Simon Edwardes’ website: http://www.hill-bagging.co.uk is probably already known to most on here. Certainly, mine is not the only amateur radio callsign that is used as a username on there.
I haven’t updated my progress on there for a while, so thought I would do so last night. It seems there are more details and features that the site can tell you about your hillbagging habits.
For instance, in terms of new hills climbed (or in SOTA terms, new activator uniques added), my progress record reads:
2002: 4
2003: 60
2004: 36
2005: 36
2006: 18
2007: 6
2008: 39
The tail-off from 2003 to 2007 follows a quite typical statistical pattern for anything counted once only on an all-time basis. The 39 in 2008 however, sticks out like a sore thumb, and suggests a rather dramatic change in how I am planning.
Of course the truth of the matter is that as we were focussing on repeating summits for M3EYP to get the uniques, my own new uniques record was stalling. Now, as we get closer and closer to that original goal of Jimmy having completed the same record of uniques as I, then there are increased opportunities to activate summits that are new to both of us.
This website can also return your progress for County tops, Hewitts, Nuttalls etc, and for Scotland and Ireland too. You can also zoom down as far as OS 1:50,000 on the maps, which have little triangles on show the position of each Marilyn (or other classifications).
The website tells me I have done 197 Marilyns in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is 2 lower than my 199 uniques, so I presume it simply disregards the historical but no longer Marilyns of Thorpe Fell Top and Horse Head Moor. It also tells me I have done a mere 51% of the 340 Marilyns of England and Wales. No rest for the wicked…
The original goal of matching the M1EYP and M3EYP activator uniques records is in sight. Those remaining are:
G/DC: 3,4,5,6,7 - will probably do in a week along with DC-001 and DC-002, and the 9 remaining G/SCs.
GW/SW: 1,2,15 and GW/MW-025 - camping trip with SW-009 and others added in.
GW/NW: 13,28 (daytrip), GW/NW-011 (daytrip with NW-018) and NW-072 (probably the most difficult one to plan ahead).
In the meantime, we will continue the daytrips into G/NP to get another region completed.
Tom M1EYP