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WALKING THE MUNROS
VOLUME ONE: SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND WESTERN HIGHLANDS
by Steve Kew
2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA LA7 7PY
About the Author
Steve Kew made his first solo climb at the age of 10 in the Lake District when he pioneered an interesting route from his campsite in Grasmere to the summit of Helm Crag; he has been hooked on mountains ever since. He attended a beginners’ rock climbing course in 1970 and immediately returned to do the intermediate and advanced courses. Since then he has climbed and walked extensively throughout Britain; in the Alps he has done many of the classic 4000m peaks such as the Matterhorn, Nadelgrat and Monte Rosa traverse and has trekked and climbed in the Nepal Himalayas and the Karakoram amongst many other places. For many years he lived in southwest Scotland where he was a member of the Galloway Mountain Rescue Team. He was chairman of the Mountain Rescue Team and of the Stewartry Mountaineering Club, helped to run the Newton Stewart Walking Festival and sat on the Southwest Access Forum and the Forest Panel. His previous writing includes three other books, many articles for newspapers and magazines and radio drama for the BBC.
Other Cicerone guides by the author
Walking the Munros Vol 2: Northern Highlands and the Cairngorms
© Steve Kew 2017
Third edition 2017
ISBN: 978 1 85284 875 0
Second edition 2012
First edition 2004
Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.
Updates to this Guide
While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/875/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time.
The route maps in this guide are derived from publicly-available data, databases and crowd-sourced data. As such they have not been through the detailed checking procedures that would generally be applied to a published map from an official mapping agency, although naturally we have reviewed them closely in the light of local knowledge as part of the preparation of this guide.
We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, United Kingdom.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Beathag Mhoireasan from the Gaelic College in Sleat – Sabhal Mòr Ostaig – for invaluable help with the Gaelic names and pronunciations. Any mistakes or oddities in the handling of these names in the text, however, is entirely my own fault.
Thanks also are due to Jean Etherington for helping to keep track of where I was on my travels, and also to the numerous youth hostel wardens and local police with whom I left details of routes.
I am also grateful to Ronald Turnbull for his suggestions on the text.
The short quote from The Songs of Duncan Ban Macintyre in the section on Beinn Dorain comes from a translation by Angus Macleod, published by Oliver and Boyd for the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society 1952. It is worth getting hold of this book, if only for an extraordinary description it contains of the qualities of the water in a little burn on the east side of Beinn Dorain called the Allt na h-Annait.
Above all this was for Tink, who was with me every step of the way.
Warning
Mountain walking can be a dangerous activity carrying a risk of personal injury or death. It should be undertaken only by those with a full understanding of the risks and with the training and experience to evaluate them. While every care and effort has been taken in the preparation of this guide, the user should be aware that conditions can be highly variable and can change quickly, materially affecting the seriousness of a mountain walk. Therefore, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law, neither Cicerone nor the author accept liability for damage of any nature (including damage to property, personal injury or death) arising directly or indirectly from the information in this book.
To call out the Mountain Rescue, ring 999 or the international emergency number 112: this will connect you via any available network. Once connected to the emergency operator, ask for the police.
Front cover: Rannoch Moor and Stob a’ Choire Odhair from Stob Ghabhar (Route 41)
CONTENTS
Route 1 Ben Nevis, Carn Mor Dearg
Route 2 Aonach Mor, Aonach Beag
Route 3 Stob Ban, Stob Choire Claurigh, Stob Coire an Laoigh