As last year's contribution predicted, my progress with the Marilyn list has come to a standstill. No new Marilyns for me, the first time this has been the case for over 15 years. Oh well, another trip to St Kilda is called for some time.
I picked up a few Submarilyns in a rather half-hearted fashion. I almost lost my record of climbing at least one Scottish hill each year since 1982. Ayton Hill proved very tricky due to the large herd of skittish cattle on the top. It took ages to coax them off the 'summit'. Fortunately, Alan's article on the Sims in last year's Marhofn provided me with a new challenge that will last me a while. Completion of the Deweys meant that I already had England and Wales cleaned up, but many hours were spent during the summer poring over maps to determine what progress had been made in Scotland. I found that my current total is 1479 so, with 1051 Sims to go, I can look forward to many more years of bagging.
Climbing Peak Boby in Madagascar added another Ultra to my tally but the main expedition of the year was to Namibia and walking Fish River canyon. We climbed one of the highest sand dunes in the world, Big Daddy. Next year I'm off to Mexico to try to climb some of their volcanoes as my legs reach half a century old; I hope they are still up to the challenge.
