My personal challenges

Back in summer 2025, when I started seriously hiking and delving into hill walking, I wanted to find ways of discovering amazing new places while also providing motivation to keep pushing myself outside of my comfort zone. I’m naturally super competitive, and previously was an avid trail runner training for long distance races before a back issue put my plans to bed. Hiking and hillwalking is the perfect low impact middle ground, but I using that competitive drive in me would help keep me motivated, focused and able to remind myself of my pride and progress even when things feel tough.

Enter, the Marilyns.

Midlands Marilyns

A Marilyn is a hill or mountain in the British Isles and Ireland defined by having a drop of at least 150 metres/492 feet on all sides. The term was created as a playful counterpoint to Munro, the name given to Scottish mountains over 3000 feet, with Marilyn deliberately echoing the name Marilyn Monroe.

At present there are 1556 recognised Marilyns across the United Kingdom. Of these, 1218 are in Scotland, 174 in England, 159 in Wales and 5 on the Isle of Man.

Wanting an achievable challenge for a newbie hill walker/hiker from the West Midlands, my Midlands Marilyn Challenge was born.

(Sorted by elevation)

HILL	ELEVATION	DATE COMPLETED
Normanby Top [The Wolds]	198m/551ft
Hegdon Hill	254m/833ft	15/02/2026 – View Blog
Bardon Hill	280m/918ft	08/11/2025 –View Blog
May HIll	296m/971ft	15/02/2026 – View Blog
Bredon Hill	299m/981ft	23/11/2025
Walton Hill	316m/1037ft	15/01/2026
Cleeve Hill	330m/1082ft	15/02/2026 – View Blog
Callow Hill	336m/1104ft	22/01/2026 – View Blog
The Cloud (Bosley Cloud)	343m/1125ft	11/12/2025 – View Blog
Burrow (Craven arms)	358m/1174ft	18/01/2026
Gun	385m/1264ft	29/12/2025
Moel Y Golfa	403m/1322ft	07/12/2025
The Wrekin	407m/1335ft	02/10/2025
Malvern (Worcestershire beacon)	425m/1395ft	30/10/2025 – View Blog
Heath Mynd	452m/1483ft
Caer Caradoc	459m/1506ft	27/11/2025 – View Blog
Corndon HIll	514m/1686ft	22/01/2026 – View Blog
Pole Bank (Long mynd)	516m/1693ft	09/10/2025 – View Blog
Titterstone Clee Hill	533m/1749ft	05/02/2026
Stiperstones Manstone Rock	536m/1759ft	21/12/2025
Brown Clee Hill	540m/1772ft	30/11/2025
Shining Tor	559m/1834ft	03/01/2026
Kinder Scout	636m/2087ft

As at 22nd January 2026, I’m on the home stretch having completed 16 and with just 7 to go. Two, Corndon Hill and Moel Y Golfa, are technically situated in Powys, Wales. However, due to their proximity right on the Wales/England border, I decided to include them as they were the same distance away as other firmly English hills in Shropshire, and were only outside of the Midlands purely based on geography rather than geology or practical distance.

I’m now quickly approaching the technical end of my Midlands Marilyns challenge, with my end goal being a ‘final’ hike to Kinder Scout led as a group by Ray of Sun Adventures on the 21st February. The question remains…. what’s next?