Bagging a Munro


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September 12th 2009
Published: September 13th 2009
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Keith atop Ben LawersKeith atop Ben LawersKeith atop Ben Lawers

That's Loch Tay and the southern Highlands behind and below Keith at the summit.
There are supposedly 284 peaks in Scotland that are over 3000 feet above sea level. Sir Hugh Munro was the first to publish a list of them, in 1891. Since then, people have been climbing or "bagging" Munroes. There are people who have bagged them all...and it is becoming very popular these days to make it a life goal. So we picked out one that is in the top ten, at 1214 m (3983 feet), from which we were told on a clear day you could see both coasts - the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. Three and a half hours it took to get to the top of Ben Lawers, admittedly with many stops, including one for lunch. It turns out there were two paths; one followed the ridge of "fake" summits and the other was a more gradual climb round the side, which would have been easier had we known enough to take it. After another (almost) two and a half hours down, and it was essentially an all-day escapade. We were all quite tired, but we had bagged our first Munro.

Of the 15 days we were in Scotland, it rained on 12 of them. Luckily
Inverary CastleInverary CastleInverary Castle

The Clan Campbell's castle in Inverary.
the mountain-climbing day was one of the other three. Most days though it rained in the morning and cleared up in the afternoon, regardless of what the meteorologists had forecast. Susan started prognosticating every morning that it would clear up in the afternoon, and she was more accurate than the professionals.

We only bagged the one mountain, but we "bagged" a few castles. They ranged from posh (Inverary) to ruins (Urquhart) and from the remote (Duart on the Isle of Mull) to the wildly-overvisited (Edinburgh with its forty-five minute wait in line for tickets). Others, like our own clan's castle Duntrune, are not open to the public. It is owned by the head of the MacCallum clan whose branch changed their last name to Malcolm in the 1800s. The "anglicization" of clan names was common then so the names did not sound so foreign to English ears - and therefore it was hoped, the bearers would face less prejudice for being a "barbarous" highlander. Our ancestor Archibald MacCallum had emigrated to Canada in 1785 prior to this sad practice becoming common....more to come shortly!...


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Castle UrquhartCastle Urquhart
Castle Urquhart

That's Loch Ness in behind the ruins of the Urquhart Clan castle.
Duart CastleDuart Castle
Duart Castle

The Clan MacLean's castle on the Isle of Mull.
Edinburgh CastleEdinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle

Actually a very small part of Edinburgh Castle, a walled fortress enclosing many buildings.
Duntrune CastleDuntrune Castle
Duntrune Castle

The so-called Malcolm Clan castle.


13th September 2009

Wow!
Thank you so much for sharing. One day, it'll be my turn to visit Scotland!
14th September 2009

Great job!!Maybe one day we can bag one together!!

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