My interest in Marilyns began... when I bought a copy of RHB from Harrods and I got started with them, pretty much as soon as the book was published. I had already been bagging Wainwrights and Nuttalls. In 1986, we bought a static caravan at Skelwith Fold near Ambleside - a very convenient base for the Lakeland fells. By 1989, even our younger daughter Charlotte (then aged three) was keen and able to bag Wainwrights, much to the relief of elder daughter Naomi who had been restricted up until then. All four of us completed in 1994 with Charlotte still only eight at the time. The following year we completed the Outlying Fells and, until comparatively recently, Charlotte was in fact the youngest completer of the Wainwrights and I believe still is for the Outlying Fells.
We had also progressed to Scottish trips at about the same time and, as teachers, were able to spend a few weeks up there bagging Munros.
The bagging tally of the other three tailed-off as the girls entered their teens and mother Liz developed knee problems. But I carried on, often walking alone, completing many of the lists.
My favourite Marilyns are... more dependent upon the circumstances of my particular visit than on the hill itself. Some places can look quite enchanting when the sun is shining and there are extensive views even though there may be a car scrap yard on the upper slopes. However, I remember being particularly excited upon reaching the cliff-edge top of Biod an Athair, Dunvegan Head. Some of the more remote Scottish island Marilyns figure in my list of favourites partly because many of them were reached on a friend's motor yacht. I have a soft spot for Gisborough Moor as it is the closest Marilyn to my home of 33 years and I have adopted the summit trig point from the OS.
My least favourite Marilyns is... Swinside - I did not enjoy my time ducking and diving so as not to be seen but disturbing a mass of noisy pheasants with every step, And I did not enjoy Hoove, which is a bland hill by any standards, but again being caught in a violent electric storm on the return leg probably influenced my impression.
Do I keep Marilyn bagging a secret? I am open that I am a peak-bagger and am confident to extol the virtues of the pastime to anyone and everyone. The only instance I may sometimes hold back from mentioning bagging is when meeting someone on a summit and after observing their particular demeanour and conjecturing as to the reason for them being there. I will happily chat to them but perhaps not initially acknowledge that part of my own motivation for being there is to bag the peak.
I ... have a keen interest in long distance walking as well as other interests in life too, so bagging is by no means an obsession.
Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill, laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.
- Rupert Brooke
