John Barnard: Having not researched Benbeoch I decided this would be a quick up-and-down in the late afternoon via the dismantled railway track from just east of south. How wrong! I wish I had read the comments on this hill in Marhofn 84, but my Internet search did not pick this up. I think things have now got even worse. My first attempt was along the track, starting at NS513756 on the B741. Easy, break out to the edge of the forest, follow the edge for a wee while and then strike west to the hill. After ignoring the 'No Admittance' signs (standard practice) you come to a scooped-out area with rather large vehicles hurling truck-loads of rocks over the edge. Without a tin hat, I decided to retreat.
The next attempt was to go further east to the forestry track starting at NS523086. Following this north-west from the main road, I took the first left to reach a locked gate. There was a 'No Entry' sign and a tripod on which there looked to be a mounted microphone. This track turns out to be very dangerous, and a stronger warning should be on the gate. I did not check the exact location, but at about NS510086 the track ends with no warning and a vertical drop of about 200ft into the mine. I did not get too close in case the track was undercut. No way here even for the most determined. I walked back to the locked gate and tried north to see if I could get in behind Benbain, but there were no forest breaks to allow a chance of access. Now totally annoyed, I abandoned the attempt, realising that the time spent messing around here could have been more effectively spent on Craiglee to the south.
While debooting at the car, a guy in a four-wheel drive vehicle came out of the forest track and stopped to talk. He told me that the mining operations have been greatly extended in the last year, and when they finish (in about two years time) all the trees will be flattened to make way for a large wind farm. He was just off to Castle Douglas to go to a protest meeting. Before leaving, I decided to go to reception at the mine and ask what was happening. I was told that there was absolutely no access to the Marilyn and that this had been the case for a year, since mining operations now totally encircle the hill. From what I could see going on, there might be one less Marilyn to do, as British Coal appear to be completely destroying it.
Alan Dawson: The sad part is, it's an impressive rocky little hill.
Jon Metcalf: Complete recalibration of my spiritual Marianas Trench. The prototype for Hell's soundtrack drowns out anything natural in this hard-hat disaster area. There was nobody around to ask about safe access past the continuously thundering trucks, or about when it might be least hazardous, or disruptive to the licensed vandals, to venture into the explosion hazard zone. Utterly demoralising, surpassing even the gauche ruin of Dundry Down as an all-time low spot in my hill experience. It is the only prominence for miles around, so let's blow it away for road aggregate. Come on planners - where are the checks and balances - where is the defence of the public interest - where is the defence of the uncorrectable, the unrecoverable? What have we come to? It must have been beautiful once. Now it's like The Shire under Saruman. Peter Jackson could have used the sorry remnants of this former haven to provide location shots for the fictional brutalisation of defenceless beauty in The Return of the King. All responsible should hang their heads.
Ken Whyte: My most vivid memories are of two things: coming across an abandoned JCB digger while approaching the summit of Conachair from the direction of the highest radar paraphernalia, and that monstrosity of a power house which is so carefully edited from official photographs. Talk about double standards!
Barbara Jones: David and I had a quick and relatively smooth crossing to St Kilda in 2002. We got a grilling from the guy in charge and weren't sure if we would be allowed to land. We had an evening ashore round the military bit, a morning doing the round of Conachair, then sailed round the smaller islands and stacks before anchoring again in Village Bay and heading back to North Uist before the weather broke. Looking back it's the military installations that come to mind first, and I have to work quite hard to conjure up the native St Kildan remains and the natural surroundings, though I enjoyed seeing the sheep and the cleits (those little store houses) dotted all over. I find that really 'special' places that have been hyped up often disappoint. We had sailed there from the Monach Islands, which were low and sandy, with wonderful colours in the surrounding shallow waters. They felt really special and away from it all, with just a few ruined stone houses that once formed a village. One dilapidated house that was used by local fishermen as a bothy had wonderful pencil drawings on the walls, of white-horse breakers turning into real horses. There were old and new lighthouses, ordinary sheep, rabbits, buzzards, ravens, a tern colony etc. The sun was shining and we had the three islands to ourselves.
Clutter on Conachair, with Soay beyond (photo: Ann Bowker)