While others were getting stuck into Hogmanay celebrations, Anne and I were already on the way up our first hill of 2005. We went to New Zealand and saw in the UK new year while walking up Roy's Peak, above Wanaka, then climbed Queensberry Hill, Quartz Knoll and Ben Lomond over the following three days, prior to doing the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks.
Our first hill in the UK was Dirrington Great Law (28A), scene of our worst GOML experience. This time we climbed the hill from the south, going on to Dirrington Little Law first. On our way home we ascended the excellent Rubers Law as the sun set. In February I got to see Middlesbrough play in Europe when I went to Graz, and walked up the Schlossberg, the 475m hill in the centre of Graz. In March I went to Lisbon, again to see Middlesbrough, and walked to the top of Castelo de Sao Jorge. Two European Marilyns bagged? Easter was spent in Wales, where we climbed Cadair Idris, the Tarren hills (30F), Arenig Fawr and Moel Llyfnant (30D).
Arenig Fawr from Arenig Fach (Photo: Trevor Littlewood)
Our main summer holiday was one I had wanted to do for quite some time. We got the ferry to Rum and backpacked around all the Marilyns, Corbett Tops and Graham Tops. After returning to Mallaig we went over to Eigg with small packs, hoping to find accommodation, knowing we would have to get the return ferry if we failed. We were very fortunate to find a cottage that had a cancellation, and so we had three excellent and relaxing days on the island. We particularly enjoyed the walk above the crags of Sgorr an Fharaidh. The following week was spent in a lovely cottage near Strontian. The cottage had foxes and pine martens visiting nightly, and Anne spent most nights in the summer room watching their comings and goings.
On 24 June we climbed our hundredth Graham, Beinn na Cille (18C) and followed up with our hundredth Corbett, Fuar Bheinn, whilst doing the Glen Galmadale horseshoe. Problems with my knee meant that our September week on Skye was somewhat different from usual. We arrived with fantastic weather and Anne went up Roineval, which is near the cottage. I made do with the exceptionally clear views of the Cuillin and Middlebrough vs. Arsenal on the radio. My first hill when I was back walking was a gentle outing to Arnside Knott on 1 October, followed by nearby Warton Crag, then a couple of weeks later Dungavel Hill (27A) and Mendick Hill (28A). It was great to be back in the Southern Uplands.
Buoyed by having no adverse reactions from my knee, we had a few weekends in the Shropshire and Herefordshire area to boost our Marilyn tally, finding some lovely hills in an area where we had not done any walking. We also had a varied weekend in November on Deeside, with Kerloch and Carn-mon-earn in very strong winds, The Buck in rain, Millstone Hill in the dark, and a wonderful ascent of Mount Battock when it was, cold, clear and snowy.
