16 Munros in 16 Days - Blog post
As much as I love hiking in my spare time, this was a real challenge!
My name is Viv, I work for Clackmannanshire Women’s Aid and for this years 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, I challenged myself to complete 16 Munros within 16 days.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign that takes place every year from November 25th to December 10th. The annual campaign aims to raise awareness and promote action to end violence against women and girls.
I decided to complete the challenge ahead of the 16 days so that I was able to film and promote the journey content throughout the 16-day campaign. There was also a safety aspect to this decision, Munro days are long, and I wanted to be hiking in daylight hours, so I started my challenge on the 31st of August. When planning to summit a Munro, you have to take a lot into consideration, the mountain forecasts are often inaccurate and very different to the forecasts at sea level, I thought by starting this challenge at the end of August it would give me a good chance of beating the bad weather… I was wrong. The majority of the 16 Munros were in poor visibility, extremely high winds, rain and even snow!
Day 1 (31st Aug) – Glencoe: Munros bagged – Creise (1100 metres) and Meall a'Bhùiridh (1108 metres)
Due to work commitments, I was unable to complete 16 days consecutively, so I had to squeeze in multiple Munros each day I was hiking, in order to complete within the 16 day time frame. The first day was off to a great start, with beautiful weather there were plenty of hikers out in Glencoe to chat about the campaign and spread the word. I wore a T-shirt with a photo of Claire Inglis for my first hike. Claire lost her life at the hands of an abuser in 2019, so my first hike for this campaign was dedicated to her.
Day 2 (1st Sept) – Ben Lui (1130 metres) and (Beinn a'Chlèibh 916 metres)
Day two and the weather wasn’t as kind today, there was practically no visibility for the whole walk and it was extremely boggy – at one point I was up to my knees in mud! I managed to speak to a few hikers at the start of the walk and they asked about my t-shirt which read ‘Taking steps to end violence against women and girls’, I spent time chatting to them about the campaign, explaining that it starts on November 25th as this is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and runs through to December 10th as this is International Human Rights Day.
Day 3 (4th Sept) – Ben Oss (1029 metres) and Beinn Dubhchraig (978 metres)
After a couple of days’ break from hiking I felt ready to go again. The weather was not great for this pair of Munros either, with rain, a very cold wind and no visibility for most of the hike. I didn’t see many people on this hike but it was great to see that the JustGiving page had taken off and was being shared far and wide on social media! I was blown away with the support for the challenge and the donations that were coming in for Clackmannanshire Women’s Aid (CWA). CWA support women and families in the Clackmannanshire area who have been subjected to Domestic Abuse. They can offer confidential support both emotional and practical, information and safe refuge space. CWA also has a service for children and young people called Clacks COURAGE, offering 1:1 support, groupwork and prevention service.
Day 4 – (7th Sept) Cairn Gorm (1245 metres) and Ben Macdui (1309 metres)
I travelled up to the Cairn Gorms to complete these two munros on the 6th Sept, however it turned out to be much hotter than forecast and I felt it was safer for my dog to turn back and not risk going any further. Determined to get these two done, I checked into a hotel in Aviemore for the night and set an alarm for 4am the next morning to start them super early and beat the heat. By 10am the next I was standing on the summit of Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Britain, to take me to half way through the challenge, 8 down, 8 to go!
Day 5– (8th Sept) Càrn Liath (975 metres) Bràigh Coire Chruinn-bhalgain (1070 metres) Càrn nan Gabhar (1121 metres)
Three munros in one day at the Beinn A Ghlo circuit! Today I was joined by Jenny and Emma for some moral support. It was fab to have company on this long day, taking us around 8 and a half hours to complete with an added 3 hours of driving. We had a mixed bag of weather, extremely hot for the first Munro but the weather quickly changed and we had rain and wind for the rest of the hike. 11 down 5 to go!
Final day – (12th Sept) The White Mounth Munros Round
My biggest day yet taking in 5 Munros in one day to hit my target of 16 Munros in 16 days. Munros summited, Lochnagar (1156 meters) Càrn a' Choire Bhòidheach (1118 meters) Càrn an t-Sagairt Mòr (1047 metres) Cairn Bannoch (1012 metres) Broad Cairn (998 metres). This was a long day, the exhaustion from the challenge creeping in and the feet definitely needing a rest but I was absolutely ecstatic to complete. The amount of interest the challenge had generated on social media and the coverage from the newspapers had been amazing and made it so worthwhile. I would also like to say a big thank you to everyone who shared, donated and offered words of encouragement, I couldn’t have done it without you all.
Scotlands Domestic Abuse and Forced Marriage Helpline – 0800 027 1234