We had a great year in 2012, mainly in Scotland and Wales, visiting places old and new. The weather was not the best, but it rarely kept us off the hills.
Our trip of the year started with us being forced to retreat during the gales in May from our camp at Ardmair, north of Ullapool, to a caravan at Dornoch. Here we managed all of the Marilyns in the area before returning to Ardmair for a couple days. Then we walked in to Suileag bothy for a night, followed by a great day on Suilven which had been one of Adrienne's must-dos on this trip. Next, we headed north to the Durness camp site in a spell of quite unbelievable weather, and heaven without any midges. Here An Lean-charn provided another memorable day with superb views all round to the likes of Ben Hope, Foinaven, Cranstackie and Beinn Spionnaidh. We ended the trip with a night at Lairg, where we spent a very pleasant evening with our friends, Allen and Fran, who were on the last leg of their Land's End to John o'Groats walk.
We cannot think of any lowlights. On the one or two days we were kept off the hills, we either enjoyed a well-earned rest or moved on and anyway you certainly cannot complain, can you, when you are able to tick off 136 Marilyns in a year?
After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
- Nelson Mandela
