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The Last Munro. Ben Lomond - 25th May 2003
By John Penny - September 2003
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The Last Munro. Ben Lomond - 25th May 2003
Sunday 25th May 2003 signalled the end to an eleven year journey (Ben Vorlich in the Arrochar Alps being the first Munro I recorded on 26th May 1992) to climb all 284 of the Scottish Munros. Initially I had no real desire or intention to climb all of the Munros but being a very keen hill-walker and a great lover of Scotland the idea to try to do them all gradually evolved. My first experiences of Scotland were 20 or more years ago through expedition society trips to Glencoe as a teacher, but after that I had about ten years when I didn't visit north of the border. The trip to the Arrochar Alps in 1992 was in my half-term break and I was blessed with absolutely superb weather - the seed was sown.
I have climbed the Munros in all weathers (as anyone who knows Scotland will realise), sometimes all of them in the same day. Good memories include sunbathing on Spidean Mialach (Loch Quoich) and a truly wonderful day on Sgurr na Ciche with stunning views to Knoydart and Skye. I was also blessed with excellent weather on my second trip to Skye when I climbed nearly all the Skye Cuillin Munros (I later went back with a climbing guide to do the Inaccessible Pinnacle - I have never had pretensions as a rock-climber!). Climbing the west ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean and standing on the top, picking out and naming the mountains on the mainland, in perfect visibility will be a memory that will never fade!
Less good memories include a truly horrible day on Stob Coire Sgriodain and Chno Dearg when the weather forecasters (not for the first time) lied. It would clear up later in the day (they said), so I started late (after midday). Well it did clear up (for about 20 minutes) but nearing the top of the first Munro, the heavens opened and didn't stop until I returned to the car. It was a good job no-one else was around as I performed a very damp striptease in the car park. Others I have no wish to repeat are Gulvain (steep and boring - blowing a hoolie on top and I was in the process of going down with a cold). A'Ghlas-bheinn next to Beinn Fhada in Kintail - which has more false summits than you can shake a stick at, especially when there are no views, it's raining and you are knackered after a long day. It didn't help getting the compass bearing off- beam on the descent either!
Favourite hills - well there so many! The aforementioned Skye Cuillins and Sgurr na Ciche certainly are right up there, plus the obvious ones like An Teallach, Liathach and Ben Alligin, but there were others too. The remote ones in Fisherfield for instance. I remember a memorable day to reach A'Mhaighdean and Ruadh stac Mor from Poolewe - a round trip of 25 miles, which took eleven hours. I was rewarded, however, with perfect solitude and a clear day. From the top, no sign of human habitation or roads are visible - a special moment. I was also fortunate with the other four Munros of the Fisherfield 'six'. A nine hour walk from north to south from Corrie Hallie to Kinlochewe, thanks to my brother-in-law Peter, who took me to the start, having left my car at the southern end on the previous evening! I saw no one, until the walk out, all day and was blessed by the clouds staying high until I was descending from the last top. There are a few remote lochans up there that are magical. Ben More on Mull is a cracking hill too, with a fine airy ridge. From the top all the islands are spread out before you, from Jura to Rhum, even including Staffa of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture fame. I was fortunate to share the summit with four other people who were there to scatter the ashes of a relative and to toast him with 25 year old whisky! The hills of Knoydart are special as well. I was fortunate to have good views on Ladhar Bheinn, as the clouds obligingly parted for the length of the time we were on the summit ridge. Luinne Bheinn and Meall Buidhe were also done in splendid weather (Luinne Bheinn on the second visit as the first had not been a good day).
Many Munros I have climbed solo and it is a wonderful feeling to have that space, solitude and silence, so alien to much of modern life. It has come to mean more and more to me as a means of escape and of putting everyday cares and work into a much needed perspective. Nothing seems as bad or as important from a fabulous viewpoint on the top of a mountain. I would hate people though to think I am totally anti-social. Over 70 Munros have been climbed with my good friend Ian and his two dogs Cuillin and Aonach and much ribald and surreal banter has been heard on the way. One of the most worrying events also happened with Ian, when, on Ladhar Bheinn the first time I attempted it, Cuillin fell several hundred feet and Ian had to carry him off the hill. A truly impressive feat by Ian as Cuillin is a large Labrador! In the early days I also used to walk with Andy Bluefield's North-West Frontiers and it was through them that I engaged Winky O'Neil to coax me up the Inaccessible Pinnacle and other Skye Munros. Pete Krug also experienced the JP hill-walking style on a trip based around Crianlarich. I hope I haven't put Pete off Scotland (or me!). We haven't been able to repeat the trip since!
So to the final Munro - Ben Lomond - a nice straightforward hill that even my non-regular hill walking friends wouldn't mind tackling. We were 16 - Ian, Brian, Morag, Julie, Jenny, Sal, Janet, David, Sundera, Robin, Celia, Leonie, Christine (my sister), Peter, Sally (my niece) and me (plus four dogs!). We were lucky with the weather (the previous day had been littered with heavy storms) and we even had some good views from the top. What made the day truly memorable, however, were the two other groups on top. Firstly there was a Scottish lady completing her Munros with the same hill on the same day as me. Secondly we witnessed a marriage ceremony take place at the trig point. The bride didn't wear white, needless to say, but the priest took the service in the normal way and we all sang Amazing Grace to the pipes. Amazingly the groom was from Colchester and other guests were from Ipswich and Hadleigh! As they say - you couldn't make it up!
What has this odyssey taught me? Well I could talk about things like self-reliance, determination, planning ahead, all of which are relevant of course, but the thing that keeps coming back is what a wonderful place Scotland is (even on the grim weather days). How lucky we are to have it so relatively accessible and how lucky I am to have been fit enough to do all this. Where and what now, I have been frequently asked since completing? Well that is not really a problem. I'd like to go back and re-climb many hills from which I saw nothing (I'm an expert on the insides of clouds!) and also many hills which I thoroughly enjoyed. I'd like to visit many of the islands (Harris, Jura and particularly Rhum) which do not have Munros on them. Hill walking and mountaineering has never been only about Scotland and Munros and during the eleven year period I have also visited and climbed in the Alps, Russia, Romania, Nepal, Ecuador, Bolivia, Morocco and Corsica. This summer I'm off to Mongolia. As long as there are hills, I expect I'll want to walk in and climb them!
John Penny
