Munro Marathon

It was a very early start on the morning of 4 July as I awoke at first light, around 3.30 am, to make my way to Glenshee, just a short distance away from my overnight stop. I set off on the mountain trek at 04.10.

The early morning mist rolled over the hills making visibility pretty poor but the first two summits were familiar and I made good progress. The herds of deer were out in force in the early hours with the hills swarming with hundreds of stags. I don't know where they hide later in the day but in the early morning the hills were absolutely swarming with wildlife.

05.17 Creag Leacach (987m)
05.54 Las Maol (1068m)
06.30 Cairn of Claise (1064m)

Visibility became very poor on the approach to Carn an Tuirc, down to maybe 30 m, so some accurate compass work to find the summit and the make a very difficult route to Tolmount across very rough ground. Lacking in confidence in my location on the approach to Tolmount but the clouds lifted briefly to allow a glimpse of the summit.

07.00 Carn an Tuirc (1019m)
08.16 Tolmount (958m)
09.10 Cairn Bannoch (1012m)
09.39 Broad Cairn (998m)

The clouds finally lifted at around 10 am and I enjoyed glorious sunshine for the rest of the day with soaring temperatures as the afternoon proceeded.

10.45 Carn an t_sagairt Mor (1047m)
11.29 Carn a'Choire Bhoidheach (1110m)
12.10 Lochnagar (1155m)

Arrived at the most distant point with fabulous views to the north from Lochnagar and the steep cliffs surrounding the summit. The long walk back started with the legs starting to get very heavy as I crossed the rough boggy ground towards Tom Buidhe.

14.30 Tom Buidhe (957m)

I arrived back at Glenshee at 5 pm feeling totally shattered. The long walk back without summits to tick off was very draining. Quick hot soup and lie down for about an hour helped tremendously and I set off again just before 6pm feeling surprising fresh and energetic.

18.15 Carn Aosda (917 m)
19.10 Carn a'Gheoidh (975m)
20.00 The Cairnwell (933m)

Back to the car by 8.15 pm having completed 14 munros in around 16 hrs of walking (and a few jogs). Total distance covered was around 64 km or 40 miles. Back home in Edinburgh by 11 pm.