268. Beinn Fhionnlaidh (198), 11/05/2024

Elodie's father had the slightly crazy idea that she should summit a munro before he finishes them. Elodie long-sufferingly agreed and chose this hill, it being one of the shortest that remained unclimbed. Hamish accompanied us - to maintain his lead over his sister (obvs).

We drove up on Friday night and got up early to be walking at shortly after 11am. The small parking area was packed with cars, it being a hot Saturday in May, but we didn't see many of them on the hill. We managed to squeeze a small Mercedes in somehow and were on our way. 

The 3km of forestry track passed quickly, then down to the bridge over the stream before beginning the climb in earnest. Here, to maintain team morale, the snack stops had to become more frequent. There was a moment when Elodie realised how much more climbing there was to go and a pep talk was required, but generally we were climbing at a good steady rate. Enthusiasm increased as we got higher up.

Many boiled sweets were consumed, but we reached the summit ridge by 2pm and the top by 3pm, where there were a couple of scrambling moves that were a bit tricky for small people. We circumvented the first, but chose to tackle the second (requiring a pep talk to the other child). At the summit, we had great views over the hills of glens Coe and Etive and even Ben Nevis in the distance.

The descent was taken carefully and included meeting a sheepdog who had climbed 277 munros(!) The trudge down the track at the end wasn't the most popular, but all-in-all this was a huge achievement for a 7 year old. The 14km and 950m of ascent took us 6h40. 

Two intrepid explorers getting their first sight of the target

Nearing the summit

Elodie learning what a "trig point" is. Hamish making sure he gets in the photo too