Caleb's List: Climbing the Scottish Mountains Visible from Arthur's Seat

by Kellan MacInnes

Edinburgh. 1898. on the cusp of the modern age. Caleb George Cash mountaineer, geographer, antiquarian and teacher stands at the rocky summit of Arthur's Seat. His reason for standing there was to chart which mountains were visible from his point on the summit -- The Arthurs. He came up with a list of twenty mountains (all over 100ft/300m high), including Schiehallion and Ben Lomond. Caleb's list was first published in 1899, eight years after Munro published his list of mountains over 3000ft, and since then it has been all but forgotten. This book tells the story of how Caleb's list came about and provides directions and route descriptions for those wishing to climb the mountains on the list. More than just a climbing book, this is also the story of a survivor. The author was diagnosed with AIDS at the age of 33, and becoming an 'Arthurist' has helped him carry on with life.

438 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 22, 2013

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, more so because, by pure coincidence, I happen to have climbed all the 'Arthurs'. I found Macinnes' attention to the detail of each climb added greatly to my knowledge of these hills & mountains. I have climbed Dumayat many times with school groups but always from the 'easy' side so I now need to go back and tackle it from Menstrie.The 'side panels' on connected matters, such as 'The Witch of Beinn A'Ghlo' provided fascinating background. The author's research must have been very lengthy to provide such detail; collating this information on one book adds hugely to the information about these hills & mountains.
I can see where Macinnes is coming from relating his discovery and climbing of the Arthurs to his homosexuality, discovery & recovery from aids, but at times the detail given went too far for me and spoilt the tenor of the book.The writing was sometimes a bit disjointed as the author tried to connect the story of the Arthurs to the story of his personal life. To sum up, a good effort, but in future, stick to writing about the hills and mountains.

[David Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. A bit of everything. Personal account of living with HIV. Biography of CG Cash, a remarkable character of the Scottish mountains who I’d not heard of before. Also an excellent guidebook to the Arthur’s with interesting history about each one.

[Mur McEwan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd endorse Peter's review earlier, and 3* rating