Words by Jim Duncan, Photos by Andrew McBride & Jim Duncan
“My name is Lily McBride and I live in Balloch, I am a 13-year-old girl who loves climbing Scotland’s Munros.”
A Munro is a Scottish mountain that is over 3,000 feet (914 meters) tall, the name comes from Sir Hugh Munro, who published a list of the 283 highest mountains in Scotland in 1891, though the current list includes 282 Munros and 227 subsidiary ‘Tops’.
Lily explains how it all began: “My first Munro was Ben Lomond and I climbed that when I was 10 years of age with my dad.
“I found it quite easy, and it was lots of fun and that’s when I realised that I wanted to do some more, the views down Loch Lomond and surrounding hills were fantastic!
“We didn’t climb it from the usual tourist path we opted for the lesser travelled route up to the Ptarmigan shoulder then on to the summit returning on the tourist path back to Rowardennan.”
Lily tells me she does all her Lily Loves Munros research for each mountain trip from working out the best ways to access the hill and which path to take from YouTube videos, she’s also keen to learn what wildlife they might encounter along the way, sometimes her planning takes in four to five Munros on the same outing!
Watching the weather forecasts Lily and her dad may make last minute decisions to change the trip due to the weather… and yes she has alternative mountain routes planned for that eventuality!
Challenging the Challenge
Last year Lily and her dad Andrew signed up to Breast Cancer Now Charity ‘Munro Bagging Challenge 2023’.
It advertised – do a Munro for the charity or maybe six.
A few days after putting their names down Andrew asked Lily ‘how many munro’s have you signed us up to do?’
Twenty was her reply!
In fact, between June and September Lily had completed 25 Munros for the challenge.
She then proceeds to name them all in order to me, but just don’t ask her about midges!
“I HATE MIDGES! Why do they even exist? They are pointless vile creatures and my midge net that covers my face sticks to me because its wet from my breath.”
Lily has now completed her first ‘100 Munros’ with the ascent of Càrn a’ Mhàim in the Cairngorms range west of Braemar.
Wearing her party dress at the summit, the sheer joy and elation with a beaming smile on her face as she dances around loving every minute of life, is plain to see.
Andrew looks after Lily’s social media account on Facebook where you can watch this remarkable young lady’s progress towards attaining her goal of completing all 282 Munros before her 18th Birthday!
You can find her on Facebook here: Lily loves Munros
