Over 130 years ago, mountaineer Sir Hugh Munro published the first list of Munros – Scottish mountains with a height over 3,000 feet – and inspired the hobby of Munro ‘bagging’, a pastime which combines rugged adventure on a personal and literal journey around the Scottish Highlands with a nerdy compulsion to maintain a ticklist.Peak Bagging Munros Volume 1 by Nicola Hardy (Munroist number 6,765) features 64 routes designed to link up the 141 most southerly Munros so you can enjoy the challenge of ‘compleating’ them at your own pace – over years, months or, in rare cases, even just a few weeks. It presents not only the most efficient routes, but does so in such a way that each route is a fantastic walk or run in its own right. The featured routes include the iconic Ring of Steall and Ben Nevis via the Càrn Mòr Dearg Arête, alongside classic entry-level walks up the likes of Ben Chonzie, Ben Lomond in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and Mount Keen in the Cairngorms.To assist you in building an itinerary, the routes are split into ten Highland hubs which include Glencoe, Fort William, Braemar and Pitlochry. These are chosen to be easy to access and with decent public transport links to help you make environmentally sustainable choices when you can. Base yourself in a Highland hub for a long weekend or a lengthier stay, springboard to Munro routes from each hub and return to access the recommended local facilities including shops, pubs and cafes.In addition, the book is packed with useful information, including 1:40,000-scale maps, elevation profiles, route directions, public transport and parking details, refreshments, downloadable GPX files for each route, and custom timings for walkers, trekkers, fastpackers and runners. Along with stunning photography, there are rest day suggestions, accommodation ideas to suit multiple budgets and a series of supportive indices through which you can find suitable walks, whatever your current level of hillwalking experience.Whatever your timescale for compleating Scotland’s Munros, Peak Bagging Munros Volume 1 is the indispensable guide to this Scottish hill challenge.
