Another year somewhat limited by my dad's deteriorating health and care needs, but I still managed to complete 51 Marilyns to reach 1250.
I started in March on Skye and finished in October when I completed Skye on a very windy Beinn Dearg Mhor. I waited for an oncoming gust, lay down till it had passed over, stood up and continued on my way until the next gust, when I repeated the process.
The highlight of the year came early on in April when I completed Mull. The AstraZeneca crowd had a week of fabulous weather based at Pennyghael. The intent was to complete Mull but also to climb Ben More for Liz to complete her Munros.
Completion day was not without incident. We climbed up Beinn Fhada on the way, but as we reached the summit ridge of A'Chioch, both of Bev's thighs went into cramp. We tried salt, sugar, liquid, rest, exercise and there was a long line of blokes queuing up to massage her thighs which probably caused Bev to go into shock. After almost two hours of her experiencing excruciating pain, we decided to call out the mountain rescue service. They were brilliant and, after some deliberation over our relative inaccessibility, decided that the best means of escape was by Bev and Dave being winched up off the ridge into a helicopter and transported to Oban Hospital. Her cramps released after five and a half hours with the aid of drugs.
We were a large but experienced party, well equipped and the weather was superb. Indeed, if it had not been for the obvious distress that Bev was in, we could have stayed up there all afternoon and night. But her condition left us with no alternative. It brought home that, even in good weather and with considerable accompaniment, the hills can bite back. We made the summit considerably later in the day than intended but still managed an appropriate celebration although the champagne consumption was strictly rationed. The mountain rescue team would not have been pleased if we had had to call them out again on the same day.
Another highlight in brilliant weather in July was the trip out to Ailsa Craig with my cousin, Gordon, and his wife, Evelyn. It was her birthday and Gordon had promised he would take her on a cruise.
This appears to have been just about one of the last dry days that the west coast of Scotland experienced in 2011. Every other day I spent walking in the west I encountered heavy downpours and strong winds, except for one magnificent day on Ruadh Stac and Marsco in October. Marsco must be one of the finest vantage points in the British Isles and well worth saving for a good day.
Garbh-bheinn, Clach Glas and Bla Bheinn from Marsco
(photo: Alan Dawson)
During 2011 I have learnt how to use my second-hand Garmin GPS to great effect in poor visibility. I only left it in the car by mistake on one occasion although I did have to use it very sparingly on another complex ridge as I had forgotten to take spare batteries. Otherwise, very few memory lapses compared to that other year which escapes me.
I received 'More Relative Hills of Britain' as a Christmas present but I am determined that it will not act as a distraction from Marilyns but merely provide an outlet for walking during the winter months without having to drive up to the far north.
