Meg: David Brown
Ciste Dhubh 25th August 2021
Our Border Terrier Meg, started her Munro journey by chance whilst we holidayed in Glen Coe. Rather than one of us staying behind in the caravan with the young dog, we decided to take her with us as we were keen to make the best of the weather. We hadn’t planned on climbing Bidean nam Bian but sometimes those are the best days. It was a typical sunny spring day, with snow high up in the corrie. Meg plodded through the snow in my footsteps and from that day forward loved being out in those conditions.
Nothing phased this wee dug. The two of us camped out on various summit camps, the most memorable being Ben Starav from where we completed the range the following day. Our wildest ‘off the cuff’ summit camp was on Creag Mhor; we didn’t have a tent. We both huddled down in our quilted jackets into my emergency Gortex bivvy bag to watch the sun set. The following mornings spectacle was even better with a full inversion forming below and eventually surrounding us. Later that morning, I found myself talking to Meg in awe of the fog bow and Brocken Spectres that also unveiled themselves to us.
The only time we stayed in a bothy was after a big day in the Cairngorms. Corrour bothy was a welcome sight as we descended from the Devils Point at 22.30hrs on an October night. Meg woke the other occupant of the bothy up a few times during the night with her snoring. I never heard a thing!
Meg shared Munro days with family, friends and other dogs, although she demanded most of the attention especially at snack times.
Towards the latter half of our round, soon after I had decided that Meg would be able to complete a full round, lockdown kicked in. This put the brakes on our hillwalking and was a frustrating period when we were only able to access local hills to keep our fitness reasonable.
Once the restrictions were lifted, Meg and I were back at the Munros, harder than ever with big days and plenty over nighters to take full advantage of our freedom. A good number of nights were had car camping as sites were still closed and I can confirm that Meg does snore!
As things got back to normal bigger trips were planned into Fisherfield, Knoydart and a very challenging week on Skye. With a weather window opening on the west coast for approximately a week, it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. ‘Skye here we come’.
Meg managed fine on the first couple of damp days on the Cuillin climbing the easier Munros before the sun turned up and changed the nature of the rock especially with the rough textured gabbro. Meg’s paws suffered after a big day completing the southern four and she kept me awake that night licking those paws big time. It was well worth the long day as this only left the Inaccessible Pinnacle to climb after a day of rest. After an early start we reached the base of the Pinnacle, I had taken my overnight rucksack with two caravan cushions placed in the bottom to allow enough height for Meg’s head to poke out the top. She wore her body harness which was clipped into the internal fixed loop of the sack and I was pretty confident she couldn’t fall out even if I stumbled. We ascended the narrow ridge quite quickly with the assistance of our guide Adrian. Once at the top, I got Meg out the sack for her summit photo. She trusted me entirely with the whole process. After abseiling off the Pinnacle we had some breakfast and sat and took it all in. We now only had four to go.
After 125 outings over seven years, our final Munro was Ciste Dhubh in Glen Shiel which was a family affair with my wife and son joining us. What a privilege to have shared this journey with this special wee mutt.
