Craig Caldwell

Surprisingly dull.

A truly magnificent effort - a self propelled (ie walking and cycling) continuous trip to visit all of Scotland's hills greater than 2500 ft - the Munros and Corbetts as they are known. The only mechanical aids used were ferrys out to the islands. And of course a hardy support team - but this was only friends and relatives, it was very much a low key operation. Born out of one of those conversations round a fire late at night, Craig departed in Feb '85 on what turned out to be a 13 month trip. Not the most auspicious year to have chosen, it was the wettest on record in over a century, which delayed and at times imperiled his plans. However he kept at it, taking rest days where needed, or forced to by the weather. Somehow it feels vaguely cheating to have stayed in hostels and hotels, and on occasion to have had his bike conveyed by the support team, but it would have been so much harder otherwise, and he did camp for many of the nights.

Unfortunetly the mountainering skills he so admirably displayed aren't replecated in the tale of telling them. He painfully describes every one of the 498 peaks he ascended, in hardly any detail at all. There are brief mentions of wildlife - deer, foxes, ptarmigen, and hares - and occasional people, always friendly. There are historical inserts of how one barely remembered scottish clan fought another or the english hundreds of years ago, sometimes with accompanying poetry. There are very brief and incredulously superstitious accounts of the areas various ghosts. The remaining descriptions of overflowing burns, gale force winds and snow complete the tale, but all are very very short a sentance or two at the most. There could have been so much more detail on some of the peaks - full descriptions on the days when there was a view, the emotional rollercoaster of surviving tricky incidents, being forced to turn back and the ecstacy of making a hard won summit. But there isn't. The book is replete with sketch maps showing the peaks relative locations, confusing gaelic names and the order they were climbed, but this is often lost in the several pages of text following them. Just occasionally Craig does manage to capture the spirit that kept him walking, and a few of the paragraphs of his interactions with others show the level of prose he is capable of, it's just a shame that they aren' the majority of the book.

If you know many scottish mountains, and are familiar with winer hillwalking it's an inspiring account of what can be achieved, otherwise there are many better books out there.… (altro)