Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #93356 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Customer Reviews

An excellent practical guide with the added bonus that it is beautifully presented
This has become by far my favourite mountain walking guide, having displaced Irvine Butterfield's "High Mountains" in my affections.

It is more recent - updated in 2006. Butterfield has some superb photographs, but they are dated (by reason of the people in the shots - many red socks and breeches are in evidence) and lack the finely crafted feel of professional photographers of the mountains like Colin Baxter. While Cameron suggests that he is advocating mountain-walking rather than mere "Munro-bagging", the comment on the dust cover that he aimed to introduce walkers to the hills in a more "holistic way" has become a standing joke between me and my regular walking companion. The fact is, this is a book of excellent day-walks, assuming a car (or at least a budget for taxis) and a guest house or hotel overnight. That suits me just fine, I have to admit: once I could claim that the day job involved enough staying out overnight and getting wet, now I just feel the need of creature comforts.

The recommended walks are excellent and there are rarely better routes for day walks. The descriptions are not as long as Butterfield's, but are more up to date and, frankly, they are long enough! The timings are generally realistic. McNeish provides a phonetic guide to the Gaelic mountain names. The colour maps are easy to relate to Ordnance Survey maps (but are no substitute for them, but then no guide book's maps would ever be such a substitute). This is a book to be taken on a trip - but left in your guest house rather than lugged up a hill.

I do have one criticism - or, perhaps, one recommendation for inclusion in the next edition: despite my and perhaps many walkers' preference for day trips, there are hills where it really is better to consider camping having completed an approach march, and more advice about how that is best achieved would be welcome. My only other observation is that as McNeish's routes have become more popular, they are causing ever more obvious paths to be created, with the concomitant erosion. While this can be unsightly, however, I have to admit that it suits me - I just don't have the time to do it the hard way.

I feel no need to look for an alternative guide to the Munros.

great value
This is any excellent purchase for serious and occasional Munro-baffers alike. It gives an excellent combintation of readability and practical guidance. True it's really too big to cart around in your backpack, so it's really more of a pre-planning tool.

Combines excellent photograps with text. Route maps are very easy to follow. It also tends to give routes which are of the standard beaten track, which is always good when on the more popular hills.

The guidelines given for duration of walks seem rather variable - some I complete confortably within the timescale, others no-where near.

Only criticism I would make is that it doesn't really cover the difficulty factor of a walk i.e when is it just a walk, and when is some more serious climbing skill required. Having used the book, I've discovered that "easy scambling" can cover a wide variety of scenarios.

The only Munro book yu'll ever need
In spite of making one or two slightly disparaging remarks about those of us who gang to the hielands purely for the purpose of bagging Munros, the author has put together what must surely be (for the price, at least) the ultimate Munro baggers Bible. This really is a bargain. Reduced from £10.00? The price on the dust flap reads £25.00, and that wouldn't be extortionate. But what exactly is it? It's not big and lavish enough to sit on your coffee table, but too big and lavish to stuff into your rucksack, so what do you do with it? I think this book will come into its own on those winter evenings that are too miserable to venture outside, but just right for planning your next foray or two into the hills. How such a mass of detail about all 284 Munros has been packed into such a modestly sized and modestly priced volume is nothing short of miraculous. This is a book for planning the broad strategy of your Munro campaign, not it's fine details. The small scale route maps are no substitute for large scale walking maps, though they are very clear and oriented the 'right' way, with North always towards the top of the page. (Walking books that don't follow this convention - and there are some - are so annoying!) Routes up each of the hills are described, sometimes with alternatives, with added information such as distances and estimated times of each walk, meanings and correct pronunciations of Scottish names, access points and OS maps covering the routes. There is also a list of all of the Munros with their heights and numbers, and a page each on access and mountain safety. There is inspiration as well as information in the descriptions and photographs of the mountains. The photographs are very bright and clear, though there is a preponderance of winter shots, which makes me wonder whether the author might have had his own reasons for not making the hills look too enticing to the average walker. The book is well bound, and looks as though it will stand a lot of use. If you want just one book on the Munros, one that will be useful as well as decorative, then you couldn't really go wrong with this one.