Last year I managed 43 new hills and 125 relative hill ascents, but only nine new relative hills. After a 12-day trip to Galloway I only have one Scottish relative hill over 600m left to do, and that is being kept for a special occasion. Looking back through my diary, I have to say that 2004 was not as good as 2003, largely because of the weather. Probably the most memorable days were on Bla Bheinn at the beginning of May, with fresh snow and cloud making the top even more dramatic than usual, and a traverse of the Aonach Eagach in excellent weather at the beginning of August. There were other good days, but plenty more were memorable for bad weather, such as a very wet one in November on Beinn a'Bhuiridh, when the wind pushed me off the rock I was sitting on at the summit.
