The year 2012 was a very good one. I started on 474 Marilyns and was very keen to reach 600. In March I joined Iain Brown's holiday in Benderloch and bagged 22 Marilyns. This was followed by a trip to south-west England to bag 20 more with my wife Susan over Easter.
In May, Tony Rogers and I climbed some remote Corbetts that he still needed including Carn Ban, Beinn a'Chaisgein Mor and Beinn Dronaig. The annual holiday with the Lake District National Park voluntary rangers followed in Kinlochmoidart, which added another eight Corbetts in a very wet week. My aunt's ninetieth birthday, in Hertfordshire, cut short any more Scottish hills in May but it meant Susan and I could resume our English Marilyn quest in Herefordshire and Shropshire. That was 79 Marilyns by the end of May.
Islay and Jura were finished off during a week around the Marhof dinner, with a bonus of a few hills in the Scottish Borders on the way home. Susan and I enjoyed an excellent half day on Broad Law.
After a few barren weeks in July and August which included two weeks in the Karkonosze mountains in Poland, Marilyn bagging was resumed at the end of August, on Skye, with Tony Rogers. On the way we climbed what was then the twin Corbett in Kintail, Buidhe Beinn and Sgurr a'Bhac Chaolais. On the way home we stayed in Glen Coe to climb Iain Brown's final Graham and Tony Roger's final Corbett.
This trip was more successful than I had anticipated and it meant that my plan to climb my 600th would now be in Orkney on a pre-booked holiday with friends from our village. I had hoped to achieve the 600 mark on Fair Snape Hill. So, on 19 September, four of us climbed Fitty Hill on Westray, the most northerly Marilyn in Orkney.
Fair Snape Hill, English completion for Susan Bidwell (photo: Lionel Bidwell)
Attention now turned to the completion of the English Marilyns. Susan and I had two left, Mickle Fell and Fair Snape Hill. Two possible weekends in the year when the Warcop ranges were open had been washed out by heavy rain and the last opportunity before the clocks moved was approaching, 6 and 7 October. Although a lot of rain fell during the week, the forecast for the weekend was good. So we set off on 7 October to Cow Green Reservoir and walked along the Pennine Way to the usual point to cross Maize Beck. We needed our river crossing shoes as the current was quite strong and up to our knees. After a steady climb up by the fence, a tank track took us to the summit, 13 miles for the round trip. This now meant that we were both able to complete the English Marilyns on 20 October, on Fair Snape Hill.
My final trips of the year were to Luss, where I had a perfect day for the four Glen Luss Grahams, and the Bagger Rambles weekend in Builth Wells.
