Sun, midges and Munros. Or so I thought. In the event there was little sun, no midges but hundreds of Munros. There are , in fact, 284 Munros in Scotland. That is , 284 independent peaks over 3000 feet ( .914 m .The summits are named after Sir Hugh Munro who in 1891 published his "Tables of Heights over 3000 feet.) Ever since, keen walkers have been climbing the peaks "Bagging Munros". In two weeks of walking I succeeded in climbing 12 Munros near Glencoe and in the Torridon Mountains in the North West.

We had at least one shower of rain everyday, a little bit of sun, much cloud, strong winds, and on the last day, snow. With my friends Ann and Mike we drove north from Great Bookham in Surrey to Fort William for the first week and to Kinlochewe for the second.

Scottish landscape has its own very particular character, especially in the north. Few people, large moody mounds of rock rising up from the lochs to 1000 metres. An elemental landscape.

Our typical day started with checking the weather forecast. Invariably some light rain in the morning but improving in the afternoon. We would drive 5 to 10 miles to our starting point , topo maps and guide book at hand as Scotland has no track signs or markers. There is a "Right-to-Roam" anywhere in Scotland regardless of who owns the land. With the open landscape and little vegetation this provides a delightful sense of freedom that everything is possible. On a number of occasions, when Mike and Ann had had enough of the rain (being English they do not like getting wet ), I set off across the landscape and climbed a peak with no tracks , simply using the compass and topo map.

Because the Munro peaks are so popular good tracks have been established for the standard routes. We would follow the guide book instructions such as "1.6 miles south of the white cottage", find a track by the side of the road and set off. Typically it would be 2 hours to climb 1000 metres, 2 hours along the tops, and 2 hours down. The tops are delightful but because of the weather they were often in the mist, sometimes accompanied by wind and showers. However, the mist and rain tended to come and go so every now and again a brilliant view to other peaks and lochs would be revealed. Most ridges at some stage involved rock scrambling over the "Horns of Alligin" or the "Pinnacles of Liathach".  Sharp, jagged ups and downs that looked impossible from afar but proved possible on closer acquaintance. And on a couple of occasions when the mist did not lift I needed all my navigational skills to get off the mountain safely.

All in all , much fun.