I chuckled a great deal on reading of the various knee injuries and operations that members reported in last year's Marhofn. Why? Because I was reading it while recovering from my knee operation! The operation probably accounts for 22 being my greatest annual total since entering the HoF in 2001. I know I'm slow (and getting slower).
Four days of fantastic weather on Jura in June brought only one Marilyn. I was on the island for fieldwork; rock bashing on the lower slopes of the Paps. There were some long walks in to reach our sites, and heavy rucksacks coming out filled with lumps of quartzite. Corra Bheinn provided a superb viewpoint for the huge deposit of rock avalanche debris that spreads out from the foot of Beinn Shiantaidh.
Shetland in July is covered elsewhere by Frances. I thought Fair Isle's Ward Hill an utter disgrace - no wonder the summit doesn't get pictured in guidebooks. Arran in August was frustratingly wet. This is our most visited Scottish island and we are still two Marilyns adrift.
Two more Irish Marilyns, Tullynasoo and Knockiveagh, were claimed in May. Our intended route to Knockiveagh was thwarted by high barbed-wire fences and dense gorse. I wasn't willing to risk my knee by going over the fences. We then found there was an access road, where a man in the house at the bottom was most welcoming. He recalled being present in the 1950s when the summit tomb was excavated. He even said that we could drive up, but we walked. On the way home the news came through that Burnley had made it into the Premier League. I wonder what news this May will bring?
