Munroes Equivalent??

[Mike Marshall]

Now here's a thought, especially since there are currently, many discussions on the various books/guides available.
Are there paddlers out there, chalking up the islands, trips of note, first crossings? Of course there are!!

Is there, or could there be a Sea Kayakers equivalent Munroes list? Not necessarily the hardest or the furthest, but just real classic "must do" trips.

Could this be part of the Trips section here as a classic list, or a new section, voted by the members?
Could it be part of a major book project?
I am sure it has the potential to be a definitive Paddling reference for the UK.
Alternatively do we find our own way, exploring on the quiet, and chalking up our own little conquests?

Any takers?

MikeM

[Jim]

I think we would need to specify a minimum distance apart (at lowest astronomical tide, LAT) which must be satisfied to categorise a landmass as a seperate island entity. That way small skerries close in wouldn't end up with their own designation, but Rockall for example would. I wonder if such a scheme would have the Farnes included as one island or several?

(I think it's a slightly bonkers idea)

JIM

[Chris Bolton]

Alternatively do we find our own way, exploring on the quiet, and chalking up our own little conquests?

Yes. Keeping record of who has done memorable crossings, etc, as discussed in another thread, is interesting and stimulating, but a tick list of trips would be a bad thing. It would create honeypots where camping spots etc were overused, and might also temp people into doing trips they weren't ready for, to get a tick.

Chris

[Mark R]

It...might also temp people into doing trips they weren't ready for, to get a tick.

Blooming heck, I hadn't thought of that. I'm desperately deleting all the riverguides in this site as quick as I can, and I'm burning my guidebook collection.

Kids could get hold of this stuff.

[Zoe Newsam]

How do you know if you're 'ready' to do a particular trip??

If you never push yourself, or take the occasional step into the unknown, you'll never improve or learn anything new.

[Mike Marshall]

How do you know when you are "ready" to do a Munroe then??
Are there "honeypots" all over the highland mountains?
There are thousands of Islands like there are thousands of Munroes.
I cant see it being that busy?
MikeM

[Zoe Newsam]

The most complete list, at least for Scotland, must be 'The Scottish Islands' by Hamish Haswell Smith. There are certainly sailors ticking off those islands- I'm sure there are paddlers too...

[Mike Marshall]

Yes what a beautiful book. A liftimes work I reckon.
It would be a shame to tick the pages of that!!!
Really cheap from America too!!

MikeM

[Quest 129]

Mike Marshall said "There are thousands of Islands like there are thousands of Munroes".

Sorry Mike there are only 284 Munros.

[Mike Marshall]

OOOEEER!!
Hmmm...(clearing throat to readdress) "there are thousands of islands like there are hundreds of Munroes" :-0

Having only done a few "Munroes", I wont be trying for them all.
The grind of Ben Nevis..uuuuuurrh!!

Dont do hills any more, except flying along them.

MikeM

[Jim]

How do you know when you are "ready" to do a Munroe then??

Many people don't, some of them die but most survive and are none the wiser. There is (or was) a great debate about this with reference to waymarking on Ben Nevis, the purists dont want the mountain environment spoiled by such things and want to keep the summit plateau for for people who understand the hills and can navigate, to which end they would have most of the existing cairns torn down. Many others realise that Joe Public is alwas going to be attrracted to the hill and want to rationalise the cairns into a single row along the descent bearing. There are loads of pro's and cons on either side, but I assume since some of the cairns are being torn down already (a piano was found under one the other week) that someone has made a decision?

Are there "honeypots" all over the highland mountains?

Yep!

Ben Nevis, Ben lomond, Ben Wyvis, Cairngorm, pretty much anything that has a maintained track up it. There are of course hundreds of other peaks (Munros, Corbetts and unclassified) without tracks that can offer a good day out if you have the skills to TAB :-)

Why do I think it is a bonkers idea for paddling? Well lots of little things really but I can't help feeling that the initial stumbling block will be that there are thousands of islands around the Scottish coast, and depending on your definition it could grow to thousands, that's without adding all the other great trips to non-island locations and the various sounds to be crossed or run. One of the things I hear from friends who tick Munros is that some of them are just boring or horrible hills with no attraction other than for the tick - who in their right mind takes up a leisure activity where say 25% of the time you won't enjoy it? Nope I'd rather do trips I want to do and not be lured by a list into some kind of OCD!

Sea kayaking is good enough without that.

If on the other hand you just mean a resource with ideas or details of various good trips to do, well it already exists, this is part of it....

JIM

[Bertie..]

Well, sometime ago some friends and I paddled to south bishop lighthouse SW of the Scilly Isles from the mainland. We figured it might be a good idea to visit the other furthest away lighthouses of the compass rose, with an attempt to tick of the NE one next, just bacause Mucklefugga is such a great name!! That will then leave N, E, W, S, SE, NW, etc..

This kind of equates to bagging mountains as the destination is only half the journey, you still have to get back.

[andreadawn]

The grind of Ben Nevis..uuuuuurrh!!

What grind? Outrageous. A very fine hill. ;-)



Certainly there are plenty that are rather less interesting. I used to play the munro-bagging game until I got to about the halfway stage, then realised that there were an awful lot of uninteresting ones left. So I set about climbing the better ones again, several times in some cases.

Ticking the lot off on a list wouldn't prove anything about either myself or the world, and there are no (sensible) records left to achieve. Now I just prefer to wander haphazardly depending on how I feel at the time. I don't need to have achieved something quantifiable in order to have memories to look back on.

Andrea.

[Mike Marshall]

Do you know, interesting responses.
It has sprung to mind that as Sea paddlers, we are really blessed.
There is barely a hill or mountain within the UK that hasnt got a worn path up it, (maybe a few in Naefearjustbeer country!!)
Thank goodness we dont leave a trail when we paddle (not when we camp, thats another thread).
Andrea is right, I love repeating some of my favourite trips time and time again, however I also love exploring new areas with the anticipation it can bring.
I've never really kept a log of my trips, perhaps best kept in the depths of the mind, eh?

MikeM

[Robin Ashcroft]

The irony about the Munroes is that so many high quality Scottish peaks don't make the list as they don't hit the magic 3000ft mark. And if you stick to Munroes you'd miss out on cracking summits such as Stac Polaidh - and may more.

If you talk to serious - Himalayan - mountaineers the same applies to the 14 x 8000m peaks. There are something like 6000 unclimbed 6000m peaks in the Greater Himalaya - many of them incredibly beautiful and/or technically very challenging, but everyone's (or perhaps just the media) is focussed on Everest and perhaps K2, but not a lot else. Sad really!

[Geoff Seddon]

How do you know you're ready for such and such a trip? Its not the trip you should be ready for but rather the conditions, which do not correlate exactly to geography. One day something is an easy paddle even in something like a Quest, the next not.

[PeterG]

The last thing the paddler needs is a munro type list. Think of the Scottish mountains now spoilt by tracks that avoid anything interesting and take the path of least effort from the nearest carpark. Maybe foot and mouth which extended the Lake District north to Glencoe/ Fort william area can take some blame but the dreaded list must take some responsibility as well.

On the other hand Munroists avoid much of the Highlands leaving them still empty. Maybe what we need is a list which avoids the classic paddles and concentrates on the long slog from the carpark to prominent if dull promitories and islands.

Peter

[CaileanMac]

My tuppence - why make a seakayak munro list? It's just like ticking off all 50 trips in the scottish sea kayaking guidebook (see this thread).

However we (humans) like different things - some like making lists and sticking to set trips and other's prefer the adventure (an experience within an unknow and undetermined outcome). Each to their own ways at the end of day but personally there is so much choice for sea kayakers - why feel the need to restrict yourself to a set list?

CaileanMac

[wayoutwest]

Ulva Ferry to the Treshnish Isles has become a honeypot. Its like a thoroughfare out there!