Annie: Andrew Holden
Seana Bhraigh 27th August 2022
Annie’s Munro journey started in the Cairngorms with Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor. It was a baptism of fire as the Cairngorm granite made mess of Annie’s pads, where we live, we walk the dogs in woodland and fields and hardly ever have to go on roads, the unfortunate result of this is that their pads stay very soft.
The next weekend we came back armed with some expensive Ruffwear boots for Annie but she absolutely hated them so they stayed at the bottom of the bag up every other Munro!
We could only get away at weekends and annual leave so at the beginning we only walked on Saturday because some of the big days out meant that Annie’s paws were a little worse for wear and a rest and little walk was all that was needed the day after. A few weekends and a few Munros later, her pads had toughened up like little leather boots and we were able to have big days out on both Saturday and Sunday; Annie took it all in her stride with no sore feet. In hindsight this is the best thing I could have done because other than Skye and Fisherfield we did not come across any hills that damaged her feet and never had any other issues and she still has her little leather boots.
I never planned for Annie to climb all the Munros but as i was approaching my 100th Munro I wanted Annie to complete her 100th Munro too. The only ones I had climbed that she had not where the Cuillin ridge Munros and the two Munros on the Aonach Eagach ridge. I had read stories of other dogs completing and considering how well Annie had managed scrambles on Striding Edge, Sharp Edge and Pinnacle Ridge in the Lakes, I decided to try the Aonach Eagach. Annie eventually traversed the Aonach Eagach in winter in both directions with ease, so with a good forecast for the easter of 2019 we headed to Skye for a week. Armed with a short rope, a Ruffwear harness and the dreaded Ruffwear boots we started to traverse the whole Cuillin ridge over the course of the week. We started at Gars-bheinn and followed the ridge traverse bagging Munros as we went. I broke the traverse up into days over the course of the week and every other day we stayed down in Glen Brittle playing in the sea and on the beach to help Annie’s paws recover from the rough Gabbro rock. That seemed to work well as we didn't have any issues with her pads getting badly damaged. The third day out was the one I had been most apprehensive about, The Inaccessible Pinnacle. Most stories I have read of dogs summiting the In Pinn they have been placed in a rucksack and carried or hauled up in a bigger bag. With Annie’s climbing ability I was confident that she could climb the east ridge under her own steam. We set off with our harnesses on and a short section of rope between us. The first section was tricky and required me to lift Annie from platform to platform three times, after that she was off like a mountain goat’ she needed another lift round the crux then she was soon at the top. I lifted her on to the bolster stone where we sat for a minute taking it all in. I untied her from the rope and used a sling around my chest to attach Annie to me and my harness and then with her clipped under my left arm abseiled off. At the bottom it was cuddles and treat time. I was so proud and relieved knowing with the In Pinn in the bag it was plain sailing from here. We completed the rest of the traverse over the course of the week only missing out the section between Sgurr a'Mhadaidh and Bruach na Frithe. I was very impressed with how easily Annie moved over the whole of the ridge and that also gave me the confidence to take her on other scrambles like the Forcan Ridge and Liathach, Beinn Alligin, and An Teallach.
The only equipment Annie had for the scrambles was a Ruffwear harness that had plastic buckles that I backed up with a loop of cord through each just in case but the buckles ever failed. I also carried either a short section of rope if the difficulties were not too hard but for most of the Cuillin I carried a 40m scrambling rope and a harness for myself. Other equipment I carried for her was the Ruffwear boots which never got used, a collapsible water bowl and a coat and of course plenty of treats.
Our 100th Munro together was Stob na Broige on the mighty Buachaille. After that we were ticking off Munros most weekends and using most of my holidays too until covid struck. It was almost 18 months later; covid then my van breaking down before we were back bagging again. It felt so good to be back in the mountains and after the setbacks almost every weekend after that was spent up Munros.
Most Munros were done as day walks. The toughest being the Fisherfield Six in a day, it took us 14 hours and we were both knackered the day after and Annie was still a little sore a few days later. Some we did camp for; I took a towel to dry her off before she got in the tent that also doubled up as a sleeping mat. I also bought a child's sleeping bag for her and took two jackets for her, one for the hill and a thicker warmer one to sleep in. She was always warm and toasty and sleeping in the tent never seemed to faze her, she wasn't too keen on the geese hooting on Loch Ossian at night though.
Our 200th Munro was Ben Cruachan. Before we started the Munros we had spent a lot of time fishing on Loch Awe and I always wanted to climb it, so it seemed fitting for number 200. Most of the time we walked but sometimes I used a bike for the approach and Annie had no issue with trotting along at the side of me. I always made sure I never went too fast on the bike nothing faster than a gentle trot never running as I didn't think that was fair to her, especially after a long day. On the odd occasion when I was pressed for time or we were doing more than two days out I would pick her up and carry her while I free wheeled downhill to save her paws.
On some very special occasions I got to use my skis to bag Munros. These were my favourite days out and Annie’s too as she loves the snow. sometimes depending on snow conditions we would have to stop and de snow ball her especially when the snow built up between her pads and she did struggle in really deep snow but unfortunately we don't suffer from that problem too often over here. When the snow was deep Annie was clever enough to learn to walk in my tracks so she didn't sink in and made life easier for herself.
Our last Munro was Seana Bhraigh. Although over the years we had been joined by friends and family up some of the Munros the majority had been done with just Annie and me so I wanted our last Munro together to be just the two of us. I picked the most isolated and picturesque Munro left on my dwindling list and on the 27th of August 2022 Annie and myself sat on top of our final Munro together with only beautiful weather and views for company. The perfect end to a perfect round with the perfect Munro bagging buddy. Thank you Annie, for all the memorable days out on the hill.
