Undiscovered Scotland

 

Walking the Corbetts Volume 1, South of the Great Glen by Brian Johnson is the first of two books which between them will cover all 221 Corbetts, separate mountains in Scotland of between 2,500ft and 2,999ft in height. It is an excellent book, small enough to be readily portable (like most of Cicerone's guidebooks), yet extremely well laid out and illustrated, and sufficiently detailed to provide everything you need, apart from larger scale maps, to undertake the walks described between the covers.

Most people whose eyes turn to the Scottish mountains tend to be initially attracted by the Munros, the mountains taller than 3,000ft, on the grounds that bigger must necessarily mean better. But anyone who is so consumed by "Munro-bagging" that they overlook the Corbetts also overlooks some of the very best mountains that Scotland has to offer.

As the author points out in his preface to this lovely book, there are a range of reasons why the Corbetts should always be kept in mind. There are Corbetts in many areas which have no Munros; walks and climbs tend to be shorter, which can be useful when staying in hotels or if walking during short winter days; the lower altitude makes them less prone to (but far from immune from) Scotland's infinitely changeable weather; because they are less known and less popular you stand a much better chance of having a mountain to yourself; the lack of a stream of other walkers can mean less of a path on the ground and more challenging routefinding. There is a sense in which Corbetts can often offer a more "genuine" mountain experience than you will find on many popular Munros.

The 112 Corbetts covered in this first volume are divided into eleven areas, including Badenoch, the Northern and Southern Cairngorms, and three divisions of the Grampians; while the spread of the Corbetts is evidenced by the areas covering the Southern Uplands and Arran and Jura. Each area has an introductory section giving an overview of the area, bases for the routes, and local facilities. Within each area, individual routes are given helpful, full colour maps, an overview section, and a detailed route description. Most route sections also include colour photographs taken by the author.