I’m just back from a week staying in Glen Shiel in the north of Scotland – North West of the Great Glen, and on the road to Skye. Steve (a good friend from my church in Edinburgh and a fellow doctor – albeit a GP) and I were off on another mammoth walking trip, this time among the Munros of Scotland. We’ve previously had decent weeks trekking in the Pyrenees, and mountain biking in Morocco, so this week was a little closer to home!For those not in the know, a “Munro” is the name given to one of the Scottish mountains higher than 3000ft (914m), after Sir Hugh Munro who published the first list of 3000+ft mountains in 1891. On current reckoning there are 283 such mountains, and although there is no definitive criteria for deciding which peaks are separate mountains, or “Munros”, and which are merely “Tops” of higher mountains, there is a reasonable distinction by virtue of drop in height and distance between adjacent summits, their character of the intervening ground, and the time that might be taken to go from one to the other. One challenge is to complete, or “bag”, all the Munros, and I’ve been slowly ticking off the mountains over many years.
Last week we were based in Ratagan Youth Hostel on Loch Duich, and had several fairly decent day-expeditions! Our first day was pretty damp with low cloud, so we warmed up with a small walk to the top of Beinn Sgritheall. The next day was clear with little cloud, so we decided on a more major trip. The South Glen Shiel Ridge was the aim, with seven Munros along its length. It extends for 14km, so start and finish logistics were important! Having only one car, but two bikes, we left the car at the East End, cycling down to the bottom end of the valley before locking the bikes and starting the trek. This was probably the other way round from most people, but it meant that we completed our 30km round trip at the Cluanie Inn where a welcome pint and some food waited, before collecting our bikes on the way back to the hostel.
The next day was also pretty good, and allowed for a traverse of The Five Sisters, a ridge on the north side of the valley. Viewed from Loch Duich, the mountains appear with a remarkable simplicity and symmetry of outline, but are actually another decent ridge walk. Three of the Sisters are Munros, and these were duly bagged. After these two long treks, a shorter day was called for, and in swirling mist and cloud we climbed two further mountains higher up the valley, Ciste Dhubh and Aonach Meadhoin. Steve continued to complete Sgurr a’ Bhealaich Dheirg and Saileag which I’d climbed before.
The best feature of that day was meeting a fellow walker on the hills. Gerry McPartlin is a retired GP who, aged 66, is doing a complete round of the Munros in less than three months for charity. I’d heard about him from a Doctors website, and had mentioned him to Steve on our journey up. I was therefore surprised and delighted to find him on the same mountain as us – chances of 283 to 1! He’d completed 208 Munros to that date and was expecting to finish off the last seventy-five within the next couple of weeks... A seriously good effort, and that day he did stayed ahead of us on our hills and carried on to complete the Five Sisters too.
Our final day was a scramble up the fabulous Forcan Ridge of The Saddle, which is a decent ridge requiring a bit more than the usual walking, although not really stretching to climbing! I’d been up The Saddle before about fourteen years ago, but it was good to be back and we combined it with Sgurr na Sgine, to make a total of fifteen Munros in five days for me.
The middle peak of our South Ridge Day was actually my 100th Munro, so I’m slowly getting through them. By the end of the week I was on 109. Steve’s a little way behind me, but has been walking quite a lot this year, and has now reached 102. He’s got another trip planned next month, so he’ll be overtaking me if I’m not careful! I may head to the hills tomorrow on a day off, in an effort to keep ahead – no, I’m not competitive at all!
Scotland is currently enjoying some fantastic weather, with long warm sunny days, and little rain, so I’m going to try to make the most of getting out to the hills while I can. I’ve hopefully got some more days off after some night shifts soon, and will just need to persuade a few others to join me when possible. However, I suspect it will be many years before I get to 200 not out!
Steve
