Well... We did it!

On Tuesday evening we were pleased to reach the top of Ben Hope in good weather after journey that started 62 days ago on Mount Keen.



It has been quite a journey I’m sure we will never forget, with many high points and low points (not as many as these as we expected.

There are too many high points to name however a few that stand out are:

-The People

Along the way we have been privileged to meet so many great people; the warden at Corrour youth hostel who gave us food after walking a whole day with nothing (after Ben Alder Bothy), Jules in Dalwhinney allowed us to fill our water and use his internet, Graham from the Clachaig Inn welcomed us, when we were staying in their car park, with whiskey.

There were 2 people, in particular, who were truly inspiring.

The first we met was Andrew Johnston, who we met by chance on day 2 in Ballater, He was one of very few people who would truly understand what we were about to do because he had done the same thing. We then quincidently bumped into him again half way through on the hill, so it only felt appropriate to invite him along on our final hill. We were very much enjoyed his company on the last hill.

We also, by chance, met a man named Mike Royal. He was on an adventure of his own. He left his home in Snowdonia completely along on his bike and planned to walk every 3000ft hill in Britain. we were humbled to be able to help on the Inn Pinn with the abseil. It was great to share such an incredible peak with Mike. What a guy!

We must also thank everyone who sent us emails with support and adive. It really does help!

- The places

Just have a look at some of our previous picture and that is just a taster of what we saw, for every picture we took; we got a full panorama. To experience the full effect of the Scottish landscape you really must throw yourself in it.

Yes... it is great to have walked all the Munros, however, we must emphasise that the Munros were merely a by-product of the journey. To true success lies in the fact that we had such an amazing, unforgettable journey that will live with us for a long time.

-The Wildlife

It was inevitable that we would see some interesting wildlife on the trip, but looking back we feel we saw more than we could hope for the list includes, Countless Deer, Hundreds of Ptarmigan, various birds of prey including a stunning Golden Eagle that flew about 3 metres away from us at full spread, a large Adder that gave Joe a shock as he went for a call of nature, Slow worms, Lizard, 3 Pine Martens (one pause for about 10 seconds a few metres in front of us).



-Van life

It took some time to get used to living in a van, but we soon got used to living in the organised mess.  Spending well over 1000 hours within the company of one other person could easily become frustrating, but we are glad to make it through the other end still mates.

What Next?

The next adventure for us both will be our attempt at the Bob Graham Round towards the end of August. The Bob Graham Round is a mega classic fell run in the Lake District, It is around 70 miles with 8800m of vertical height gain the challenge is to complete in under 24 hours. Until then we will try to recover. 

[Insert:Joe and Pete Ran the Bob Graham Round on 15 September 2012 in a time of 21hours 47 mins]

3 days to go!

The Last few days have been spent walking around Glen Cannich and Glen Strathfarrer. 

On Wednesday we planed to walk the 12 Munros north and south of loch Mullardoch (shown in the image below.)

 You would think we would be fit and ready to go after our full rest day and 'all you can eat' Chinese in Inverness the day before, but... No!... We somehow managed to sleep in until midday!

We got up swiftly and walked along the north shore of Loch Mullardoch to 'do' the 4 Munros on the north side, 

An Socach

An Riabhachan

Sgurr na Lapaich

Carn nan Gobhar

On Thursday we then walked along the, horribly undulating, south shore of Loch Mullardoch(see pic) to access the 8 Munros to the south. This walk-in proved to be more tiresome than expected. (with a interesting water crossing, see image!) 

After walking the 8 hills; we made it back to our Orange van in the 'wee small hours'. 

We decided to take Friday off, just because we could!

Today(Saturday)- Another very easy day. We walked up the 4 Munros on the ridge North of Glen Strathfarrer. They were more mellow than expected and we were back in our van by 2pm ( We set off at 9.30)

So after 2 relaxing days we feel recovered and ready for the final push to the end. 

The Plan!

Tomorrow (Sunday)- All 9 Fannaichs

Monday- 6 hills around Ullapool

Tuesday- Conival, Ben More Assynt, Ben Kilbreak and our final hill... Ben Hope!

(as I write this we have found internet signal in Inverness, We will try to update the blog daily until the end if signal allows)

(image taken from: http://www.stevenfallon.co.uk)

Fisherfield Hills, Torridon's and a late night on Ben Wyvis

Friday 6th

After having a slow morning in Kyle of Lochalsh we made the decision to head north and climb the very mellow and short Fionn Bheinn to loosen off our tired legs and make some progress from the day.

Saturday 7th

The plan for the day was to go up Slioch and then walk the Fisherfield 6, a day we were both looking forward to after hearing about its reputation. But unfortunately due to the poor weather conditions it became another day of walking through low cloud and rain. After 13 hours of walking we decided to stay in Shenavall bothy and have an early night.


Sunday 8th 

After having a surprisingly comfortable sleep we only had 2 hills on An Teallach to do that day. However it didn't end up being that simple because we became separated in the cloud. I (Joe) had the map and found my way onto the first summit but unfortunately Pete ended up around a group of tops south of the An Teallach. After an hour of constant shouting to each other and Pete finding his way by leaving a trail of mars bars behind him we found each other and carried on to the last hills and dropped off into Dundonnell. The plan was then to hitch hike back to the van back in Kinlochewe along a road with the nickname 'Destitution road' (A832) built during the 1840's to provide employment during times of famine. 

Monday and Tuesday 9th & 10th

Torridon day! Again these were another group of hills that many people have previously raved about and it was a promising start as we woke up to sunshine and clear skies. The weather held at first and we climbed Sgurr Mhor and its partner with great panoramic views of the area but unfortunately it didn't last and by the time we were on Liathach the cloud came in once more and the rest of the day was a similar story. After descending Beinn Eighe in the dark we still both felt good so we decided to drive over to Ben Wyvis and climb it in the early hours of the morning. After walking through the darkness and further cloud we finally reached the summit and made it back down to the car park for 5:00am. 

Climbing Ben Wyvis early this morning gave us the opportunity for a rest day so we're now in Inverness buying our final food shop, eating at a Chinese buffet and relaxing.  


                                                        Shenavall bothy

                       Joe and Pete on the summit of Ruadh- Stac Mhor in the Torridon's

                                                             Torridon's

                                                 
                                                  Joe and Pete on Ben Wyvis

                                               Joe walking in the Torridon's

The Cuillin Ridge

We know that we haven't updated the blog for a while, but we have been busy.

1st July: Joe's Birthday: For Joes Birthday we had a lie in and walked up only one hill.  (Beinn Sgritheall) then drove to 'Kyle of Lochalsh for some Pub food.

2nd July: We drove to Glen Carron and walked 6 Munros (including number 284, the one that used to be a Munro.) We walked from Craig over the following hills. 

-Bidean a Choire Sheasgaich

-Lurg Mhor

-Sgurr Chonnich

-Sgurr a'Chaorachain

-Moruisg

-Maoile Lunndaidh

3rd July: We walked over the 3 hills on the 'other' side of Glen Carron. with grat views of the Torridons. 

4th July: We planned a short day in preparation for the Cullin Ridge Traverse so we walked up Beinn Fhada (or Ben Attow) and  A'Ghlas-bheinn.

5th July: The Cullin Traverse- This was a day we were really looking forward to that would take in 11 Munros, and it didn't let us down. 

We left our van, at the south side of the ridge early and swiftly walked up to the top of the first munro (sgurr nan

Eag, we were greeted by a beautiful cloud inversion around the whole ridge and clear alpine blue skies. 

Last week in Kintail we had the pleasure of meeting 'Mike Royal' and discovered that he was on a an adventure of his own. He set of from his home in Snowdonia in April and was walking up every 3000ft peak in the Wales, England and Scotland, and cycleing between them, self supported. He mentioned that he was struggling to find climb the Inn Pin on the Cullin Ridge (2 failed attempts). We agreed to help in out by letting him use our ropes for the climb and abseil. It was great to shared at least one mountain with such a like-minded person.

We reached the Inaccessible Pinnacle by around 11am where we met Mike with 2 litres of water he had kindly carried up for us. 

The weather was great until the last 2 Munros (Sgurr Alastair an Sgurr nan Gillian). 

What a great day!! 

6th of July: We had another lie-in today parked by the public toilets in Kyle of Lochalsh where we were hoping to find showers (after a tip off) we found the showers but they were locked. :-( It is midday as I write this and we are still unsure what we are going to do today. With the 11 Munros we did yesterday we now only have 52 left to do! So we may just have a rest day today.

 

Bla Bheinn (Blaven) and the Kintail Ridges

On wednesday Nick and Jack joined us for a walk up the lone Munro on Skye. Bla Bheinn- or Blaven as it is often anglicised. It stands alone from all of the other 11 Munros on Skye which are all on the Cuillin Ridge. It is often regarded as one of the finest mountain in Britain that towers magnificently over Loch Slapin with some pretty unimaginable views. Unfortunately thoses view had to remain unimaginable because of the dense low cloud that has engulfed the west of Scotland for the lat few days.

Eager for some more walking, Jack and Nick were excited about joining us for another day of walking in the cloud. On Thursday they joined us on the south Kintail ridge of 9 Munros finishing on The Saddle

(The 4 of us on The Saddle)This picture just about sums up the weather we have endure recently, no inspiring photos recently, unless you are inspired by clouds!

Today (Friday) we were back to  a team of 2, we walked through the cloud to the summits of the first 6 summits of the North Kintail ridge, tomorrow we will walk the remaining 6 summits finishing on the 5 sisters of Kintail. 

We are now over the 200 mark! We are still enjoying the experience however, at times, the monotony of the ups and downs can be a little frustrating. We are still motivated by the fact the 'best' is yet to come, (Cullin Ridge, Fisherfields, Torridon,)

Knoydart

2 days ago we set from Kinloch Hourn with the intention of walking up the 8 Munros in the remote area of Knoydart, with an overnight stay in Sourlies bothy.
 We started with a long slog to Beinn Ladhar (pronounced Larven)then worked our way over 2 Munros down to the Bothy.
 Today we woke at 4am for an early start to the day starting up Sgurr na Ciche, but not before collecting some mussels from the beach.
 After two 12 hour days we made it back to the dam on Loch Quioch with only about 10 miles left to cycle back to the van. (luckily for me (pete) Joe lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors and had to do the the cycle while I slept on the side of the road) We are now on the Isle of Skye with some friends from University of Cumbria (Nick Michel and Jack Loftus).
We were planning on doing the Cullin traverse tomorrow, however, today is the first time it has rained on the Isle for a month. We plan to reurn in the better weather. Sgurr na Ciche

Away from the mainland.

Over the last few days Joe and I have been working our way through the southern Munros, which a times have felt like were 'bagging' hills for that sake. I guess that is the down side of walking a continuous round, there can be times where it is difficult to take it all in because you have to stick to a schedule................................. We are still having loads of fun going to so many new place and meeting so many great people..................................... On our return from walking over 5 Munros in Mamlorn hills; we had another chance encounter with our new friend 'Andy Johnston'. He invited us in to his nice Mercedes Sprinter Camper van (not as nice as our rusty orange transit) for a drink and a sandwich, he then agreed to join us for a hill the next day.(Ben Chonzie) having someone join us from a day is a great motivational boost, that day we then went on to walk up Ben Vorlich, Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Lomond, finally getting to sleep around 1.30am................................................................................. We are now relaxing on the coast on the Isle of Mull, after walking up the impressive Ben Cruachan, where we plan to walk up Ben More and spend the rest of the day enjoying this great little isle...................................................... Over the next week we are excited about walking and climbing the hills of Knoydart and Skye.

Half Way!! woop woop (and a big tree)

Over the last few days it has been very difficult to find internet, so to prove ware continuing our endeavor to keep in touch with the outside world we drove 20 miles to Pitlochry in search of internet signal............................................... So what has happened?... Tuesday: Ben More day, Keith (Peters dad) joined us for Ben More to climb his first Scottish mountain, which coincidentally was Peters first ever hill too! Wethen left Keith to find his own way back while we continued over 6 more Munros (SW of Ben More and Stob Binnen)........................................................ Wednesday: 4 Munros near Arochar with great views of the Cobbler from Beinn Narnain.................................. Thursday:In the morning we walked up the isolated Beinn Bhuidhe then drove to do Carn Gorm, Meall Garbh, Carn Mairg & Creag Mhor............................... Friday: Just Schiehallion today!.............................. we walked up a few hills, climbed a few Munros et cetera, but that's not particularly interesting!... what is interesting is that we saw Britain largest tree! :-) Yep, As we were driving through a small village named 'Cairnhow', we noticced signs for Britains largest tree,... We definitely had to stop to see it................................................................. Here it is... it is a 64.3m Grand Fir. We are now on day 30 of our wee adventure, exactly half way of our 60 day schedule, and we have walked up 144 out of 283 Munros meaning we are slightly ahead of target, which is nice, but we also want to use the full 60days so we can have more fun exploring Scotland. Highlights of the last few days were, -Enjoying the Company of Keith (Peters Dad) -The view the Cobbler near Arochar -Getting picked up by 2 Germans wearing Lederhosen while hitching back to our van -Reaching the half way point (all downhill from now) Down points - Cycling for 5 miles along the road and back to reach Beinn Bhuidhe to find we could have drove down the road. Bouldering in the mountains Crazy Clouds Pete's mustache after on 30 days!!

A visitor arrives

The time and Munros are moving on. On Monday we booked a bed at Crianlarich Youth Hostel so we could have a shower and wash our clothes and bedding before meeting up with Keith (Pete's Dad). Tuesday the 3 of us headed out starting with Ben More, At the summit Keith decided to make his own way down leaving us to do further Munros.

Glen Coe and the Olympic Torch

When we planned this trip we originally wanted to see how fast we could 'do' all the Munros, but then we realized that we could have way more fun if we took a little bit longer over them, hence why we have a 60 day schedule. Yesterday, proved that our decision to take our time was a good one. Yesterday morning we drove to Fort William to buy more food. (£100 of pure Carbohydrates and sugar!). As we were driving back through Glen Coe village we noticed an unusually large crowd of people lining the streets, we stopped to to have a nosey, It turns out that the Olympic torch was passing through, so we scraped our plans for that day and decided to be tourists and watch the torch go by. (its not every day you can see the Olympic torch) In the evening we managed to nip up 3 more Munroes west of Loch Etive (Sgor na h-Ulaidh, Beinn Fhionnlaidh, Beinn Sgulaird) getting back to our van at about midnight. We were greeted on the top of Beinn Sgulairdby an amazing cloud inversion at sunset, (sorry no photos) On Friday we had pleased that the weather forecast was wrong an we had a good day starting on Bidien Nam Bian and finishing on the Buchaille.

5 Munro's, river jumping and whiskey tasting

After having a well deserved lie in this morning we started the day 12:00pm (much later than originally planned). We got our first real taste of Scottish weather today on the last 2 summits with strong winds and heavy rain but can't really complain because it has been a long time coming and all in all the walk was good. As we walked back to our trusty van, soaked head to toe, we saw a bridge over a river with very deep water.We thought it would be rude not to jump in! The last few nights we have been using the famous Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe as a base. Living in our bright orange van it is difficult to stay inconspicuous, as a result the Clachaig staff began to notice us. We were very lucky to enjoy a 'Benromach' whiskey tasting evening courtesy of the Gordon from the Clachaig Inn. Thanks for the Whiskey Glass and the T-Shirts. I'm sure everyone reading this blog will have heard of the Clachaig, but if you haven't it is definitely worth checking out. (they have a selection of nearly 300 whiskeys) http://www.clachaig.com/

The Mamores

We thought the issue with the van meant that we would have to take another unplanned rest day, ( that would be 3 in the last 10 days!) All was fixed by about 3pm so we decided to drive to Glen Coe skicentre and walk up 4 Munros in that area. (Meall a'Bruiridh, Creise, Stob Ghabhar and Stob a Choire Odhair) We got back late, but at least it was not a wasted day. Today (Wednesday) we finally did the Mamores. It was another long day (13 hours) but at least we managed to get 10 more done. We have literally just got back (11.30pm) and we would really like some food and sleep now, So this blog will be kept short and sweet.

The Van is now fixed!

We have replaced the battery, and we are just about to head out and do 4 more hills this afternoon. While we were waiting the Manager of the Clachaig took our picture and put it on his website!:-) http://www.facebook.com/ClachaigInn

The Van has died!

We woke early this morning only to find the our trusty orange van wouldn't start. (so our planned '10 Munro' day is a no go). After our failed attempt to push the van down the road from the Clachaig Inn to start it; I (Pete) hitched to the nearest fuel station to buy jump leads. I got picked up immediately by a walker we had met on the hill the previous day. (he gave me a lift there and back)... the jump start also failed! As I write this, we are waiting for the RAC to come and save us. They didn't seem best pleased when they found out how far away we were. Hopefully all will be solved soon and we will be on our way soon..............

Ben Nevis and the Aonach Eagach

Internet is proving to be more difficult to find more recently, however we are now using the free internet at the Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe. 2 days ago we had a good day. Catching the first train from Fort William to Tulloch Station and walking back to Fort Bill over some impressive peaks and ridges. Taking in 10 Munros, finishing on Ben Nevis and down the tourist track. We were surprised to see hundreds (no exaggeration) of walkers/3 peakers and tourists on the top of 'The Ben' at 8pm! It must have been busy on the top at midday with people trying to get away from the Jubilee celebrations. Yesterday we slept in until midday, so our plan to do the Mamores (another 10 peak day) had to be abandoned, so we decided to drive to Bridge of Orchy and have a fairly short day in order to recover, We still manged 5 Munros. Today we planned to meet with our friend,, Matt Dudman, in the afternoon to do the, famous Aonach Eagach ridge. We decided to nip up a the Ballachulish ridge o do another 2 Munros. As I write this we are sat in the Clachaig Inn eating steak and getting tipsy from one pint of ale, prematurely, celebrating completing our 100th peak, which we should do tomorrow. The CMD Arete and the North face of Ben Nevis a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilKPop4vHUqDaYQfzn2SZ-vwM32WSYz75o1fWhp69d2nhEgtrId0bormVDhGqc3DbtDA_jXbBaxdIqRBcTNm1xC7bZo_9trbvLkJbCK8ik-FrO0YpLXryQRoU4q3_M0buictcePOKiapk/s1600/DSCF5602.JPG" imageanchor="1" style=""> Mountain Goats on the Aonach Eagach descent path The Aonach Eagach

The midges are here!

Due to no internet access over the last 3 or 4 days, it has been impossible to update the blog! We had a rough 2 days on Ben Alder, surrounding Munro's and Loch Ossian because of the lack of food we could carry and little sleep we had in Ben Alder cottage. We got a motivational boost when the lovely woman working at the Corrour Youth Hostel let us eat the left over food guests had recently left; so taking advantage of the opportunity we feasted! Yesterday was much easier and shorter taking in the 4 Munro's (Beinn a' Chaorainn, Creag Meagaidh, Stob Poite Coire Ardair and Carn Laith)situated in Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve. Although the weather was pretty miserable and Viability poor we both seemed to have enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately this morning Pete woke up with a unexpected and strange illness he believes he got from drinking diseased water... Still, he wasn't in any fit state to do any walking today so we decided to take a rest day in Fort William and stay in the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel in preparation for a big day tomorrow climbing 10 Munro's finishing off with Ben Nevis. All this recent good weather does come with one down side.... the return of the midges! Pete says 'going for a number 2 in the wild has become much more interesting'.

Following the enforced 2 day break we have got back on track. The latest venture was a 2 day walk covering 14 munros with brief sleep in a bothy (Ben Alder cottage). Morale is still positive even if we have spent the most of the last 2 days walking in cloud or being under constant attack from the local midge population. Easier day tomorrow withonly 4 munros to knock off.

Possibly the best long mountain day in the UK!

I can't think of anything that would rival the route we walked yesterday as the 'Best long mountain day in the UK' (maybe the Welsh 3000'ers or the Cullin ridge traverse) this definitely deserves classic status! The route is roughly 34 miles long and takes in 10 clasic Munro's including 5 of the 6 highest mountains in the UK! It has everything from some mild scrambling to interesting river crossings in some very impressive scenery. On a clear day you will awed by panoramic views of the whole Cairngorm National park and further. Here's a topo of the route. Starting on Cairngorm and finishing on Braeriach. We would definitely recommend this route to anybody wanting a challenging and very rewarding day in the mountains. Go and do it, You won't regret it, if it's too long or poor weather, you can always break the route into 2 days by staying in Corrour Bothy by the Devils Point.

As you can probably guess we had a great day yesterday. After descending 'Bynack More' we found the river by Loch Avon was in spate, making the crossing more challenging. We both opted for different methods, I (Pete)decided to strip off, throw my stuff across the river and swim. Meanwhile Joe decided just to plod through it and sacrifice his feet to wet boots. (see picture)

As a result of having wet feet so early in the day, Joe suffered from some pretty severe blisters forcing us to take an unplanned rest day today. This will give us a chance to plan the routes for later in the trip and maybe even go for a big slap up Sunday lunch in Aviemore. Over the last 2 days we have walked about 65mile and topped out on 16 Munro's, meaning we have walked up 54 Munro's so far on the trip. Munro's climbed yesterday -Cairn Gorm 1244m(6th highest) -Bynack More 1090m -Beinn Mheadhoin 1182m -Derry Cairngorm 1155m -Ben Macdui 1309 (2nd highest) -Carn a' Mhaim 1037m -The Devils Point 1004m -Cairn Toul 1291m (4th highest) -Sgor an Lochain Uaine 1258m (5th highest) -Breariach 1296m (3rd highest)

1st Long Cairngorms day- 13hours

Yesterday, we got back off the hill early so we traveled to Aveimore to fix our bikes, (Puncture and a bent wheel from descending a hill) and to buy more food and some more of our most important bit of kit... some Vaseline. Today was the first of two big days in the Cairngorms. When planning this route it looked like a bit of a slog and, well... it was!, but it was a nice slog; taking us to places we would never go to otherwise. Im not too sure on the distance we travelled but it felt like the longest day yet, I say 'yet' because tomorrow is even longer! We set off at about 7am this morning in very hot and humid conditions, luckily as we ascended we were hit with a light breeze, perfect walking conditions! Although today we had to cover a lot of miles; we still managed to find time to mess around in a river. (mainly to have our first wash since we have been here)

Fun River Crossing

Hot and humid conditions at 8am! Munro' Climbed today: Sgor Gaoith, Monadh Mor, Mullach Clach a' Bhlair, An Sgarsoch, Carn an Fhidhleir

2 easy days before 2 difficult days

Wednesday and Thursday are planned to relax in preparation for 2 more strenuous days around the Cairngorm area. Today we took in 5 out of the Munros around the Dalwhinnie area. the first 4 are on a 9 mile undulating ridge. We quickly traveled the route in running shoes, shorts and a 12 litre rucksack between us. We arrived back to the van to meet a friend who was passing by (Ian Winterburn}. We enjoyed the afternoon drinking tea; A welcome break from the blistering sun. This evening we cycled up a 6 km track and had a nice stroll up and down another Munro. We were back in time to air our the 'old rusty orange transit van' that is starting to pong!