I didn't really become interested in Marilyns until I was nearing completion of the Nuttalls and, like many others no doubt, wondering what to do next. Maybe a second round of 2000ers? A change of job and relocation from Cheshire to Oxfordshire settled it. To quote RHB:
'The listing of some hills in Southern England gives walkers unfortunate enough to live in that part of the country some constructive walking to do when they're not away in the northern hills.'
I would soon be in serious need of some constructive walking, especially since I already knew the Brecon Beacons, my nearest source of decent hills, pretty well.
It was natural to start with regions 39-41, though serious progress had to wait until after foot-and-mouth disease. Not many hills in the south-east could be described as exciting, but the majority can be turned into a worthwhile walk. Best were Win Green, a good ridge walk on Cranbourne Chase; Milk Hill, climbed in ignorance of its demotion but a fine hill (the summit excepted), on a chalk escarpment; Swyre Head in the Isle of Purbeck, which made a good circuit with the South West Coast path; and a dusk ascent of Cliffe Hill where I had the summit to myself, with the lights of Lewes on one side and Glyndebourne on the other.
Brown Willy gets my vote for the best hill in the south. Bodmin Moor is full of interest and there are some good little scrambles on Rough Tor. I did a six-hour circuit anti-clockwise from Churchtown and would recommend this route to anyone keen to explore the moor. Explorer 109 was useful for finding the many antiquities. The other west-country hills had less to offer, though Watch Croft was pretty, while Carnmenellis was positively nasty.
With southern England nearing completion, I turned my attention to mid-Wales and Shropshire in the spring of 2002. The highlight was a through walk from Crymych to Newport over Foel Cwmcerwyn and Mynydd Carningli in the Preseli hills. Mynydd Carningli deserves an entry in the 'Wee Gem' category. I bagged most of the summits in the mining country during a couple of weekends based at Cardiff youth hostel. I reckon the risk of car parking has been exaggerated, though it's true you see a fair number of burnt-out shells.
In between these local-ish forays I managed to notch up 25 Corbetts and a handful of Grahams. As my 600th Marilyn approached, a hint of mania crept in. I remember boarding a 2am ferry to the Isle of Man with a deep depression approaching from the west, in the company of four other lunatics, desperately rushing to get round the five Marilyns before the weather became seriously awful, and then the impossibility of finding a decent pub in Douglas while we waited for the return boat.
In keeping with the bizarre end to the year, my 598th was a night-time assault on Mynydd Eppynt in mist and rain, and my 599th the Tolkienesque sounding Hafod Ithel. Six weeks of inactivity and comparative sanity then followed before I celebrated on 11 January, appropriately on Crock.
What next? The Corbetts will keep me occupied for another few years, and I still have some Marilyns in England and Wales to do. But I also want to return to parts of Wales. I don't think my sequence of bags did justice to the country south of the Brecon Beacons. I reckon a back-pack from east to west, in and out of the mining valleys, would give a better appreciation of the area.
The Elan Valley, and the whole region around Rhayader, deserves a more leisurely exploration too. Discovering new places to which one wants to return is surely an excellent justification for climbing Marilyns, if any is needed.
Chris Crocker's 600th, Crock, 11 January 2003 Alan Dawson, Paul Richardson, Chris Crocker, Jo Innes (photo: Chris Crocker)
