Cat and Dawn had never met before this Munro Challenge – Cat had offered to climb Ben Wyvis having moved to Inverness and Dawn had also offered because she was originally planning to climb it and its 2 tops to chum her brother. In the end Dawn’s brother did the tops and we got together to focus on the Munro for Carnethy. There is nothing better for women than to have 6 hours to drive, walk and chat, especially when you have each other’s whole lives to discover! Cat, we discovered, was a Munro virgin whilst Dawn was a recent Munro veteran having completed them all in June of this year. We set off 2 hours after the originally planned time, to try and minimise the Met Office’s morning forecast of thunder and lightning, and we were delighted to discover it wasn’t in fact raining, never mind the rest! The route was super busy with young adults – what were they all thinking on a day like this! We were pleasantly surprised to discover our walking pace was compatible and we only needed to stop for ‘Percy Pig’ moments. Cat on route suddenly announced that her 2nd cousin’s ashes were released near the summit of Ben Wyvis 22 years earlier and in his memory there was a secret stash of malt whisky … somewhere on the mountain! OMG not only were we part of the Carnethy Munro challenge, but we had stumbled upon a treasure hunt. By now the waterproofs were on and we were walking in mist BUT a call was made to Cat’s mother for clues on the where about of the hidden treasure. We can’t share what we were told, as it’s a family secret, but suffice to say we went up plenty wrong trails looking for the allusive treasure but failed. However, 2 hours 15 minutes later we at least summited Ben Wyvis and some lovely people helped take our photo and make sure we didn’t fall off the trig point as we climbed on top of it. No. 259 was ticked and submitted and Ken texted back to say this was the 89th Carnethy Munro of the 282 to climb. On our descent, passing An Cabar, we agreed to have another go at finding the treasure – we tried to phone for some more clues but there was no signal so we re-read the text of instructions about 20 times looking for cryptic meaning to help find the ‘needle in the haystack’. Remember, we still had zero visibility in the rain and wind! We wandered off the path a few dodgy times, including one incident of Cat slipping near a rock face outcrop that sent Dawn’s blood pressure sky high! Just at the point of being about to give up a few clues vaguely seemed to match up and unbelievably we stumbled upon the treasure … it was utterly thrilling, emotional and … wait for it … worth every moment for there, hidden under rocks, was a crystal glass to pour a ‘Cardhu Gold Reserve single malt whisky’ into. We had never tasted a dram so delicious and we toasted my 2nd cousin. Dawn had just the month before been inducted to the Carnethy whisky chaser so Oz would have loved this moment too! The rest of our descent was surprisingly free and easy and even the midges in the lower section could not dampen our ‘spirits’. So Ben Wyvis, advertised as a 6 hour walk, took us just 4 ½ hours which included this special family moment for Cat.
Cat Meighan and Dawn Waitt