Best outing of the year? Goodness knows - there were so many - but possibly the same as the most knackering outing: Coniston to Buttermere in great heat on 9 July, via Old Man of Coniston, Swirl How, Great Carrs, Cold Pike, Crinkle Crags, Bowfell, Esk Pike, Great Gable, Brandreth (where, as planned, I met Gordon Ingall), Haystacks, High Crag and High Stile - the last-named being my last unclimbed Lakes Marilyn.
