Ben Lomond (Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Laomainn, 'Beacon Peak'), 974 metres (3,200 ft), is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is east of Loch Lomond, and is the most southerly of the Munros.

So this was the first munro we conquered, all 974 metres of it. Weather conditions, together with my fitness levels, weren't ideal. It was a struggle to say the least and being hit in the face with hail for half the descent wasn't much fun either. That said, lots of positives (and negatives) to take from the day. Firstly, and most importantly, I managed to complete it, as there were times I thought it was best to give it up as a bad job. Secondly, with my new 1000 mile socks, my boots didn't rub (well, they did, but I didn't get blisters). We also managed to do it at a reasonable pace, 4 and 3 quarter hours up & down.

On the downside, Ben Lomond is still a couple of metres short of the smallest of the 3 peaks on the challenge, Scafell Pike. Having completed, driven for an hour home, watched the Grand National and fallen asleep for 3 hours, I awoke at 8pm feeling as though I had been hit by a bus. In reality, it would be about this time we would be arriving at the next peak to do it all again. I had a job to climb the stairs let alone another peak (followed by another one).

So whilst I'm encouraged by today's feat, there is still a long way to go. Despite going to the gym and completed 3 hill climbs, there is still no way I am in any physical shape to complete the 3 peaks challenge. That said, whilst I feel as utterly shattered as I did when we did walk one to Place Fell some four weeks ago, we've been up (and down) a further 1000 feet today than we were in Cumbria. Encouraging signs but still plenty of work to do.