Tag: walking

Five Reasons to Love Walking in the Rain (+ 5 Top Tips)

by  on  in Hiking • 0 Comments

Hiking in the rain

I love the lush, green British landscape and welcome the change of seasons and the variety this brings to my life. But sometimes, I wish it didn’t rain quite so much! Since the start of the new year, rain has been the dominant theme of our weather here in Yorkshire. But has that stopped me getting outside? Has it hell! Given the choice between a dry, bright day and a rainy one, most of us would choose to walk in the former. But there are reasons to enjoy walking in the rain, and at least one of them should make you force yourself outdoors whatever the weather.

Here are a few of the reasons why I love walking in the rain, plus my top five tips to make hiking in bad weather less of a chore.

1. Bad Weather Walks Can Be the Most Memorable

Now, I have plenty of memories of beautiful walks throughout my life. But some of the experiences that really stick in my mind have been the wet weather walks. A hike up the Merrick, when I was probably about seven years old, has gone down in family history as the day the rain never stopped. During the walk, we could rarely see more than 20m ahead and let’s just say that the view from the top was shades of grey…

Another one that sticks in my memory is a hike we did on a holiday to America. We’d been walking for hours, zig-zagging up through beautiful forests and lush meadows, but just as we reached the crest of the summit ridge, a thunderstorm drew in. Rather than turning around and hiking back down, we retreated a hundred metres down the path and huddled miserably in the rain while the path below our feet turned into a stream and lightning flashed overhead. But the thunderstorm passed and, in its wake, we submitted the peak and were rewarded with beautiful views.

There can be a fine balance between going out in weather that is safe but a bit miserable and weather that’s downright dangerous. Where you draw that line will depend on your level of outdoor experience, the type of activity you’re doing and the weather forecast, and is up to you to decide. Err on the side of caution, but don’t be put off by a bit of rain.

2. It’s Good Training

When I used to train with a search and rescue team, one of our training officers had the motto, “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training”. There is truth to this, in that training in bad weather is good preparation for races or other adventures when you’re not sure what the weather conditions will be like. (And let’s face it, if that event is in the UK, even in summer you can’t guarantee sunshine.)

If you train in bad conditions, then if the weather isn’t ideal on the day of the event, you won’t be thrown by this because you’ve prepared and trained for that eventuality. And if you do get a good weather day, then you’ll appreciate it all the more!

3. You Get to Properly Test Your Kit

There was a reason you bought that £300 waterproof, right? And if you never go out in the rain, how will you know if it was worth the money?

In all seriousness, and going back to the point above, if you’re training for an event that could be affected by wet weather, you MUST test out how your kit will work under those weather conditions. Midnight on the overnight camp of your first mountain marathon isn’t the time you want to find out that your tent leaks!

You also need to work out how your body responds to different weather conditions, particularly wind and cold, so you can make sure you wear the right kit and have spare layers packed.

4. You’ll Feel Better for Having Done It

When the rain’s lashing on the windows, it can be really tempting to scrap your outdoor plans in favour of curling up inside with a nice cup of tea. And if you can do this without feeling the teeniest bit guilty, then good on you. But for most people, you’ll feel better for getting out, if only for a quick breath of fresh air. There’s nothing more rewarding than a long hot shower and a mug of hot chocolate after a long hike in the rain. And you’ll sleep better for it too.

5. Rainy Days Can Be the Most Beautiful

There’s a reason photographers love mixed weather days. Unexpected rainbows, shafts of sunlight through dark clouds and dramatic, moody lighting can transform even the plainest landscape into something quite beautiful. Many of these moments come and go within minutes or even seconds, and if you hadn’t have been outside, you’d never have seen them. So, if the forecast is for rain or showers and you’re not sure whether to go out or stay at home, then go. Nature herself may reward you.

Five tips for walking in the rain

Here are my top tips for hiking, running or biking in bad weather:

  1. Invest in good waterproofs. If it’s torrential rain, nothing will keep you totally dry, but a decent pair of waterproofs will mean the difference between an enjoyable day out and a miserable, soggy experience.
  2. Choose the right route. Today may not be the best day to tackle that exposed ridge scramble or do a long circuit of high peaks. Going out in bad weather doesn’t mean ignoring the forecast and you may need to adjust your original plans to take into account the weather conditions. A low-level, straightforward route will probably be a more enjoyable experience and avoid potential epics. Also, pick a route that’s easy to navigate, so you don’t have to faff around with maps or GPS units in the rain.
  3. Plan a cafe stop (or keep moving). Standing eating soggy butties in the rain isn’t much fun. So if you’re going for a long walk, see if you can plan in a stop for food at a cafe or pub. If there’s nothing on route, then consider taking lots of snacks that you can eat quickly, and keep moving so you don’t get cold.
  4. Take a friend for motivation. If you’ve got someone to chat to, this will take your mind off the weather and make the miles fly by. You can keep each other’s spirits up if things start getting a bit damp and motivate each other to keep going.
  5. Stock up on podcasts. This may be a controversial one, and for many people (myself included a lot of the time), getting outside is about getting away from everything else and just enjoying being in nature. But as I found this weekend, if you’ve got your hood up against the driving rain and you’re plodding along a familiar route, listening to something fun and entertaining is a great way to both take your mind off the weather and make you walk a little faster. I selected a variety of podcasts, including my current addiction, Limetown, and tucked my phone into my trouser pocket under my waterproof overtrousers to keep it dry. My 16 km canal walk flew by.

I hope that’s encouraged you to get out and enjoy the outdoors whatever the weather! If you’re going backpacking, then check out my tips on camping in the rain. And if you’ve got more tips for getting outside in wet weather, please post them in the comments below.

5 of the Best Mountain Challenges in the UK

by  on  in Climbing, Hiking • 0 Comments
Best mountain challenges in UK

The Cuillin Ridge – one of the UK’s toughest mountain challenges

If the grey days and dark nights are draining your motivation for getting outside, then you need a challenge! While we may not have the towering snow-capped peaks of the Alps, the UK has a surprising range of mountain challenges for everyone from casual weekend walkers to skilled mountaineers and fleet-of-foot fell runners.

This isn’t a comprehensive list but if you’re after for some inspiration or itching for a new challenge, why not book in one of the UK’s best mountain challenges for 2018…

Yorkshire Three Peaks

The route linking the ‘Yorkshire Three Peaks‘ of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough is an ideal first mountain challenge for fit walkers. The route starts and ends in Horton-in-Ribblesdale and is 24 miles with 1,585m of ascent. To complete the ‘challenge’ you need to walk it in under 12 hours.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks is very popular with charity groups and can get busy in the summer, so a good-weather day out of season is your best bet for avoiding the crowds in the car parks as well as on the hills. There are no technical difficulties, but it’s a long day and if the weather’s bad, you’ll need to be confident navigating in low visibility.

The Welsh 3000s

If you want to step up from the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the Welsh 3000s, also known as the “14 Peaks” will challenge the fittest hill walker. The official challenge requires an ascent of the 15 (yes, 15 not 14…) Welsh peaks over 3,000ft in 24 hours, without using any form of transport.

The traditional route starts on the summit of Snowdon (sometimes with a bivvy) and finishes on Foel-fras. It’s around 24 miles long but the approach walk and final descent take the total up to 30 miles. There aren’t many technical challenges, but you’ll need to be comfortable with the scrambling on Crib Goch and Tryfan and a very long day in the hills.

The Bob Graham Round

The Bob Graham is to fell runners what the Cuillin Ridge is to mountaineers. The 66-mile circuit of 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District includes 8,200m of ascent and, to officially complete the Bob Graham Round, the circuit has to be done in 24 hours.

For many fell runners, completing the Bob Graham is a lifetime achievement requiring years of preparation. Only around 1 in 3 attempts are successful and most take place in the summer, to make best use of daylight. I’ve spent long days in the Lakes hiking just a handful of the 42 peaks and I actually struggle to comprehend HOW people can be fit enough to complete the challenge within the 24-hour time limit.

For those who’ve completed the Bob Graham Round, more challenges lie ahead in the Welsh and Scottish equivalents: the Paddy Buckley Round and the Ramsay Round.

The Cuillin Ridge

The Cuillin Ridge is the most prized of all British ridge climbs and arguably one of the best mountaineering challenges in Europe. It requires stamina, excellent navigation skills and the ability to move quickly and safely on complex terrain.

The ridge itself is 12km, but including the walk in and walk out you’re looking at a 25km route with 4,000m of ascent and descent. Although none of the climbing is harder than ‘Very Difficult’, there are large sections of exposed scrambling and easier climbing and to have any chance of success at the traverse, you’ll need to be comfortable soloing most of the ridge.

If you’re super fit then it’s possible to do the Cuillin Ridge in a day but many parties take two days and bivvy overnight, either at the start of the ridge or part-way along. On many British ridge climbs, route-finding is fairly straightforward — you just keep to the crest of the ridge. On my one excursion into the Cuillin (to date) I was surprised at the level of technical route finding required. For this reason, if you’re looking to attempt the ridge it’s worth reccying different sections of the route in advance.

The Munros

This one may take you more than a year! The record for completing all 282 Scottish mountains over 3,000ft is an impressive 39 days and 9 hours (set by Stephen Pike in 2010) and the women’s record of 77 days was set in 2017 by Lisa and Libby from Beauties and the Bog. For most people, bagging all the Munros is a lifetime achievement, but if you have a lot of time on your hands or easy access to the Scottish Highlands, it’s possible to tick them all in a year.

While most Munros aren’t technical climbs (only one — the Inaccessible Pinnacle — involves a graded rock climb), many involve long days in the remotest parts of the UK and mountain skills are a must. Find out more about the Munros in our guide to Scotland’s ultimate ticklist.

Why I Walk

by  on  in Musings • 1 Comment

Me hiking in Scotland

I walk to feel the warmth of the sunshine on my skin. To feel the rain and wind lash my cheek, the elements batting me around as if I‘m a small toy in their giant game.

I walk to hear the birds chattering in the hawthorn bushes and calling to each other across the woods and moors. I walk to catch glimpses of hidden creatures. Voles and field mice, stoats and deer, and occasionally, at night, a fox or badger.

Sometimes I walk with purpose, to reach a destination. The top of a hill or mountain, most likely. A viewpoint from where I can survey the world or what little of it I’m allowed to see. But a walk does not need a destination and sometimes I just let my feet carry me where they will.

I walk to give myself thinking time. To mull over a problem or reassess my priorities. It’s as if the movements of my legs turn cogs in my head that power my brain to find a solution to whatever’s bothering me. The answer does not always come on the walk, but the walk is part of the process of discovering it.

But, there are also times when I’m content to think about nothing. To just let thoughts flow through my mind like water trickling down a beck. This too, is what walking is all about.

When I get angry or frustrated, I can feel trapped in the house. This place where I should be doing this or should be doing that; where I haven’t done this, or have failed at that. Walking is my escape. A chance to walk away from the anger inside and be calm again. To return to work with a fresh state of mind.

I walk to forget about the problems of the world. To put aside worries and cares, particularly those that I have no control over. To realise that I don’t have to change the world, I just have to do my bit.

I walk to feel the ache in my muscles and the pain in my feet. The focus that comes after you’ve been trudging for hours. How your world narrows to focus on just one thing: putting one foot in front of the other. It’s almost like a meditation. Left, right, left, right. There is just you and the footpath in front of you.

But, perhaps most of all, I walk to be outside. To breathe fresh air and walk in the beautiful countryside that we’re blessed with in the UK. Whether it’s a stroll through my local woods, a walk up over the moors or a hike up a remote Scottish mountain, walking makes me truly appreciate how lucky we are to have these beautiful landscapes. And why we must protect them.

Walking outside makes me feel alive. It reminds me of why life is precious. It makes me happy.

That is why I walk.

5 Helpful Tips to Improve Your Map Reading Skills

by  on  in Survival skills • 0 Comments

Map and compass

It’s National Map Reading Week! I was lucky enough to be taught basic navigation skills at an early age but I appreciate that for many people, maps designed for outdoor activities are about as comprehensible as the financial pages of The Sunday Times. But it’s never too late to learn. If you struggle to figure out which way’s north and whether the brown circles on the map represent a hill or a valley, here are some helpful tips to help you improve your map reading skills. Why not get outside this weekend and try them out?

Tip 1: Pick the Right Map

There are lots of different types of maps at varying scales which can make it confusing to know which one to choose. The scale will usually be expressed as a ratio, for example 1:50,000. The bigger the number after the colon the less detailed the map will be. Ordnance Survey provides a range of maps that cover the whole of UK at a range of scales.

Some people prefer the Harvey maps, particularly in mountainous areas. They look a bit different to the OS maps but are designed to provide a simpler view of the landscape (particularly where there are lots of contours) to help you navigate more easily. Harveys also sell specific maps for long distance walking and cycle trails. You can usually get the whole route printed on one map which can save a lot of space in your pack!

Here’s a quick guide to some common UK maps to help you work out which is best for you:

  • 1:50,000 OS Map – good for people who want a less detailed map that covers a large area. All roads and main footpaths will be marked, but there’ll be less detail to help you navigate off-road than other maps. Useful for cyclists who mainly stick to roads.
  • 1:25,000 OS Map – for many years the OS Explorer range has been the go-to map for outdoor activities. The maps show all rights of way and distinctive features and have a high level of rock and contour detail in the mountains. The only downside is that in mountainous terrain it can be tricky to read the map accurately because of the level of detail. The best map for all-around outdoor use.
  • 1:40,000 Harvey Mountain Map – Harvey focus mainly on mountainous areas of England, Scotland and Wales. Their maps look quite different to OS maps but are great for hiking, biking and running in the more remote, hillier parts of the country. The maps don’t contain all the detail of a 1:25,000 map but this makes them much easier to read. Unlike OS maps that cover the whole country, Harvey maps cover a specific area. This means that instead of having to buy multiple OS maps you can cover the same area with one Harvey map. Best map for general hiking and mountain biking in national parks and upland areas.
  • 1:25,000 Harvey Superwalker Maps – focused on popular upland areas of the UK, these provide a higher level of detail than the Mountain Maps but still focus on readability. If you’re navigating in complex mountain terrain, this is the best map for you.

A lot of people prefer paper maps but if you enjoy getting outdoors in a lot of different places then the OS Maps app is a great low-cost way of accessing all the maps in the country on your phone. However, for learning basic navigation skills a paper map is much easier to use. Plus, it never runs out of battery!

Tip 2: Get Used to Using a Compass

A compass is the second important tool in your navigation toolkit. With a map, compass and some basic skills, you should be able to navigate your way through most parts of the country with ease. Even if you use a GPS device it’s worth carrying a map and compass as a backup. (And know how to use them!). If you get into the habit of taking your compass out with you on walks, runs or bike rides then you’ll keep up your skills and over time they’ll become second nature.

Your compass has a base plate and a rotating bezel with angles marking the 360 degrees of a circle. Inside is the compass needle which will rotate as you move around. The important thing to remember is that the red end of the arrow will always point north – even if it’s not lined up to the north marker on the bezel. (There are actually three different ‘norths’ but this can be quite confusing for people who are new to navigation so for the time being just remember that red equals north.)

The simplest compass skill is to orientate your map to north. Even if you can’t remember how to take a compass bearing, by orientating your map in the right direction, you can pick out features around you to pinpoint your location.

Whichever map you use there’ll be a grid of squares marked over it. The top of the map will be north so the vertical lines that run up the map are on a north-south line. To orientate your map, hold the compass flat on top of the map and turn the map until the red north arrow is pointing along the vertical grid lines to the top of the map. Remember you need to turn the map and not the compass! If you’re facing south this will mean that the map feels upside down, but don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to navigating by the features on the map and this won’t be a problem.

Once you’ve orientated your map have a look at the landscape around you and see how features appear on the map. Can you spot that big hill over to your right? How about the river on your left? If you’re using footpaths or bridleways then most of the time by orientating your map correctly you can follow your planned route without the need for more complex compass skills. In the mountains, it can be a different story and you’ll want to know how to take compass bearings and learn more advanced skills so you can navigate effectively in poor weather.

Tip 3: Understand Basic Topographical Features

Maps can be confusing things full of brown squiggly lines and coloured symbols. It’s no wonder people get confused! But it’s worth taking a bit of time to understand the different features a map represents. Roads, footpaths and water features such as lakes and big rivers are usually quite obvious and easy to see. What most people struggle with are contours. Unfortunately, if you want to go walking in the mountains you’re going to come across a lot of contours and you’re going to have to use them to navigate.

Contour lines show changes in height. On a 1:25,000 map there is one contour line for every five metres of vertical height. Some contour lines have a height marked on them. If you have a GPS device that measures altitude you can use these to help you work out how far up or down a hill you are. Contours are continuous and follow the shape of the land. If you walk along a contour line you’ll always be at the same height.

Contours also tell you how steep a slope is. The closer together the brown lines, the steeper the hill. This makes hills and mountains quite easy to spot on maps as you have concentric circles that get smaller and smaller as you get towards the top of the hill.

Next time you go out walking or running try and match the typographical features you see on the ground to your map. A great way of getting better at using contours to navigate by is to try orienteering. Orienteering maps are much more detailed than OS maps and show almost every feature on the ground. You can learn how different landforms are represented and scale this up to the big mountains when you go hiking.

Tip 4: Trust the Map

Sometimes if you’re lost it can feel as if the map doesn’t match what’s on the ground. Your brain tricks you into thinking that you’re right and the map is wrong. Believe me, from bitter experience I know that the map is always right! If you can’t match the features on the map to the features on the ground this probably means you’re not where you think you are.

If you end up in this situation you have a couple of options:

  • Walk back until you get to a point where you’re certain of your location and the map matches the features on the ground. For example, this could be a path junction or where a path crosses a river
  • Work out your current location using your map and compass.

If you choose the second option then your first step is to orientate your map (see tip 2). Then try and remember your last known location and pinpoint this on the map. Presuming you’ve been checking your map as you go, this shouldn’t be too far away and it’ll give you an indication of whereabouts on the map you might be. Once you’ve done this look for some distinctive features around you – for example, a large hill, a saddle between two hills or a church spire in the valley below. Ideally, you want to pick three or four very distinctive features. Find these on the map and using these points you should be able to narrow down your location. Then look for any small features nearby to help you pinpoint your exact spot.

Once you’re confident about where you are then you can carry on walking or retrace your steps if necessary. Just remember the map never lies!

Tip 5: Get Out and Practice

The only way you’ll get better at navigation is to practice it. Like everything, this takes time and can be frustrating. But you don’t need to go on a full day out in the hills to get some practice in. Get outside in the evening with your local map and walk on the footpaths around your home. Look at what features you pass and how they’re marked on the map. How does the vegetation change and what colours signify this on the map? What buildings are recorded and what buildings aren’t? Can you predict when you’ll pass each five-metre contour line?

As you know the area you’re unlikely to get lost so you can perfect your map reading skills without worrying about whether you’ll make it home in time for dinner.

Happy navigating!

Why You Should Start Munro Bagging

by  on  in Hiking • 0 Comments
Group of walkers on a hill

Anyone know what the collective noun for a group of Munro baggers is?

Have you ever heard of the term ‘Munro bagging’? I’d hazard a guess and say probably not, unless you frequent the Scottish mountains or enjoy spending time in the pub with geeky hikers. But if you like a challenge, love exploring wild places and aren’t afraid of the infamous Scottish midge, then Munro bagging may be for you.

Here’s your guide to Scotland’s ultimate ticklist.

What Is Munro Bagging?

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? A Munro is a Scottish mountain over 3,000ft (that’s 914m in new money). There are 282 of them, at the last count. (This does occasionally change, depending on if someone has built a particularly big cairn, or a mountain has sunk.*) They’re named after Sir Hugh Munro, who first listed the summits in his ‘Munros Tables’ in 1891.

When you touch the top of the hallowed summit cairn of a Munro, you can say you’ve ‘bagged’ it. A Munro bagger is someone who has, or is trying to, ‘bag’ all the Munros. The species can usually be identified by their insistence to reach the top of the mountain despite the full force of Scottish rain, wind or snow. (Possibly all three – this is Scotland after all.) Once you’ve successfully completed all 282 Munros, you gain the official title of ‘Munroist’, or ‘compleatist’ (yes, that is spelt correctly, thank you very much, Grammarly).

*More accurate surveying methods have led to the demotion of a few Munros, notably poor Sgùrr nan Ceannaichean, which was taken off the list in 2009 for being just one metre too short.

Where Are the Munros?

If you hadn’t already guessed, they’re in Scotland. More specifically, in the northern part of Scotland. All 282 Munros lie (stand?) north of the Central Belt (that’s the bit with Glasgow and Edinburgh). There’s a nice map of all the Munros here. And for those who like to have some handy facts at their fingertips, here are the cardinal Munros:

  • Northernmost Munro: Ben Hope, which stands alone in the Flow Country of Sutherland
  • Easternmost Munro: Mount Keen, in the far east of the Cairngorms National Park
  • Southernmost Munro: Ben Lomond, many people’s first Munro, stands sentinel over the bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
  • Westernmost Munro: Sgurr na Banachdich, part of the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye

How to Bag Munros

Well, first you have to get a list of them! Steve Fallon has a handy spreadsheet that you can download from his website, or if you like sticking things on your wall, Harvey May Services do a chart of all the Munros and Corbetts. (I recommend plastering this on your toilet wall as a constant reminder of how many you have left to do.)

Then, it’s just a case of lacing up your boots and heading out into the hills. With appropriate maps, equipment and loyal companions of course. A tip from the wise: if you’re planning on this being a life-term venture, then you may want to look at the order in which you climb the Munros and not leave the longest walk-ins til last.

Speaking of final Munros, tradition has it that you invite all your Munro companions to join you for the walk up your final Munro. On the top of which, you celebrate with champagne, strawberries and chocolate brownies. (I can recommend this recipe as being tried and tested.) So, unless you really want your friends and family to suffer, I’d save a nice easy Munro to the end.

Why bother?

An excellent question. But humans have always loved a good ticklist. I bet even caveman came home to cavewoman and proudly scratched another line on their cave wall to tick off a new beastie he’d managed to kill with his bare hands.

Plus it gives Munro baggers (and their long-suffering families) plenty of excuses for holidays in Scotland. Not that you need an excuse to go to Scotland. (In my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful places on this planet.) But it’s always nice to have a reason to justify another long drive up north to your work colleagues who have just hopped off the plane from Majorca.

But perhaps the main reason is the encouragement to explore some of Scotland’s wildest and remote mountains. Mountains that, if they weren’t over the magic height of 3,000ft, your eyes would skim over on the map. Mountains which, in all likelihood, you’ll complete in solitude, perhaps with the odd mountain bird or deer for company. And on those (admittedly rare) days when the sky is clear, the views from the Scottish mountaintops are some of the most beautiful in the world.

But what if I’ve DONE all the Munros?

I hear your pain. You’ve reached the end of a hard-won race. (In the case of my Dad, a fifty-year project.) And as you gaze into the future, all you see is a vision of lazy days on sun-kissed beaches, a nice cold beer in hand. . .

But where there is a will, there’s always another challenge to be had. If you’re not totally sick of Scotland by now (and why would you be?) get your hands on a list of the Corbetts (that’s Scottish mountains between 2,500 and 3,000ft). There are 222 of them, though you’ve probably got a bit of a head start as you’ll have been up a fair few as part of your Munro marathon. And for the really keen, once you’ve ticked off the Corbetts, you can move on to the Grahams. If that’s not enough then there’s also the Donalds. Phew.

If you want to be really pedantic, you could also tick off the Munro Tops. These are mountains over 3,000ft that in another life would have been a Munro, but due to their overbearing brothers and sisters did not make the list. (Don’t you hate bigger siblings?) I feel quite sorry for these subsidiary summits — so close and yet so far. Perhaps we should start a fan club for the Munro tops. IS ANYONE WITH ME?

Then there are Murdos. These are summits over 3,000ft with at least a 30m (98ft) drop on all sides. (Why not make it 100ft for consistency of measurement? I DON’T KNOW.) So all Munros are Murdos, a Munro Top may or may not be a Murdo, and all Murdos are either Munros or Munro Tops. Are you confused yet? Good, because I am. Anyway, I’m a bit dubious about the Murdos and suspect they were just made up by a forlorn compleatist as an excuse to spend more time in the Scottish hills.

Some interesting facts about Munros

  • The Inaccessible Pinnacle on Skye is the most technically difficult of the Munros, requiring the bagger to complete a rock climb to touch the top and an abseil to descend.
  • Various peaks vie for the title of ‘most remote’, but A’ Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor come out top of most lists. For most people ticking these peaks will require staying in a bothy or wild camping overnight.
  • The Revd A E Robertson was the first person to complete all the Munros in 1901. However, there is some dispute over his claim, as it’s not certain he reached the summit of Ben Wyvis and he definitely didn’t climb the Inaccessible Pinnacle. If the Rev isn’t allowed to take the number one spot, then he relinquishes it to another man of the church, the Revd Ronald Burn, who completed his round in 1923.
  • Hamish Brown completed the first continuous round of the Munros in 1974 which involved 1,639 miles of walking (and 150 miles on a bike).
  • The speed record for the Munros is held by Stephen Pike who set the record of 39 days and 9 hours in 2010, cycling and kayaking between peaks.
  • Perhaps equally impressive is the youngest Munroist, Daniel Smith, who finished his round at the tender age of nine. If you’re wanting your little ones to challenge his reign, you’d better get them training early!
  • Finally, if you love walking in torrential rain, howling gales and blizzards, you may be interested in the winter records. Martin Moran was the first to complete all the Munros in one winter season in 1983/5 and Steve Perry completed the first (and only?) continuous winter round entirely on foot (and ferry).

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me there’s a distinct lack of women on that list! Delving a bit deeper into the archives of Google, it appears the first woman to complete a continuous round was Kathy Murgatroyd in 1982. Kate Weyman and Lorraine McCall are also noted as having completed continuous rounds, in 113 days and 141 days respectively, but it looks like there’s potential for some fit ladies out there to make their mark on the Munro history books. Now there’s a thought. . .

Are You Ready to Take Up the Munro Challenge?

So there you have it, everything you ever wanted to know about Munro bagging and probably a fair bit more besides. Have I convinced you to take up the challenge yet? Yes? Great stuff. All together now, Sláinte!