Writer Alan Rowan delights in daybreak from Scotland’s peaks

Munro morning glory for writer Alan Rowan.

Few would argue that some of the most beautiful sights in Scotland can be seen from the peak of a Munro.

But there aren’t many people who would climb the hills under cover of darkness in order to experience those views at their most beautiful.

According to Alan Rowan that time is at sunrise, when an orange hew drifts over the blanket of clouds and brings the peaks alive in magnificent colour.

For the past 20 years he has enjoyed nocturnal walking across many of Scotland’s hills.

“I had done a wee bit of walking as a kid, but when I started working nights I took it up again quite seriously,” Alan, from Carnoustie, explained.

“I would start work at 5pm, so I’d go out during the day with a couple of colleagues and climb a hill.

“By the time I was up to 40 Munros, it was becoming hard to find the time to do the more far-flung ones. So I decided when I finished work at midnight, I would drive to a Munro so I could begin climbing at first light.

“My two friends weren’t keen on doing it, so I went by myself. When I got there around 2am, I realised it was already quite light due to the moon, so I decided to just start walking.

“For the next 15 years I did a walk around 10 or 15 times a year.”

Now on his third round of Munros, father-of-two Alan has also done the Corbetts (peaks between 2,500ft and 3,000ft) and is in the process of completing the Grahams (peaks between 2,000ft and 2,499ft).

“The point of it all was to be up top and seeing the sun rising.

“I remember on one occasion it was raining heavily when I started off, but when I burst through the clouds it was beautiful. When I went into work the next day my workmates couldn’t believe I had a tan.”

The university lecturer says safety is always at the forefront of his mind and he never takes chances.

“I always leave notes or a route with someone and I need to call by a certain time. I carry a headtorch too. You have to know when to cut your losses. I didn’t actually tell my wife,

Alison, what I was doing. She thought I was travelling to the hills and then walking them in the morning.

“There was no point worrying her she would never get to sleep knowing what I was doing!”

The 60-year-old has written a book about his experiences exploring Scotland’s hills under the stars, called Moonwalker: Adventures of a Midnight Mountaineer.

Alan will talk about the book at Portobello Book Festival on October 4 and Dundee Literary Festival on October 26.