As many of you will know, we’ve set ourselves a summer challenge of walking 20+ munros with our 5yo son in 4 weeks, starting at the beginning of July, raising money for Tommy’s at the same time. A munro is a mountain which is 3000ft+ and our son has walked 22 munros to date. This challenge is going to be big for us as this will be around the same number of munros again for him, but all in a single month. We’ve already done quite a few of the easiest munros, so there will be quite a bit more distance and ascent involved during the summer, though of course wildcamping to break the walks up a bit is always an option…
The exact hills we’ll walk will depend on weather forecasts, how we are getting on and our energy levels. We know we are all capable of walking comfortably in wind up to 25 mph, but much higher starts to get tough for our son. We hope we will be able to avoid really rainy days, using them as rest days instead, but it is Scotland so we expect to see the inside of many clouds, get plenty of showers, possibly some hail or snow and definitely get buffeted about a bit.
With that in mind we have put together a list of routes for about 40+ hills, allowing for flexibility to chase the good weather.
In no particular order, here are just a few of the hills we’ve been looking at for our summer challenge. The map shots have been taken from walkhighlands, a fantastic resource for planning walks of all length in Scotland.
1) The Lochnagar circuit: This round of 5 munros should take us two days and two nights, with us planning to shorten the walking distance by cycling to the end of Loch Muick.
- Distance 29 km, Ascent 1228
2) 4 from Glen Ey: This route should take us two days, cycling in to the top of Glen Ey before climbing the four munros that are the least accessible of the Glenshee munros.
- Distance 33 km, Ascent 1715 m
3) West Drummochter three: These three munros on the west side of the Drummochter Pass will make a nice overnight route, with a cycle back along the A9 cycle path to join the start and finish. The Balsporran B&B awaits at the end… you should just see their cakes on their facebook page – nuff said!
- Distance 15.8 km, Ascent 913 m
4) Meall Corranaich & Meall a’Choire Leith, and Meall nan Tarmachan (Ben Lawers range): These three hills on the edge of the Lawers range should make for a couple of pleasant days.
- Distance 9.5 km, Ascent 740 m (first two), Distance 13 km, Ascent 783 m (last one)
5) Ben More and Stob Binnein: Two munros on the north of the Loch Lomond National Park
- Distance 12 km, Ascent 1335 m
6) Cruach Ardrain & Beinn Tulaichean: Another two munros near Crianlarich
- Distance 12.5 km, Ascent 1025 m
7) Ben Lui and Beinn a’Chleibh
- Distance 10 km, Ascent 1078 m
8) Creise and Meall a’Bhuiridh from Glencoe Ski Centre
- Distance 10.5 km, Ascent 1110 m
9) Buachaille Etive Mor (two munros)
- Distance 13 km, Ascent 1110 m
10) Buachaille Etive Beag (two munros)
- Distance 8km, Ascent 900 m
11) Bidean nam Bain (two munros)
- Distance 11 km, Ascent 1316 m
12) Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag
- Distance 9.5 km, Ascent 860 m
13) The Ben Alder six: this round of six remote munros will be a challenge for sure. It should take us three days and two nights, including time to cycle in and out to Culra bothy (a round trip of around 30 km in itself)
- Distance 25.1 km, Ascent 2078 m
14) Beinn a’Chlachair, Gael charn and Creag Pitridh from Loch Laggen: Another great overnight bike and hike to three remote hills
- Distance 26 km, Ascent 1275 m
15) Creag Meagaidh circuit (three munros): These three munros are round the edge of a massive, impressive looking corrie. We once tried to look it up on Google, but couldn’t remember the spelling so typed ‘Crag Megadeath’. Google knew exactly what we meant (spooky!)
- Distance 21 km, Ascent 1080 m
These are just a few ideas of which munros we’re going to try to summit, depending on so many different things on the day. We’re hoping for plenty of good weather days, and looking forward to spending a many night in the tent too.
Wish us luck! And if you see us on the mountains, be sure to say hello!
Don’t forget, you can sponsor our challenge, funding research into the cause and prevention of pregnancy complications that lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth here;
You can also keep up to date with our progress on our social media:
An Outdoors Family 
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