With England nearly completed (two expeditions to Sighty Crag were prematurely terminated due to transport problems) and most straightforward Welsh Marilyns in the bag, the haul of new ticks has diminished slightly. This wasn't helped by poor weather during week-long trips to Inchnadamph and Glen Brittle during the spring.
Highlights included my first visit to Kintyre, where I enjoyed excellent visibility all round during a walk over The Slate and Cnoc Moy, a Fforest Fawr (32A) traverse on a frosty Friday, with half the Welsh-based army running past, and the Kielder to Carter Bar border tramp, picking off the wonderfully desolate Peel Fell (33). The lowlight was receiving a vicious gash in a leg (and ruining a new gaiter) from a psycho collie on the Wern-ddu farm approach to Mynydd Rhyd Ddu (30C). I've not heard mention of a problem here before, but dogs were staked on lengthy chains either side of the path at the top of the yard.
The monotonous conifers on Mynydd Marchywel (32B) were employed as a windbreak to facilitate an ascent of the hill on a stormy Saturday, but they didn't prevent me nominating the trip as the worst drenching of 2004.
A solution to dog ownership proposed in region 29
