Magnificent Malky's Millennial Marilyn

[Jaxter]

Malky’s obsession with Marilyns has been well documented on Walk Highlands (largely by himself ) He had been working his way through the 990’s recently and I had assumed that the 1000 mark would have been passed on his way south. However he had decided on some bigger hills (who says it’s not all about size ) which meant an excursion up Conic Hill on Sunday would see him hit the big 1000, Upper MarHof and Epic Level of Geekery and Loserness

The morning looked horrible so we had a late start and set off from Balmaha just after 1.30. Although it wasn’t actually raining it was overcast and a bit damp. Perfect weather for getting rid of the cold that I’d had for most of a month

An easy climb initially, we could see back to Loch Lomond as we gained height


There’s nothing especially interesting to say about the climb even on a nice day (and this couldn’t be put in that category ) It’s a good path most of the way, even steps on the steep section before becoming muddier higher up. We met several people coming down looking a bit damp Even going slowly we took about 40 minutes to the summit and the views were magnificent…

Malky on his 1000th Marilyn. He’s so excited he can hardly contain himself


I didn’t get a summit photo last time I was here


Then I was so intimidated by Malky’s awesomeness that I fell over


We weren’t 100% sure which was the higher summit (and couldn’t see anyway ) so continued along the ridge over a smaller bump to a larger bump where Malky had a celebratory dram. Mine was purely medicinal of course


I felt I needed to bow to Malky the Magnificent


Looking back – it actually turned out that the second summit was the highest afterall


We then decided to be a bit silly There was no falling over in the making of this picture….


Before heading back to the other (non) summit where it appeared to clear a little


Actual summit


We then headed along the ridge in case it cleared and got the stunning vistas down Loch Lomond. It didn’t, but at least we turned it into a sort of circular walk.

Malky in his super colourful new boots


Malky suggested making it even more circular by trying to find the other path down Druim nan Buraich which was a bit more exciting


We also practised some pacing here – much easier than the night nav I’d done on the Campsies the other week; also less dark and less boggy

Don't really remember the context of this


We did eventually sort of drop out of the clag and could see a very atmospheric Loch Lomond


We then zig zagged through vegetation (fortunately on a path ) back to the road, where we had a short distance to walk back to the car. Malky was so excited by his new boots that kept the water out that he decided to walk in a puddle to prove how good they were. What he actually proved was that the puddle was deeper than he thought and that water still comes over the top of new boots the same as any others. What a numpty

GPS track went a bit mental

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[Collaciotach]

Still quite an achievement Malky

[weaselmaster]

What an "i-conic" way to get into the Upper Hall. The kind of low key celebrations that we approve of But yeah, well done.

[Sgurr]

Well done to malky_c. Apart from having done all the other lists in double quick time, he now appears to be aiming for legendary status with a double quick Marilyn completion. Are you going up the sea stacks with him?They might feature a bit higher on your approval scale. Of course, the thing to do when you reach the Upper Hall is the truly geeky thing of spelling it all out in your equipment

[Alteknacker]

I really don't know which of you is the maddest....

[apollo0815]

The maddest in this collection is definitely Jaxter Consider it a honorary title, though.

[Jaxter]

What an "i-conic" way to get into the Upper Hall. The kind of low key celebrations that we approve of But yeah, well done.

Groan....

Well done to malky_c. Apart from having done all the other lists in double quick time, he now appears to be aiming for legendary status with a double quick Marilyn completion. Are you going up the sea stacks with him?They might feature a bit higher on your approval scale. Of course, the thing to do when you reach the Upper Hall is the truly geeky thing of spelling it all out in your equipment

That is very cool!! And less microsoft paint editing required

The maddest in this collection is definitely Jaxter Consider it a honorary title, though.

Taking that as a compliment

[malky_c]

Cheers for writing that up - much better than my effort, especially since there are rather limited photos available . And thanks to everyone else for the comments .

Well done to malky_c. Apart from having done all the other lists in double quick time, he now appears to be aiming for legendary status with a double quick Marilyn completion

I doubt I'll be finishing them (or even getting particularly close - there's loads more than the sea stacks that are likely to stop me). And I'm pretty sure you and R were knocking off more a year than I ever have (I think I managed over 80 in 2012, a record that I'm unlikely to better), so I'm not that fast either!

The maddest in this collection is definitely Jaxter Consider it a honorary title, though.

I think without knowing it, you have set a challenge. No idea how it might end .

[Sgurr]

Well done to malky_c. Apart from having done all the other lists in double quick time, he now appears to be aiming for legendary status with a double quick Marilyn completion

I'm pretty sure you and R were knocking off more a year than I ever have (I think I managed over 80 in 2012, a record that I'm unlikely to better), so I'm not that fast either!

I think I did around 150 the year that Ted did 250, but we have been retired for years now, so it's hardly a comparison. I meant in age terms, not in Marilyns per year.