Lorraine McCall has become the first known female – and only the second known person – to complete a non-stop, self-propelled round of the Donalds and Donald Tops. She took 28 days to reach the 141 summits, which are at least 2000ft in height and located in the Scottish Lowlands, and finished on June 8 on Beinn nan Eun in Glen Artney, Perthshire.
It’s believed that Ronald Turnbull was the first to complete a single, continuous and self-powered journey in nine days and 14.5 hours in 1995.
What are the Donalds?
Donalds are not easily so easily defined as other hill lists. The “looser” definition is summits of at least 2000ft (610m) elevation in the Scottish Lowlands, or below the Highland Fault Line, and with a drop of at least 50ft (15.2m) between each elevation and any higher elevation. In addition, the founder of the Donalds, Percy Donald, stated that elevations separated from higher elevations by a drop of less than 100ft (30.5m) were required to have “sufficient topographical merit”. What he meant by this was: Donalds should be visually distinct and an impressive-looking peak in its own right, rather than just a minor shoulder or ridge of a larger mountain.
There is a further mathematical definition of a summit requiring “a separation of 17 units or less”, where a unit is either a 12th of a mile along a top’s connecting ridge or 50ft (30.5m) in elevation between the top and its connecting bealach. The separation is the sum of these two measures.
Despite being “only” below the Highland Fault Line, the Donalds are spread widely across southern and central Scotland, from Dumfries & Galloway to Perthshire. The Donalds also feature in two other lists, the Fionas (Grahams) and Corbetts.
Lorraine’s round of Donalds
Lorraine, 61, of Beauly, Highlands, has previously completed a continuous, self-propelled round of Munros, Corbetts and Grahams. She started with the non-stop Munro round on 2005 when she was 40.
Next, in 2014, aged 49, Lorraine became the first woman to complete a non-stop round of the Corbetts. In 2024, she was the first to claim a non-stop Grahams round in 2024.
“The Donalds was an obvious next round,” she told me. “I had reached some some of these hills in previous rounds of the Corbetts and Grahams, but the lowlands area was not one I was very familiar with. It was good to return and to focus on all the hills of 2000ft or more.”
Lorraine, who has survived cancer three times, is used to the challenges of Scotland’s often unpredictable weather and tough terrain but she revealed she was surprised by the Donalds.
She said: “I thought a round of Donalds was going to be much harder than it turned out to be. Yes, there were tough times and the weather, which was very wet and windy at times, did make some days more difficult. The terrain was hard going and usually pathless, although I have become used to this thanks to the Grahams, which have few tracks, too.
“The Donalds featured a lot of tussocks, bog and peat hags. Also, it wasn’t always so easy to locate the top of the Donalds on some of the more rounded hills.
“But, despite all this, the whole round seemed to be much more flowing than the ones I’ve done before. I really enjoyed it, especially the way I could link so many hills together.”
Lorraine started on May 12 on Knee of Cairnsmore in Dumfries & Galloway. She said: “I chose to start quite early in the summer to try to avoid the worst of the midge season. This also meant the vegetation was not as fully grown as it was when I did the Grahams in later summer. This aspect helped a lot, especially because the hills were not as thick and deep in heather and bracken as they could have been.
“At the beginning, I also had the wind behind me and while it was cold in more exposed places, it was warm when out of the wind. I enjoyed good visibility at this point, which made navigating easier.
“There was a lovely spell of warm and sunny weather towards the end of May, which was fantastic. However, this was followed by some very wet weather. The weather overall was quite a mix.”
Lorraine grouped hills together to create some long walking days and completed some multi-day routes by camping in the hills overnight. She cycled in between hill areas, too.
In total, over the round, she walked 512km and achieved a total height gain of 27,026m. The most summits completed in one day was 15.
She cycled between hills, covering a pedalling distance of 649km and 8021m height gain. She took only one day off and averaged some 20km of walking daily.
Her stats also reveal she wild camped on 11 nights and had one bivvi night. Other nights were spent variously in a bothy, hostel, hotel, community campsite and a friend’s house.
She spent 16 days solo hiking, as well as being supported throughout the month by friends and acquaintances. Lorraine said: “I like being on my own in the hills and I enjoy the solitude of the wild places, but equally I like to spend time with other people. It was very enjoyable having different people joining me, including friends and people who had spotted what I was doing on social media.
“I m very grateful to all the people who walked with me, brought food and helped with logistics and all sorts of other support.”
Lorraine reports that she had many great days, including her favourite group of hills, Craignaw, Dungeon Hill and Mullwharchar in Galloway. She said: “It was so wild and beautiful on this circuit of hills. I really liked the hills in the Galloway area.”
One of the toughest days came in the Ochils, when it was very wet. She said: “There was so much rain and wind, plus the clag was low. These hills have a lot of boggy terrain including a large area known as ‘Menstrie Bog’! I was grateful for knowledge of a local women who came out to support me. She was much more familiar with these hills but it was still hard work to reach the summits.”
Lorraine’s final Donalds and Tops, Uamh Bheag, Meall Clachach, Beinn nan and Beinn Odhar, were the most northerly and situated in Glen Artney, Perthshire. She said: “After being drowned in the Ochils, the final day in Glen Artney was much better weather apart from a couple of showers in the afternoon. I cycled to Braco and then waited for some friends to join me for the walk.
“The glen is beautiful and a place to take your time. There are many very large peat hags and some bog but I was able to pick my way through this fairly easily and I just enjoyed the final day and being with friends.
“I had imagined the round would be harder than it turned out to be. It was not as tough as the Grahams although it might be that I am more used to being on rugged and pathless terrain.
“It was an incredible journey and while it was self-propelled, it would not have happened without the support of others both on the hills and in the background.”