Reality Check - Bottling Out of Today's Marathon

I'm at Meall Mor. It's 11.50. I'm finding it hard to keep up with the pace dictated by my formula (planned times based on 3.5 kph + an hour for each 500 metres of ascent and 1000 metres of descent), let alone stop for sufficient rests. Long brew stops are a key feature of walks like this, and I'm not going to sacrifice them just to keep up with a masochistic route. Continuing over the next 4 Corbetts, which have scrambly sections over wet rocks, may be unwise. The weather is showery, visibility mainly good - ok but by no means perfect. There is nobody else to be seen on these knarly hills. Just cuckoos and ptarmigan for company. Those 4 hills can wait. It's a fabulous area to revisit.

So I'm bottling it and heading down over an 11 km ridge with quite a few undulations including an unplanned Graham, Stob Mhic Bheathain, which should be a good walk in itself.

I have more long days ahead. Expect further route adjustments like this one, though I don't think any of the hills ahead have risky scrambles like the ones I'm giving a miss today.

Poor signal so no photo, and bad weather looks imminent, so my decision is justified.

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