Up to the time I purchased The Relative Hills of Britain in the winter of 1992/93, my peak-bagging activities had been mainly based on Munro's Tables and George Bridge's The Mountains of England and Wales. I liked the idea of tables covering Scotland, England and Wales, and also the thought that including lower hills would prolong my bagging career. I also swapped to using the Sweats list from RHB (later Hewitts) for England and Wales.
I met my wife Jean in 1995, and we started bagging the Wainwrights, finishing them in 1999. Both Jean and I have now completed the English Marilyns and Hewitts, and have moved on to Wales. The tour round the English Marilyns took us to some good new areas, e.g. Shropshire, Forest of Bowland, North York Moors, and the west country. The merits of some of the other 'hills' were less obvious, e.g. Crowborough, Hensbarrow Beacon and Bishop Wilton Wold. It was strange to be telling friends that we were off on a peak-bagging trip to the Isle of Wight, Sussex, and other lowland areas.
I have set myself a personal target of climbing 600 Marilyns over 2000 feet, including repeats. My present score is 449 first ascents plus 135 repeats, so I have 16 to go. Far too many repeats, some may feel, for a person who has always been resident in Essex.
I have visited the Highlands a least once every year since 1967. I still head for the higher hills on my visits to Scotland, but I may be approaching the time to move on to lesser things.
