Although I had visited most of the Orkney Marilyns as quick pass-outs from diving trips to Scapa Flow, the islands of Westray and Rousay had eluded me, so I was back there with Tove in May. Westray gave a backdrop of dramatic wave action whilst we climbed Fitty Hill and then had a look round Noup Head. On Rousay we descended Blotchnie Fiold to the south-west, giving us time to explore the impressive Taversoe chambered cairns. The Mainland Marilyns were revisited together with the subbie, Hill of Miffia. Unfortunately, I had not read all of Marhofn 196 and missed Graham Bunn's advice on the electric fence. Being tall I was OK, but Tove got a good shock. Time was still left for the historical sites of Skara Brae and various standing stones before we made a quick visit to Hoy. We had time to walk along its western cliff tops to see the Old Man of Hoy - I'm glad that doesn't have 150m drop all round.
The Outer Hebrides, my largest uncompleted area, was addressed with a busy bagging week in late May, cleaning up on South Uist and then on Barra and its southern islands. We had indifferent weather on South Uist but some outstanding walks; Eaval from the NW and a through walk including Arnaval and Beinn Ruigh Choinnich. We left Uist via the Eriskay causeway and climbed Ben Sciathan, meeting the charming white ponies that live there. We also met John Mackay (who was to join us on the Barra boat trips) in that usual tentative way that baggers seem to have in not declaring their plans too readily.
We crossed to Barra on the Eriskay ferry with heavy showers and spectacular rainbows. After more than a hundred emails, it was good to see the 14-strong team of baggers, old friends and new faces assembled on Barra to tackle the five southern islands. Although I had organised the trip, the vagaries of tides, wind and weather meant that nobody was sure where we were going to end up on the first day. Fortunately we were in the safe hands of Donald and Francis, who dropped us on our first island, Pabbay, with wonderful sunshine lighting up myriad islands in an azure sea. All too soon we were off to Mingulay and a greeting from hundreds of seals lolling on the beach and puffins emerging from their sandy burrows. We had time for a circuit of the island, which yielded fantastic views of its famous western cliffs. Getting off Mingulay proved a wet experience for John Mackay, who was caught in a large surge. Although time was getting on, Donald matched our determination to bag the three southernmost islands that day, so we landed on Berneray at about 7pm. Sadly, the cloud came in as we got close to the lighthouse, thwarting any views.
The following morning the weather had deteriorated, making us very grateful for the previous day's successes. Following advice from an island veteran, we set off tooled up with ice axes. Quite why these might be required on Muldoanich was a mystery to the team, although I did find them quite handy for ridiculous poses on the trig point. We sailed on to Sandray in strong winds, and Graham Stevens took his turn for a dunking as we re-boarded the boat. The trip ended with the three Barra Marilyns and a chance to watch planes take off from the beach at Barra airport. We safely returned to South Uist only to discover that a Cal-Mac ferry had broken down, so we had an 18-hour delay and a night in the Borrowdale Hotel watching the Scottish Cup Final. Unfortunately I had run out of holiday so I missed the Marhof meet in Strontian, but it was not long before the news of a demoted Marilyn and a promoted hill reached me. Oh well, one step forward and one back. I have now started to take a closer look at the SubMarilyn list.
Graham Illing in training for Muldoanich
With so few Marilyns left to bag, Ultras were the order for much of the year. After some game-watching in Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania, we climbed Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro. Meru stands out as the better climb, with spectacular views of the central crater and a wonderful walk through the jungle, with sightings of giraffe and buffalo. I proved to myself I could still hack it 15 years after I was last on top of Kilimanjaro.
The year's trek was to the Taurus mountains and Mount Ararat in Turkey. We started off in Cappadocia with a walk through the famous Fairy Chimneys, before an excellent trek through rugged scenery. We reached the summit of 3723m Mt Embler and then moved on to the impressive Mt Ararat, right on the border with Iran. This proved to be an excellent climb, although a strong blizzard prevented any chance of a view from the 5137m summit. We finished with a tour of Istanbul and its impressive Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya - breathtaking.
