I’ve become obsessed by Amazon.co.uk. As I write, my book is 9,824th on the bestselling list. Not bad, but I’m not about to crack open the champagne. It’ll be 20,000-odd by tea time I’m sure. One reviewer was nice though. Here is what he said: I was hooked even before he arrives in Scotland where…
Heights of Madness
My book, Heights of Madness, is officially published on Thursday (August 27), but is available to purchase now. Here’s a link – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heights-Madness-Jonny-Muir/dp/1844546640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250600943&sr=8-1
Beinn Eighe
Beinn Eighe, Liathach’s next door neighbour, boasts seven summits above 3000ft. I had no intention of visiting them all, not today at least. The two Munros – Ruadh-stac Mor and Spidean Coire nan Clach – would suffice. I ran, which was fine, if not wearisome, until I reached Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair. A trot became a…
Carn na Saobhaidhe
Carn na Saobhaidhe is a 811-metre Monadhliath Corbett, rising a long, long way from anywhere. Unwilling to face the tedium of walking there and back – a 17-mile roundtrip – I ran, instantly turning a six-hour trudge into a two-and-a-half hour sprint. The bulldozed tracks to the summit are rightly despised by environmentalists and these…
Ben More
Ever since I cycled past Ben More en route to Killin three years ago, I wanted to climb this soaring, gargantuan mountain. I imagined Ben More, along with its neighbour Stob Binnein, would be honeytop summits because of their proximity to Crianlarich, the West Highland Way and major roads. Apparently not. In five hours – on a…
Ben Wyvis
Ben Wyvis, again. Blowing a hooley, again. Eight of us left the car park: five men, one woman and two scrapping dogs, running along the track above Allt a’ Bhealaich Mhoir, before grinding straight up to Wyvis’s south top, An Cabar, ignoring much of the newly-laid path that winds a gentler way up the mountainside. It…
Fyrish
Fyrish is a 453-metre hill overlooking the Cromarty Firth and topped by an 18th century monument, making it a focal point for the Easter Ross community. It is also the venue for an annual hill race, a seven-and-a-half mile jaunt along forest tracks from Evanton. It was hot, still and steep. Vests were off. A mile-and-a-half in, I was happily…
Toll Creagach and Tom a’Choinich
10pm on a Wednesday night, standing on the summit of a Glen Affric mountain: this is how I want my life to be. Running up an easy path from Loch Affric, we gained the flat roof of Tom a’Choinich before dropping down the mountain’s east ridge to the small col between it and Toll Creagach….
Buachaille Etive Mor
I was heading back to Inverness and feeling weary after climbing the four Cruachan Munros over two days when I saw this – the magnificent Buachaille Etive Mor, standing sentinel at the head of Glencoe. I’m not going to waste my time exulting the merits of this hill with superlatives. It’s had enough compliments….
Slioch Hill Race
Twelve-and-a-half miles long and with a cumulative ascent of 1,400 metres, the Slioch Horseshoe is a brute of a hill race. Under Mediterranean skies, 50 hardy souls breezed along the banks of the Kinlochewe River and Loch Maree, before hitting the daunting base of Slioch. Much of the grind up the southeastern flank of Sgurr Dubh was unrunnable. The way…
Heights of Madness 