An Okehampton man has realised his lifelong ambition of climbing Scotland’s ‘Munros’.

The Munros are all the mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet and it is classic mountaineering ambition to climb all 282 of them.

Okehampton resident John Down first discovered the hills of Scotland in his teens, when his aunt showed him photographs taken by his uncle of the magnificent scenery in that far away country. He knew then he had to experience the beautiful wilderness for himself.

So it was that during the next summer he and his cousin Phillip climbed both Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui.

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the whole of the British Isles and it was shortly after that trip he discovered it was one of the 282 mountains in Scotland called the ‘Munros’.

The Munros are named after Sir Hugh Munro who discovered and climbed the highest hills in the late 19th century and, having climbed all the hills over 3,000 feet high, listed them in the Scotland Mountaineering Journal of 1891.

From that moment on, they became known as the Munros, after Sir Hugh.

John climbed and walked the hills again in 1976, this time with his brother Stephen. It was during this trip that John’s love of the hills intensified.

A year later he introduced the hills to his then fiancee, and now wife, Vicky climbing both Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui together

It would be some years before another trip was possible but it was with their two children, ages 12 and 14 that they once again walked those beautiful hills.

After completing a century of Munro climbs, John’s dream of competing all 282 grew. Over the many intervening years, the climbs and walks continued, until that dream was finally realised last year when he, together with a group of like-minded friends from Devon, reached the summit of Ben Vane, the highest of the Arrochar Alps in the West of Scotland.

Over the 50 years it’s taken to achieve his dream there have been many firsts and pleasures but to have shared those experiences with so many people he met along the way is a particular highlight.

Other memorable moments include watching red seer grazing, glancing the elusive pine marten but the memory of watching a golden eagle soar overhead is still so very special.

John considers himself to be lucky enough to have been healthy enough at 71 to finally reach his goal to become a ‘Munroist’.