The early walks of the year were in the lowlands and around Loch Lomond. The low point was a day of fearsome rain on Conic Hill, Ben Bowie and The Fruin. When I parked at the high point of the Glen Fruin road, the couple in the car next to mine looked at me as though I was mad. I think they were right, as I set off on the walk with the rain hammering down and the wind whipping it into my face.
In April I got married and went on honeymoon to New York, where I bagged the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Centre, although I didn't stand on the highest point of either (CW: Call yourself a bagger? That monkey managed it ok). In June I spent a glorious week in the western Highlands, mostly based in Glenfinnan. The weather was sunny and hot and I climbed 14 peaks before moving on to Strontian for the RHB meet.
In July I went to Norway, where I bagged seven peaks in as many days. The weather varied from hot and sunny to awful, with 48 hours of non-stop rain at one point. That did not stop me but I did get very wet - again. The highlights included a traverse of Romdalseggen on a beautiful day, with the Romsdal giants towering above, including the famous Troll Wall, and views 1200m straight down into the valley. Others were 503m Veten and 931m Kvitfjellet, notable because I climbed them in non-stop rain and found myself in trackless, overgrown and bouldery forest. I got soaking wet and nearly broke a leg or two in the hidden holes between the boulders. Torvløysa (1048m) was my last hill of the trip and gave the nicest surprise. I started in fog but during the ascent it cleared to reveal a beautiful vista of fjords, mountains, and islands.
In November I headed north with Chris Watson for a few day's bagging either side of Baggershambles. The rain started near Preston and hardly stopped the whole time we were away. It was the day of the massive flooding in the Lake District and we nearly had a drama of our own. Returning to the Yarrow Water after climbing Turner Cleugh Law, we couldn't distinguish road from river. We were in Chris's X-Trail and just made it through to the Innerleithen road. The A708 Moffat to Selkirk road was flooded for about 100 metres either side of the junction and was closed shortly afterwards. We climbed the two Menteith hills, Ben Ledi and Creag na Criche, and I also bagged Knock of Crieff whilst Chris had an editorial conference. The rain was relentless and dry periods were short-lived. On the last day of the trip we climbed Peel Fell, an English completion for Chris, but it was a dank misty day, the rain fell and we were glad to get down to dry off.
I finished the bagging year in mid-December with an enjoyable day on Great Shunner Fell, Lovely Seat and Dodd Fell Hill. It was a misty day but on the last hill the mist broke and there was glorious sunshine. I felt it was the least I deserved after all my soakings of the year.
