The Munros
Scotland's Highest Mountains
This section of the Big Walks Club Website is dedicated to the systematic climbing
and ticking off of summits from the list of the Scottish 3000ft mountains, a pursuit
which has now been branded "Munro Bagging".
This pursuit dates back to 1891, initiated by Sir Hugh T Munro, who published the
first Munro Tables. Recent years have seen a massive increase in popularity of Munro
bagging and the list of completees now stands at over 5000.
On the summit of my first Munro - Schiehallion - aged 13 with my three brothers and
my Mum and Dad in 1973
After many years of nibbling at the edges of the Munros, I finally committed in 2008
to try and complete a Munro round. Why bother you may ask - just enjoy the hills
and don't get obsessed with ticking off the list. Well until I started I was pretty
much of this opinion. Now having compleated them I can really see what the attraction
is and why it really gets under your skin. The challenge of the Munros is massive
- don't let anybody belittle the effort required to do all 282 peaks. It organises
the exploration of the Scottish highlands in such a way that it forces you to go
and search out places you would never of thought of going to and gradually over the
time taken to compleation, a mental map of the Highlands will be embedded in the
brain. Moving from one range of mountains to the next gives a reciprocal view so
as to map out by triangulation in your own psyche this wonderful countryside. So
I really enjoyed the sheer volume of experience gained from the exploration of the
truly magical places of these magnificent hills.
There were two main literary sources of information for my Munro planning. These
were The Munros - Scotlands Highest Mountains by Cameron McNeish and The Munros in
Winter by Martin Moran. Cameron's book is an excellent guide book to help organise
the required trips to the hills. It is really well set out and mountains are sensibly
linked together rather than taken as individuals, as in the case of the SMC Munro
guide book. Martin's book is a description of his epic ascent of all the Munros
in the Winter of 1984. Its is an excellent read - really well written, very enjoyable
and highly recommended. It also can be used as well to help plan multi-peak days
in the mountains. What Martin manages to do in a day in Winter I can just about do
in a Summer day so this speaks volumes for the speed that he must have travelled
over the hills. In terms of information available through the internet, the best
site by far has been set up by Steven Fallon. Steven has completed the Munros each
year for more than 10 years and has clearly a vast knowledge of the routes and route
planning for days out in the Scottish peaks. His website has an amazing amount of
information on it and was the primary source of route information for most of my
Munro campaign. Thanks Steven!
The combination of these three sources plus some further pouring over OS maps has
been sufficient to ensure the efficient use of time in the hills. I have grouped
my walks into the mountain groups given in Cameron's book starting in the South then
working West, North then East. A list of the Munros, with links to the information
on the routes taken to each of summits, is given in the Munros completed page.
The initial area of the Munro campaign was the Southern Highlands. This was taken
as the area from Loch Lomond in the south to Ben Nevis in the north and bounded by
the Lawers Group in the East. All the major groups of mountains in this area were
completed by 2009. After this I concentrated on the North West Highlands and the
Far North and this area was pretty much complete by the end of 2012. The final phase
of my Munro journey covered the Eastern Hills and these were compleated by October
2015.
If you attempting the Munros yourself I hope you find the pictures and information
useful and enjoyable. Drop me a email so we can compare notes or even meet up for
a Munro bagging trip sometime.
David
