In 2013 I did a great deal of long-distance trail walking (over 2900km), mainly abroad, and this left little time for peakbagging. However, I did manage a trip to Ireland to bag a few more of the Irish 600m hills, county tops and Marilyns; in fact I bagged more Irish Marilyns in 2013 than British ones. My main peakbagging trip of the year involved Sim bagging, two weeks in the central Highlands in glorious weather during the first two weeks of June. I added 61 new Sims to my total, in areas not previously walked, but only managed to bag five new Marilyns, four of which were during one continuous day walk to the east of Loch Ness. On the last day of this trip I walked the fine little ridge to the west of the southern end of Loch Ness, culminating in Burach, one of the few remaining 600m+ Marilyns that I still had left to do.
My main Marilyn/Hump trip of 2013 was a week on Islay with my wife and young niece Carys. Unlike many British walkers I do like it hot and so I could not have chosen a better time to go, mid-July, when the highest temperatures of 2013 were experienced in Britain. For one of the islands off the west coast of Scotland to bask in Mediterranean type sunshine and heat for day after day is not a common occurrence. The highlight of this trip was a linear walk over five of the principal hills on the island; Beinn Dubh, Sgorr nam Faoileann, Glas Bheinn, Beinn Bheigier and Beinn Bhan. Three Marilyns and two subs in one grand sun-drenched, sweltering, but wonderful day.
My enthusiasm for Marilyns is not quite as strong as it once was, now that I have completed the Corbetts and Grahams. I have too many of what I consider to be grotty ones left to fire my imagination. Others may consider them to be fine hills, presenting interesting challenges, but crawling on all fours through a dense jungle of plantation trees or negotiating a deeply rutted hillside, over an obstacle course of old felled trees or the like, is not my idea of fun. For me there are far more interesting adventures to be had and time is too short to waste on activities that I do not enjoy. However, I most certainly have not given up on the Marilyns. The island Marilyns, in particular, continue to fascinate. I still have not yet been to Shetland, so hope to pencil in a trip there within the next few years. My next Marilyn milestone ambition is to bag a thousand Scottish Marilyns and I only have 25 more to reach this total, but with my current annual rate of Marilyn bagging this is very unlikely to be in 2014.
I generally prefer being in the higher mountains of the British Isles, above the 600m mark. My main peakbagging ambitions are now centred on finishing the Irish county tops (only three left) and 600m hills (54 remaining) and increasing my total of Sims (now only 237 more required to enter the Sim Hall of Fame). 2013 saw the removal of Knight's Peak from the list of Munro Tops and so I suppose I ought to have a go at completing these: only 24 more to bag, but alas these are scattered far and wide across the Highlands. For 2014 I am hoping, as always, for plenty of good hill days in perfect warm, calm, dry and sunny conditions.
Carys and Alan Castle on Islay
