The first thing that jumps out with this new book, Peak Bagging Munros Volume 1, is the amazing amount of detail. The book focuses on half of the list of 282 Munros, the 141 southerly Munros in the Highlands and southern Cairngorms. There are 64 routes designed to complete these 141 Munros “in the most efficient way” and each route is described in impressive detail.
The author: Nicola Hardy
Nicola Hardy is Munroist number 6765. She bagged all the Munros in just six months with her partner James. The challenge to complete the Munros came due to a desire to escape her office job, working in IT in South Yorkshire.
Her favourite areas of Scotland are Sutherland and Lochaber. Nicola is an ambassador for INOV8 and she shares her adventures on Instagram.
Nicola was approached by Vertebrate Publishing to write the Peak Bagging Munros book.
What’s different about the Peak Bagging Munros book?
There are many books that describe how to hike and run the Munros. Most books include all the Munros, while other books pick the “best” Munros, according to the author’s choice. There are books that detail the most popular routes, and others that suggest some alternatives.
There are also plenty of on-line resources for Munro baggers.
So, what is different about the Peak Bagging Munros book?
The book features 64 routes that are designed to link up the 141 southern Munros. The author suggests you can enjoy the challenge of “compleating” them at your own pace – over years, months or, in rare cases, even just a few weeks. The book aims to showcase not only the most efficient routes, but does so in such a way that each route is great stand-alone objective.
For me, the biggest bonus of this new book is the huge amount of detail that Nicola has packed into each route. There is a panel of at-a-glance information for every route, including a grading from 1 to 5 for terrain, distance, navigation and “overall”.
There is also the more obvious details such as distance and total ascent, plus estimated times for four different types of bagger, including walker, trekker, fast-packer and trail runner.
The start location is described in various different ways, too, as a more straightforward “what you see from the roadside”, by latitude/longitude, grid reference and what3words.
The panel at the start of each route also tells you how to pronounce the Munro name and what it means.
Then there is an intro, details of public transport (if there is any), parking, an escape route (if there is one) and possible refreshments nearby.
Then there is the walk route description, step by step. This offers a nice overview before you get started and could be used on the Munro if you take a photo of the page. I like Nicola’s chatty style of describing the route, which is both useful and also offers tips of what you’ll see and the types of terrain.
There is a useful 1:40,000-scale custom map and a profile of the ascent and descent. The book is scattered with great photos that make you want to head out as soon as you can to walk a new mountain.
In addition, when you buy the book, there is access to downloadable GPX files of the route.
This is what I mean about the attention to detail; there is everything you might need to know and more. The book is quite chunky and that is possibly why this is only volume 1, with volume 2 presumably set to detail the 141 northerly Munros.
I like the way Nicola has linked sets of Munros together, although I am not sure there is anything particularly innovative about her routes and Munro-linking plans. I walked the Munros in a very similar way to what is offered in this book so it seems I did them “efficiently”, too. This is not a criticism of the book, rather an observation. The book is a great guide to walking the southerly Munros.
Chance to win new hiking boots
There are incentives for ordering Peak Bagging Munros Volume 1 early. If you order before the publication date of June 19, 2025, you will have a chance to win a pair of INOV8 Roclite Pro Mid GTX boots.
You need to order the book, priced at £27.95 for a signed paperback, from www.adventurebooks.com to be automatically entered into a prize draw. The winner will be chosen at random on June 19 and notified by email.
The first 250 orders will also come with an art print of the front cover photo taken by Craig Aitchison.
Note: I receive a small commission for sales of the books through this website.