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What a year 2011 was! I moved house (twice), became a daddy, almost lost my wife on the same day, and finally got the work-life balance firmly into perspective after too many years of imbalance. And I finally, tortuously, went through the 100 Munro total. And yet 2011, in hill terms, could well be looked back on as the Year of the Sub2K. My Sub2K total for 2011 stands at 14 (prior to this year I'd only ever done 13 in total). That figure is only 2 fewer than my combined Corbett/Graham total over the 12 months. And I only did 25 Munros during the year - and two of those were repeats!
The man who went up that seemingly most unappealing of hills, the 205 metre high Hill of Nigg just to the north of the Cromarty Firth to sign off on 2011, was certainly not the same person who had seen out 2010 on Creag Leacach and Glas Maol or welcomed in 2011 a few days later with CurlyWurly on Carn Bhac. Although it really happened only by accident and as a result of circumstance, I have thoroughly enjoyed my Sub outings this year. Indeed, if pushed, I would probably pinpoint my walking highlight of the year as being on Craigowl Hill back in March (and this despite, as previously mentioned, celebrating the century on A'Mharconnaich in April, an epic overnighter with Kev on the Corryhully Horseshoe in July, and the South Glen Shiel Ridge and the Aonach Eagach within the space of a fortnight in September). It somehow seemed appropriate to be celebrating Hogmanay 2011 on a Sub2K.
We had rented a cottage for a week over New Year in Shandwick, one of the three Seaboard Villages on the Fearn Peninsula between the Dornoch and Cromarty Firths. The weather was just about as foul as could have been imagined, but one vaguely decent day allowed for a wee outing and the Hill of Nigg seemed to fit the bill.
We drove around to just beyond Nigg Village and parked up by the gate at the sharp right hander. Then it was just a case of fighting the boggy track and the endless padlocked gates to the featureless summit, although the views were no bad. Then it was back down by the same route and back to the cottage, the fridge and the fire.
2011 consigned to history. Here's to 2012.....
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- Padlocked gate #1 - not easy with a small child strapped to yer back.
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- First outing for the new Tiso child carrier
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- Back down the track past the fabrication yard to the hardware in the Cromarty Firth
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- Debbie does battle with another gate
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- Sands of Nigg
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- A brief spot of nav
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- Maybe daddy will take me up a Munro in 2012. Even a Corbett or a Graham would do......
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- Sheep and oil installations
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- Sheep see us off their premises
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- Debbie and Lucy at summit with Cromarty Firth and the Black Isle behind
