In 1975 I went on a school outdoor club weekend to Braemar. While studying maps in the evening I noticed that there were a lot a good hills over 3000 feet and decided I could try to climb them all - maybe nobody had done this before. I told my father when I got home; he said nothing, but a copy of Munro's Tables duly arrived for my birthday a few days later. I then did most of my Munros by public transport, hitching and on student minibus trips. Having recently had a look at the Marilyn News Centre website, I think a recent entrant to the Hall, Andrew Fraser, was one of my school teachers. The date of birth is about right and he was involved in running the school outdoor club which centred around those Munro bagging trips.
Closing in on my second round of Munros was the main target for 2005. Nevertheless, I managed 50 new relative hills, with the 600th reached on Mull in August. This was supposed to be a family hill walk, but as the cloud was down to 100m or so, I ended up with a solo run round Beinn a'Ghraig and Beinn Fhada.
The year had begun with a wet, windy and snowless ascent of Ben Aslak (Skye) on 7 January - notable because I just made it through the flooded A82 and A87 before they were closed due to flooding and landslides. The return trip to Edinburgh was via Inverness. A memorable trip in late March was the round of Beinn Dubh, Beinn Uamha, Cruinn a'Bheinn, Ptarmigan and Ben Lomond from Loch Dhu near Aberfoyle. The contrast between the solitude of the lower hills, with their woodpecker, snipe and skylark birdsong, and the throngs on the main Ben Lomond path, highlighted one of the real pleasures of the relative hills. Towards the end of April I had a good 'run and drive' afternoon round of Law Kneis, Ward Law, Cacra Hill, Turner Cleuch Law, The Wiss and Deuchar Law. Other memorable hill days included:
