An Englishman Looks at the Thistle

OK, better’fess up to this right from the start. I’m doing the Munros. I know, I know, tragic, male, box ticking mentality, arbitrary contour in an out of date measuring system, what’s the big deal about 914.4m.

But here’s the thing. By a complete fluke, old H.T.Munro created something that a whole tribe of leisure consultants and outdoor pursuit animators could never have done. There are just enough of these peaks to make it a serious challenge but not so many as to be completely out of reach. They are spread right across the Highlands, forcing you to visit almost all of Scotland north of the Highland Line. And, as I have learned from experience, 3,000 feet of ascent is enough to make it feel like a serious effort (which is why some of those hills around Drumochter, where the roadside (or railtrack) is close to 1,000 feet, are a bit of a doddle. It’s aso perfect that there is one, but only one, which really requires you to rope up (though several others – The Saddle in Kintail, the Aonach Eagach in Glencoe – may give you pause for thought depending on your own level of surefootedness). All in all, and with the important proviso that one does not ignore lower but very attractive hills (Foinaven, the Cobbler), it makes a stirring challenge. Having just hit the hundred mark, I can honestly say I’m rather enjoying it.