The first camper-van trip of 2015 in February was to the Coniston area of the Lakes. Then a week at the Tipsy Laird hostel in Kingussie, with some of the Kinder MRT, saw a few Grahams, hence Marilyns, climbed.
In May, June and July there were two trips with Ardelve, Glen Shiel, Gairloch and Kinlochewe as bases. Corbetts and Grahams the main objectives. Memorable ascents were the full ridge traverse of Beinn Dearg and Beinn Damh in Torridon.
A serious onslaught was made on the Donalds in September and October, with two trips to the Southern Uplands. Forty Donalds climbed, leaving two to complete. These hills are wonderfully unfrequented. In one 14-day period, I was on the hill every day and saw four other people. Cannot say the same about wind turbines. Hundreds have gone up in this area since my previous visit.
Tumps have occupied the rest of my hill-bagging year. Managed a grand 440 new ones, with 33 County/UA completions, including home county Derbyshire and Staffordshire. In July, my 2000th Tump was climbed (Nicky Nook), so I joined the Tumphof with its entertaining forum. Memorable Tump was doing Keele Observatory on graduation day. The university was heaving with gowns, mortarboards, and proud parents, but the observatory was deserted.
Other high points of the year were passing the 3000 mark on hill-bagging and climbing 542 new hills in the year. A personal best by a long way. It is amazing what you can do with retirement and a camper van.
