cover
His spirit was lifted though when we got our first sight of the mighty (Matthew's word) Cobbler.
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- me and some of the cobbler
We had done this a couple of weeks earlier but the three summits were in cloud at all times with no view from the summit, so he was thrilled to see it in all it's glory.
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- getting to the scramble bits
Onwards and upwards with some scrambling and some narrower ledges which made me a little nervous for Matthew, but eventually we were at the bottom of the "spearhead" and with a "puddy up" for Matthew at one bit, we eventually rounded the back of the spearhead and Matthew raced on to the summit, happy that we had climbed Narnain "the hard way".
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- me and matthew on the summit
I have to say, without wishing to put Matthew down, when we first started these walks, I was unsure how he would react when the "going got tough", but it has been great to see his determination to get to the summit and his satisfaction of achieving "the goal".
After pics and lunch we descended the back route to the bealach, crossing a huge boulder field and more boggy bits till the newly built bit of path was achieved and eventually the main path. Time constraints meant Ime wasn't possible (previously arranged dinner date with friends in Glasgow that evening) which was a pity as we were both up for it.
Back along past the Narnain Boulders to the car park, 7hrs after we started.
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- returning in the bealach
My car is only a couple of weeks old, so much to Matthew's "do I have to?" both doors were opened whilst he took off his boots, socks and trousers and jumped into the back seat in his underpants (must get his mum to give me a spare pair of shorts or trousers in the future, not just socks and t-shirt). All in all, a great grandfather, grandson day!
