A New Recruit!
I’ve always been very conscious of the dangers of taking my son up a Munro with me. The constant worry, not just about yourself, but the responsibility of looking after someone else always weighed on my mind. So when my son asked if his friend Angus could come with us on our next Munro adventure, I was slightly anxious. My son with his adhd can be tricky to control at times, and with Angus being autistic, I was honestly quite apprehensive about it. However, I thought that with a nice short day in the hills I could gauge both of their fitness (and behaviour) and decide if they’d be capable of a more challenging Munro in the future. As such I decided to pick probably the easiest Munro in the Lawers range, Meall Corranaich. If we did manage to make it to the summit we’d have the option of continuing on and bagging Meall a Choire Leith. However, even making it to the top of the first Munro was a bit of a challenge.
A Boggy Start
We stopped at the start of the reservoir and I gave Nathan the option of driving the car (at 13 he can drive a manual car no bother, so my auto would’ve been easy), or fly the drone. He chose the later. He’s also got his drone licence and is fairly confident behind the controls. So as I drove along the narrow road, Nathan flew over the reservoir keeping the car in sight as we made our way to the start point.
We’d made good time and were the first car reach the small car park near the top of the reservoir. Our dog Roman seemed to sense where we were as he jumped out of the car as soon as I opened the door and started doing his happy dance. I took extra time to ensure both Nathan and Angus had all the right equipment and explained to them the route and plan for the day. After tieing Angus’ boots we locked the car and set off in the direction of Meall Corranaich.
The first km was pretty easy going, a nice clear path that wasn’t too steep. However, when we hung a right to head over to the shoulder things got a bit boggy. It hadn’t rained in a few days, and I’d hoped most of the bog would’ve been frozen given the time of year, but it wasn’t. Thankfully this didn’t seem to phase Angus or Nathan as both of them took great joy in jumping into the mud and generally enjoying what I wasn’t. Oh the joy being young and carefree! I tried to guide them north of the bog, but no matter what route we chose it was pretty boggy. I did manage not to get any of my shoes totally submerged as I picked my steps very carefully. Being able to pick out the good solid spots is a skill in itself, as I’m definitely not getting as muddy as I’d done on previous adventures.
Heel!
After a good couple of km I’d pulled a bit of a gap on Nathan and Angus, who were both chatting away to each other about Mario and all things Nintendo. Instead of hanging about and waiting, I took the opportunity to stick the drone up and scout ahead for any sheep. With the path ahead clear of both sheep and people I let Roman off the lead to enjoy a bit of freedom. Although not trained to the level I’d like, Roman is really good with other dogs and children. I still need to work on his recall as he’ll only come back when he knows I have biscuits on my pocket, but we’re getting there. He’s a Romanian rescue we got about 7 years ago and has always been a pretty nervous dog, even a humble crisp packet blowing in the wind is enough to scare him. However, out in the hills he’s totally in his element, and I’d feel bad if I’d left him at home whilst we were out Munro bagging. It’s also great for his fitness too, as he’s been alot more food orientated since he got his knackers chopped off and has gained a few extra kilos
As we clambered free of the bog, the climb started to get a lot steeper, but the path became more stable. The boys took a slight diversion over to a pocket of snow about half way up, and proceeded to make and throw snowballs at each other. At least they were having fun and hadn’t moaned once, maybe we would manage to bag two Munros today after all? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
I tried to slow my pace down to let the boys keep up with me, but as think I just go into head down, box on mode when climbing a hill. Before I knew it I’d made to the top of the shoulder and was treated with fantastic views across the valley to Behinn Ghlass and Ben Lawers. The cloud was sitting just above Loch Tay obscuring Killin and the land below, allowing a classic inversion to form as we climbed higher.
After waiting a few minutes for the boys to catch up I took great pleasure in being able to point and identify almost all the Munros around us, something I couldn’t have done last year for sure. I made them top up on fluids and some jellybabies before the final push to the summit.
Although it looks pretty steep, the last push to the summit wasn’t as bad as expected. The grassy sides to the path made for better gains heading up, and before long we were at the cairn looking over to Beinn Ghlass. I’d hoped to stick the drone up but, as soon as we crested over the top, the wind picked up and there was no way I was putting the drone up for fear of it being blown away.
A Very Windy Summit
I think the boys were a bit shocked with the wind too, as their attitudes both changed when we got near the top. It was tricky to speak to each other and even my 100kg frame was leaning into the wind, so both of them must have been really struggling. We marched the short distance from the cairn to the true summit, ensuring I filmed both of them touching the the peak together. I could see Meall A Choire Leith ahead of us and it looked like a pretty easy stroll to me. However, when I asked the boys what they’d both like to do, both of them wanted to return to the car. I didn’t want to push them on, especially with this being Angus’ first Munro. However, I think if the conditions on top were more favorable, both of them would’ve continued on. As it was, I had promised the wife we’d be back for 1pm, so if we made our way back down now, we’d make it back with time to spare.
So with a swift return route decided, we started to retrace our steps back down the shoulder of Meall Corranaich. Although the ascent had taken us just under 2 hours, the descent would actually take us longer due to the boys deciding to have a bit of fun in the snow on the way down.
Let them have fun...
I’d stuck to the path on the way down, chatting to a multitude of people on their way up, offering encouragement and apologising for the screams and shouts from the two boys, who were sliding down snow filled gullies much to their own enjoyment. Roman was abit confused and was spending his time going between both groups to ensure we were OK. I did lose sight of them at one point, so stuck the drone back up to check where they were. In doing so I did manage to get some great shots of them sliding down the snow and having a great time. For me it was feeling more and more like a solo Munro, but I was secretly enjoying the filming and chatting to everyone on their way up.
We finally crossed paths again just before the bog, with the boys sharing stories of sliding and rolling about in the snow. We saw a large group heading through the bog on a slightly different path than we’d taken on the way up, so I pulled the boys over and tried to tackle the bog from the other side. It wasn’t easier. In fact it was probably more boggy on that side than the other, but we trudged through only stopping for a brief water break.
Better than Nintendo?
The car park was jammed full when we arrived back to the car and the boys were both totally covered in mud. I made sure to crack the boot open and made them derobe before getting anywhere near the inside of my car. I did have to help untie both their laces, but I made them take off their boots and change into a clean pair of clothes. Again, I was conscious of imparting good hill craft and knowledge to both of them along each step of the journey. So along with putting all the dirty clothes into a separate bag we did a mini review of the hike, what was good, what was bad and anything we could’ve improved on. They both said they really enjoyed the day, and to be fair neither of them moaned, it was only on the windy summit where there was any kind of negativity.
Even although we cut the day short, overall I would still class it as a successful day! Angus got his first taste of hill climbing and managed to bag his first Munro. Nathan bagged his fourth and I got my twelfth. We’d been lucky again with the weather, and I think that’s always a good thing on your first trek in the Scottish Highlands, ensuring the first memory is a good one. I know that if I had done Ben Nevis as my first Munro in those terrible conditions I wouldn’t have wanted to do another. Fingers crossed I’ve left a good impression on Angus and he’ll want to come and do another one. It certainly beats them both playing Nintendo all day!
