Being 16 and living in Cambridge is probably one of the better excuses you'll have heard for a Marilyn tally that barely reaches double digits. Still, I managed to nab three on a baking Easter trip to the Lake District and two on a weekend's visit to Ingleton. Perusal of maps revealed the surprising fact that the coast-to-coast walk passes over four Marilyns. So that was the post-GCSE treat sorted out! I also managed to 'climb' the only Marilyn within day-trip distance, Wendover Woods, returning with a family agreeing that perhaps the Chilterns are quite a nice place, but ever more doubtful of my sanity in wanting to drive for an hour and a half to walk to a point in the middle of some bushes fifty metres from the road.
December brought a college field trip to Lochranza, Arran. Obviously, with 15 lower-sixth students in tow we weren't going to be climbing anything huge, and after the berating received by two of my classmates when they sneaked out after hours in search of a pub (fruitlessly, Lochranza being a village whose population doubles when the field centre is full), I decided a midnight ascent of Creag Ghlas Laggan probably wasn't wise. Plus there was the fact that it was snowing. So my total for the year remained at 10.
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