My main Marilyn bagging of 2015 took place in the late spring, when Beryl and I spent three and a half weeks in Shetland, the only major area of Britain that we had not so far explored. We took our mini-camper van, which is certainly an excellent way to explore these islands, offering us many delightful evenings parked-up in a number of picturesque locations. A friend of mine told me before we went that Shetland, in his opinion, has some grotty hills, but that the coastal walking is of the highest order. Having now experienced these remarkable islands, I could not agree more. The landscape and seascape views from the generally unremarkable summits were often of the highest order. In Shetland, one is never more than five kilometres from the sea. Not only did we bag the 19 Marilyns but also the other Humps apart from Sheep Rock - that is one for the St Kilda Marilyn-bagging brigade I should think.
Fifty-six summits may sound quite impressive, but due to the low level of the hills and the short walk-ins, it is not too difficult to climb four, five or more in a day. Many Marilyn baggers seem to make a short visit to Shetland, bag the hills as quickly as possible and see little else of the islands. I would advise others, at least those who have retired and have plenty of available time, to savour these outposts a little more. The islands are internationally renowned for their seabird populations, in particular the coastal nature reserves on Noss and Unst.
We also did two long coastal treks; the complete coastlines of Unst (95 km) and Fetlar (50 km). In my opinion, the coastal cliffs of Shetland are the most spectacular of all in Britain, with dramatic scenery, precipitous cliffs and rocky islets teeming with nesting seabirds in the spring. We went during the coldest spring of the last 40 years, but it was the wind that was most wearying. It did not actually rain a great deal, when it did the showers were torrential. There was also, fortunately, quite a bit of sunshine as well. The worst part of the whole trip was undoubtedly the tiny ferry to Foula in a force 8 gale, the only time that I have ever been seasick. I was not alone as the other five passengers did the same, as did one of the crew. Finally, a visit to Shetland is highly recommended as the people who live there are welcoming and friendly, always with time to talk to strangers.
My other peak-bagging exploits in 2015 focused mainly on the Donald Deweys, which I have been slowly collecting for well over a dozen years, so time I thought to make a determined push to finish them off. Many of my remaining ones were in the Galloway hills. These walks mainly concentrated on the DDs, but also included the ascent of several Marilyns, so providing me with my highest annual Marilyn bag since I completed the Corbetts and Grahams in 2012. The worst of these was Cairnsmore / Black Craig of Dee, just below 500m but purgatory underfoot, with exhausting tussock grass and long heather all the way to the top from the forest track below.
2015 finally saw my total of Scottish Marilyns nudge over the thousand mark, with 1014 by the end of the year. What of 2016? Well, back to the Highlands I think, to enjoy more hill walks in my favourite area of Britain and hopefully add to my total of Simms, which has been more or less stagnant over the previous couple of years.
