A pretty dry year of climbing, with most of south Wales now bagged out. I was surprised to find comparatively little affordable accommodation in the valleys, particularly in the Neath area. In April I paid my first visit to the Galloway forest and was stunned to find it even more impressive than I'd expected. Longer trips included a hot July week on Skye that was particularly memorable for the invasion of the Saturday afternoon bus to Armadale by a troop of hill-worn French scouts, who entertained the squashed-up locals and tourists with their singing for the remainder of the journey to the ferry. The trip across to Raasay for Dun Caan proved to be an exceptionally enjoyable day away from the masses.
Plans to investigate the Caithness hills were thwarted when I nearly crippled myself on a bollard at Balintore after a leisurely traverse of the Hill of Nigg. However the revised schedule finally enabled me to get onto Fuar Tholl after two previous failures to negotiate the River Lair. One of the most awkward hills of the year turned out to be Torr Achilty (12A), with deep vegetation on the steeper parts of the north-east ridge. Things were beginning to look worse when 'Bridge closed' signs were encountered on the approach to nearby Moy Bridge, but the building-site barriers were side-stepped without any query from the lunching workmen.
December saw my return to section 1A, following a ten-year gap, for a splendid walk out to Auchnafree Hill, with freezing fog sitting across the midland valley all day. This followed a flying visit with a friend to Cowal, slithering down the deforestation of Beinn Bheula and Beinn Lagan (19C). Over Christmas I succumbed to the lure of using a hire car from Fort William, which enabled me to pick off a number of tops up and down the A86, in between the copious bands of precipitation, including a rare foray alongside Loch Arkaig to bag Meall na h-Eilde (10C) in fresh snow.
