A slow start to 2014 meant that my I did not bag anything until March, when I managed a couple of Grahams while spending a few nights in the Lochaber area. Easter saw me having two very cold nights camping near Loch Pattack to bag six Munros in glorious weather.
My next new Marilyn was Meall Dola, on the way north for the main holiday which was centred on Orkney and finished at the Marhof dinner at Helmsdale. The boat trip to Eilean nan Ron was followed by a few days picking off Marilyns, including four Grahams, before crossing the Pentland Firth for my first visit to Orkney. An awkward landing while climbing one of Rousay's barbed wire fences left me struggling to walk, but after a visit to A and E at the Balfour hospital and a day spent with my feet up I was able to get up three Humps the following day to reach 999, which meant that the Gairsay boat trip took my Hump total into four figures. The last full day on Orkney saw a visit to Hoy to complete the Marilyns in region 23. I probably will not finish its Humps as there is a rather tricky one on the west side of Hoy.
The journey to Helmsdale was interrupted by a very fine trip to Stroma, where Alex was the fortunate beneficiary of others being left stranded on North Ronaldsay the previous night. After bagging Braigh na h-Eaglaise, the journey home was spoiled by an unfortunate fatal accident on the Pitlochry bypass (it was certainly unfortunate for the deer).
Four Grahams in section 1E at the end of June were my first new Marilyns south of the Great Glen for over two years, before the tamperers interfered with my total for the first time when my 700th Marilyn (Troweir Hill) was demoted. The remainder of the year was spent picking off a few hills closer to home and struggling along on my third round of Munros.
