Wow - been away for a few days - thanks for all the positive comments and congratulations - I was down at the Chelsea Flower Show - a completely different world - apart from Mark Gregory's Yorkshire Garden of course. The least I can do is give you all the courtesy of a general appreciative reply, and also respond to some of the many points you've raised.
Ian -
a very brave choice for the final Munro
- I don't think choice came into it in the end. I seemed to be being lead inexorably there and, after watching Free Solo and Alex Honnold on Channel 4 last night, the fifteen feet of the Step pales into insignificance.
Gaffr -
you must be close to a full round of the 4000m peaks
- yes, you've confused me with someone else there - my currently tally on that score is just two - the Dent Blanche and the Matterhorn - and sadly I don't think I'll be adding to them.
And as for your comments about early routes - classic descriptions about a time when routes were literally
made and not simply followed.
Rod -
I first met up … on the westerly Drumochter group
- I remember the day well - and we left the tiring youngsters descending as we pushed on to add the Corbett Sow - no stamina this young generation.
Alistair -
… always thought provoking and entertaining in equal measure ...
- thanks - I don't know how you maintain the momentum to keep us reading your own reports and wanting to know what happens next.
Pete R -
… I was very much the same myself ...
- and not only did you managed to squeeze in 280 to 282 just before me - well done - did I miss the report? - but you're also now one in front of me on the Compleator list for posterity.
Martin -
… I won't pose the question that usually follows ...
- but I'll answer it all the same. No, I'm not doing a second round, and neither am I doing the Tops. But if there any awkward steps on the Corbetts I'll be looking out for your photographic support.
Owen -
… up there the day before … would have been fun to have met you ...
- be honest - you're just miffed you missed out on the Talisker - maybe if we meet up on a future WH meet.
Mal -
… the quiet satisfaction of compleating ...
- it was simply that - quiet - the wind even dropped when I got to the top. Now you've got me following your kayaking blog and got me wondering - I've got a friend who has suggested it once or twice, and it's got my other half worrying.
Ronnie -
… great to be part of your special day ...
- as I said in the report, the people you meet are part of making all the days special - and great that you've broken your duck on making a WH post - maybe more to come?
Eva / Kevin -
… no more list ticking ...
- you should see the size of the to-do list for the garden - top of which is slug eradication. All the best when you get a grand day for AB - you'll be fine.
Graeme -
A Munroist and a Poet
- now hang on there, let's not over-do it. Just think, from amidst that generation of DofE students you've coerced round the hills, there may be another me for whom you bear sole responsibility. I hope we'll hammer out another Sunday Corbett at the end of a WH meet at some stage in the future.
Paul / Helen -
… a fitting mountain on which to finish ...
- in June 2011, on a claggy clamber up Creag Meghaidh, you asked if I had any aspiration to do them all. I'd only done sixty then. I guess I've just said "yes."
Old Danensian
(For the curious - it's the collective name given to former pupils of the school I used to go to many, many moons ago - there maybe at least one other lurking on the site.)
