We were pleased with our 2011 bag, which was much enhanced by a trip to Shropshire as a by-product of attending friends' golden wedding celebrations. Bagging in southern England certainly rattles up the total. The downside is negotiating the many welcoming signs from landowners and farmers threatening prosecution. They have some cheek in view of the subsidies they receive from taxpayers. Access laws in England really are pants.
Scotland was, of course, pleasure all the way, more or less. We had a week of wonderful weather in May for our visit to the north-east, where we visited seldom-seen friends dating from our five or six years living in Aberdeen.
The first two weeks of June were spent in the far north-west, again with pretty good weather considering where we were. It was here, in a Tongue B and B, that we encountered our first self-confessed Marilyn bagger. He was both charming and apparently sane. We did discuss with him the recent plethora of lists and whether there were too many of them - he even knew roughly how many Humps he had done. On reflection, I think it depends on how old you are. There are far too many Marilyns for us without worrying about the Humps. But that is the best thing about the hills. We can all indulge our personal eccentricities. Except in England where you might get prosecuted. (CW: You can't actually get prosecuted unless you do some damage.)
The second half of June was spent filling in Argyll gaps, again in good weather. How will 2012 get its own back? We think we will have another week in the north-east. We are not sure whether it is the hills or the friends that are the attraction. Otherwise we are going to do some region completing, four of which require minimum bagging effort.
