2007 was a year affected, yet again, by problems with my right knee, leading to an operation in July.
Highpoint (physical): 1236m San Jeroni in the Montserrat mountains, inland from Barcelona. This was done on a day-trip whilst in Barcelona to see England play Andorra.
Highpoint (spiritual): A fortnight in June in the Shetland Islands. The wind from the Arctic was a bonus, as it kept away the rain that battered the mainland. We did all the Marilyns except Saxa Vord; drove all the way up to the gate near the top and decided not to do it after seeing the fence and warning signs about radiation and the Official Secrets Act. How have others done this hill? The particular highlight was Fair Isle; we arrived and immediately felt chilled, and not from the northerly winds. A typical day staying at the bird observatory was breakfast, walk, lunch, walk, tea, walk, evening hot chocolate and biscuits. A word of warning; the observatory is to be knocked down and rebuilt in 2009.
Saxa Vord summit warning (photo: Alan Dawson)
Accommodation was a problem on Shetland, with very few of the places advertised in the tourist brochure having vacancies. A lot of B&B owners don't want to pay for inclusion, so they rely on word of mouth once those who advertise are full. As a result we had extended stays at the Westings Inn, a friendly pub with excellent real ale. This was the source of an unusual conversation. Most Marilyn baggers, I assume, are relatively quiet about their activities, in the desire not to be considered a tad strange. This is my approach anyway. The conversation in the bar went roughly along these lines:
'We are here climbing hills'
'Oh, you mean the Marilyns'
'Errr, yes, how do you know about them?'
'There was a couple of blokes in here the other week doing them - there is about 20 of them on Shetland and there was a bit in the paper this week about them.'
They then produced the paper with the article in. I don't think they thought us strange, as we drank with them all night, and had a cracking evening. (AD: I agree about the Westings Inn, as we had a couple of good evenings in there last year. Great view too. As for Saxa Vord, everyone on the trip last year just hopped over the small broken fence and wandered around at will, as the base has been abandoned and there was no-one there.)
Saxa Vord from Fiska Wick (photo: Alan Dawson)
