National Bucket List Day: Ola’s Munro Challenge

Ola, along with her husband and Vislador, Eddie, have challenged themselves to climb 40 Munros this year to celebrate her 40th birthday.  

A Munro is a Scottish mountain with an elevation over 3000ft and ‘bagging’ a Munro means climbing to its summit. There are 282 Munros in total and people spend years attempting to ‘bag’ them all. 

Ola’s challenge combines her passion with the outdoors with a personal challenge, all in support of a cause that she cares about deeply. 

Hillwalking has long been a passion of Ola’s, and since she moved to Scotland, this passion has only grown. ‘Scottish hillwalking is incredible. It’s like another level here!’, she tells us.  

Ola decided to challenge herself to climb 40 Munros in celebration of her big birthday year. She and her family climbed kicked off the challenge on the 1st January with their first summit. So far, they have completed 17 climbs and their planning their biggest challenge in June: 7 Munros in one day to celebrate their 7th wedding anniversary! 

Her bucket list challenge has been ‘addictive’ and tough.  

Ola says that embarking on this challenge has been difficult at times; ‘It’s not for everybody because it is straining, it’s time-consuming, with long drives and long days.’, but that she’s noticed a significant improvement in her mental health since she started.  

‘I would recommend hillwalking to anyone who has a very busy mind because you have to focus on where you’re going and how you’re walking. You don’t want to sprain your ankle!’ 

Ola is fundraising for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home throughout her challenge.  

‘Animal welfare is so important to me. I can see how much everyone at the Home cares about the animals we support and how we look outside of the Home to support pet owners in the community as well. I support other charities too but for this challenge it just had to be Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home!’

Her advice to anyone thinking about taking on this kind of challenge is ‘It feels good to challenge yourself to commit to something tough and support from friends and family is a huge motivator. Before you start, make sure you know what you’re doing and why you want to do it.’.  

If, like Ola, you want to support the home with a bucket list challenge – we’d love to hear from you!