More Munros : Isle of Mull

Munros this section :
Ben More (Isle of Mull)

MV Isle of Mull preparing to head back to the mainland.

Nearly at the end of the trip, and I'm due a rest again - walking today is limited to the few kilometres from the campsite back to Oban, where I do a bit of shopping before boarding a ferry.  I am off to the isle of Mull, location of one of the most isolated Munros, Ben More.  I hear quite a few people make this their last Munro, well, last of this particular trip will do for me.  The ferry is surprisingly large, maybe not as big as those you see on the English Channel, but it has multiple decks, and a bar where I spend the forty-five minute crossing, and why not.  Once on the island I have a very short walk to my campsite, where I really don't have much to do other than pitch the tent, well, good to have that rest.  There is very little here other than the ferry terminal, campsite, a shop and thank goodness a pub - beer and surprisingly enough a burger ensue.

The last summit of the trip - Ben More.

So - the last hill of the trip, it is pretty much on the other side of what is not a large island, I walk for twenty km or so on quiet roads, it is windy and drizzling with rain, well, almost over.  Once onto trail it proves to be one of the wettest, boggiest trails I've ever seen, leading up to a pass from which there is a path up the mountain, I walk a little way up that before dumping my pack and continuing.  From here, Scotland throws pretty much everything at me, there is some astonishingly strong wind, heavy rain, and a scarily steep scramble over boulders and scree.  I am very glad I don't have to lug my pack up here, but even so it is a trial, all for another cairn inside a cloud of course.  Back down, going the other way from the pass the terrain is more of that 'worst ever bog', it is a struggle to find somewhere to camp, it's well past 8pm by the time I find a spot, well, it is time taken out of the next day I guess - and indeed it is a simple road walk, albeit with a surprising amount of traffic, back to the same campsite.  This time at the pub, I add to my lifetime tally of 'things eaten on pizza that probably do not belong there' - specifically, haggis and black pudding.  Well, I eat it.  And then spend most of the next two days on a series of trains and buses returning to England.

One last chance to wild camp.

So, a good trip.  I am approaching half the Munros done now, so some sort of achievement, but mainly it was just really nice to get out into the wild, do some proper walking, get in shape and have some time to myself.  I think I got pretty lucky with the weather, and if there were a lot of midges sometimes, well, I survived.  I am sure I'll return for maybe a couple more trips to finish the Munros off - though there is also a day around Strathyre do be done at some point, as I failed to do two of the planned hills this time.  Partly me being a bit out of shape, but also I really need to remember to go through my route beforehand and work out how much climbing there is each day!  One other thing that was nice was to do a little bit of the West Highland Way - it looks like a lovely walk, without much climbing, and I got the feeling there was a real hiking community going on there, nice.  Definitely one to do one day... it also made me somewhat nostalgic, watching the novice hikers with giant packs full of unnecessary stuff brought back memories of my first Pennine Way trip - a long time ago now.

Photos to go with this trip can be found here.