FROM Ben Lomond to Glencoe's Buachaille Etive Mor, to Skye's Am Basteir, which translates, grimly, as the Executioner, Scotland's Munros are one of the country's great attractions.
Munro-bagging – the sport of ascending all 282 Munros – remains hugely popular. Last September, two 10-year-old twins, Cliona and Nuala McCheyne, became the youngest to complete all 282. In the company of their parents, the girls from Dunoon, ticked them off one by one in the space of just six years.
In 1989, one adventurous soul, Paul Tattersall, did all the Munros on a mountain bike. In 2010, Stephen Pyke set a new record when he ran, cycled and kayaked between the 283 peaks (as the total was then) in just 40 days.
The peaks, however, are not without their risks, as evidenced by the deaths of nine climbers on Scotland's mountains this year so far.
Paul and Helen Webster, who know the Munros intimately, are in no doubt that setting out to climb all 282 peaks is a huge adventure.
As they write in their authoritative new guide, The Munros: "No two mountains are the same. Weather conditions, companions – and the state of your squashed sandwiches and frozen Mars bars – make every outing different.
"The Munros," they add, "will ensure you reach parts of Scotland you might otherwise have overlooked, spend evenings in pubs, bothies and wild camps all with their own delights, and have encounters with other walkers, locals and wildlife that will enhance the adventure."
The book is the latest endeavour by a couple for whom walking has long been a passion.
Fittingly, they did meet on a walking holiday. "I know that sounds rather sad," acknowledges Helen. "But mutual friends of ours were organising a little camping and walking holiday to Arran. That was when we first met, though we didn't actually get together until later."
Nine years ago, the Websters took a year off work to walk across Europe. Once they returned to their home in York, they realised things could never be the same again.
"It was a 4000-mile journey, going from west to east, and it was a great experience," says Helen. "We were lucky enough to come back to safe jobs, but after about a year we were desperate to try to find something that would allow us to indulge our passion for walking."
The couple quit their jobs in 2006 and relocated to the Isle of Skye, where they lived for five years (they now live in the Cairngorms) and ran a couple of self-catering chalets. When visitors began asking for information about local hills and accommodation, the Websters realised that they had stumbled upon a gap in the market. "At first, it really just involved putting walks onto the web and matching them to accommodation, and it just took off from there," recalls Helen.
The result is a highly popular website, walkhighlands.co.uk, which lists 1600 walks and more than 3000 places to stay. But the Websters have now gone one better, with their comprehensive, illustrated guide to the Munros. Geographically, the book casts its net wide, from the Arrochar Alps to Kintail, Strathdee, Lochaber, and the islands of Skye and Mull.
"Paul has climbed them all," Helen says. "It goes without saying that you couldn't really write a book like this without doing them all. I've got eight left to do – I'm almost ashamed to say they're the pointy, scary ones.
"Quite a lot of people like the website because, as well as the main routes up the Munros, it also lists the cowards', or easier, routes up. That's the way I've walked up them – I'm not a hero about those things. But I hope to get the remaining eight done this year."
The Websters are not alone in considering Scotland to be blessed by having so much climbing and hillwalking options to chose from.
"To my mind, the variety of walking is little short of phenomenal. It has absolutely everything, with so much wildlife. There are coastal walks where you can see a whale during certain months."
With the Disney/Pixar film Brave, and publicity surrounding the Year of Homecoming and the independence referendum, both in 2014, Helen expects Scotland and its Munros to climb in popularity.
"I think the whole debate around the referendum will help Scottish tourism," she adds. "It's an opportunity to showcase what is on offer."
The Websters acknowledge the feats of endurance that characterised the likes of Paul Tattersall and Stephen Pike but make the point of saying in the book: "None of this excess of testosterone (or chutzpah) should diminish the achievement of your first Munro, your first winter ascent, your first solo Munro, or the ascent of the trickiest peaks – and, ultimately, your final Munro."
www.walkhighlands.co.uk. The Munros: A Walkhighlands Guide, by Paul and Helen Webster, is published by Pocket Mountain Ltd at £12.99
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