EVER SINCE HUGH Munro published his table of 283 Scottish mountains over 3000 feet in 1891, walkers have had a hunger for hill lists. The Corbetts were compiled in the 1920s, cataloguing 222 Scottish peaks between 2500 and 3000 feet with a prominence of at least 500 feet. Later came the Fionas (aka Grahams) – 219 Scottish summits between 2000 and 2500 feet, with a prominence of 150m. Now there are Donalds and Dodds and Deweys and Dillons, Wainwrights, Ethels and Marilyns, Humps and Tumps – the last a list of British hills separated from adjacent tops by a height difference of at least 30 metres on all sides. There are 17,045 of those to tick off.
But the best hill list may be the County Tops. Exactly as it sounds, it’s the highest point in each county which means you can start local and end with an encyclopedic overview of Britain and every sort of lump and bump from Boring Field in Huntingdonshire (265ft/81m) to Ben Nevis (4411ft/1345m). The number isn’t too daunting: 92 if you go with historic counties (175 if you use current counties and unitary authorities; 32 more if you do each London Borough; find the lists at hill-bagging.co.uk).
In 2006, Jonny Muir did all 92 tops in 92 days, including cycling between them. He wrote how the adventure took him ‘to a back garden in Kent, across a live military firing zone in Yorkshire and along perilous ridges in the Highlands’ in his book, Heights of Madness. And setting out on a ticklist will deliver memorable days and big views, even if you never bag them all. After all, Sir Hugh, the man who began it, didn’t conquer all his own Munros.
anD THE CUILLIN
FORGED FROM DARK volcanic gabbro, the Black Cuillin of Scotland’s Isle of Skye is renowned as Britain’s most adrenalin-inducing mountain range. The splintered rock snaggles up into an eight-mile spine spiked by 11 Munros, and a full traverse can take 20 white-knuckle hours, with ropes essential for topping the aptly named Inaccessible Pinnacle (so inaccessible Sir Munro never reached it). Bruach na Frithe* (3143ft/958m) is arguably the easiest summit to reach, but easy here is very much a relative term. This is still one heck of a pull over steep scree and rough rock, which is also magnetic enough to pull on your compass and make hard navigation even harder. But the views, the views. If you love this, you’ll also enjoy the airy blades of the Aonach Eagach, An Teallach and Liathach. If you hate the sound of this, Skye’s Red Cuillin* hills make a still-spectacular, less nail-gnawing outing.
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