The Munro Plan

I've had a lot of time to think recently. Sometimes I go round in circles; sometimes I make some progress.

I'm determined to "kick the habit" and the habit for me is anxiety. I have never known how to define my way of thinking, until recently, when life has taken a totally different route than the one I thought I was on.

It is a good thing though. I finally feel ready to do something about it.

So I've been filling my time: sleeping, reading, baking, swimming, walking, meeting friends.

And wanting, more than anything, to write.

I've always been unable to write the first sentence. The first sentence is my Everest. I don't know why it is so difficult; probably because there is so much I want to say and yet I don't know where to begin.

Blogging is something I have always wanted to do. I hope to write books one day, and I'm starting here.

So that explains the blog, and the anxious part of my title. But the ambler? Well, a couple of weeks ago I woke up (always a good start), and my activity for the day was climbing Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh, an extinct volcano that dominates the skyline. Mum and I were planning lunch at the top (you just cannot beat squashed sandwiches). The day before, I'd just finished a hilarious book called The Hills are Stuffed With Swedish Girls, by Richard Happer. It is all about walking the West Highland Way; a challenging 95 mile walk from just outside Glasgow to Fort William. I sometimes feel very lazy, and feel the need to challenge myself more. So I thought about making my blog about my attempts to climb the WHW.

But thats just one walk! Sure it would take me over a week to do, but it would be the shortest blog in history! So I needed something more challenging, with a bit more blog-able longevity. And so my thoughts went immediately to....Munro bagging.

A Munro. A mountain in Scotland over 3,000 feet (914 metres) high. Named after Sir Hugh Munro; who never actually climbed them all, but published an initial list in 1891. There are 283 of them, the highest being Ben Nevis - at 4,406 feet it is the highest mountain in Britain. Actually until recently there were 284 of them; they are constantly being re-evaluated and re-assessed. So now one has gone from the list, I figure this is as good a time as any to start bagging them.

I am quite unfit, despite the fact that in my younger days I was, as my family will tell you, a keen runner. I used to play volleyball, hockey, and badminton. But then I got lazy. The pursuit of beer, boys, and broader horizons seemed more appealing (sorry Mum). I always feel guilty that I lost my fitness (lets be clear though, I was never that fit, I was always the red-faced sweaty girl).

And so, in an effort to challenge myself, to get fitter, and to have something to blog about, the Munro Plan was born.

Many people have done many Munros. But I wonder if anyone has been quite as anxious as me about them. I intend to amble up these beastly beautiful mountains, no doubt full of anxiety, until I've had enough. Now that be until the day I am cured of my anxious thinking (well, I've got to think positive, there's a cure...right?); or that may be the day I've done them all...but I rather hope it is the day I become a world famous published author and I can retire. I almost wrote 'retire to a villa in the south of France'...that may be the dream of some, but Scotland is my land. And I intend to stay here, in this beautiful, wonderful country.

But maybe I'll take a helicopter to the top of Ben Nevis....

So come with me, the Anxious Ambler, on a journey around Alba, to far flung places with insane weather. Walk with me, sweat with me, struggle with me, and make it to the summit with me.