Trigpointing objectives for the forthcoming year?

[trigging on an island]

January is always an exciting time with all those long weeks and months of the year ahead stretching away over the horizon and a chance of a fresh start to go about one's bagging business. With the complete(?) set of stations being uploaded last summer, and new and varied ways of organising the information on the website, a top class T:UK experience is guaranteed for all in 2015 I'm sure. I like to have some sort of a year end target to work towards to help keep me motivated through all the seasons. At present I feel the need to get back to basics and concentrate my efforts as much as I can once again on pillars. The newly created 'Restrict searches to: Pillars' preference now lets me list every pillar in ascending distance from home and so I'm enthusing over all the remaining ones in a 100km radius (current nearest unbagged is Glan-Hafon 10335 at 59.0km.) That's not to say I won't keep my eye out for a few other little bits and pieces along the way though of course.

Another thing that really makes this pastime accessible to all who are interested in it is that whatever stage of your trigpointing career you are at there will always be something there for you to aim for. Whether, for instance, it may be collecting the flush bracket numbers of every extant pillar on a particular Landranger sheet, or visiting all the intersected stations visible from a prominent hilltop. Alternatively, doing all of one particular trigpoint type in a county, or, thinking bigger, in a whole country. I know that I would like to finish all the Welsh FBM's as soon as I can, which I am currently just past halfway through completing. Another long term goal is to get at least one log in each of the 72 listed counties, so I will hope to pick up a few new ones this spring down in the South West.



Enjoyable bagging to all. Wherever you may be, whatever you may be looking for, and whichever milestone you may be chasing.

Cheers, Alex C.

[Aqueously90]

My main objective for the year is to finish the NH block (57 out of 140 so far), but my shorter term goal is to hit 100 pillars on or around my birthday (05/04). I'd also like to make my centenary pillar my first munro too (probably Ben Macdui or Ben Wyvis), so that'd be a nice milestone.

I don't think 200 pillars is too crazy a goal by the end of the year - but of course, as you tick off your local trigs, you have to travel further afield!

[trigging on an island]

My main objective for the year is to finish the NH block (57 out of 140 so far), but my shorter term goal is to hit 100 pillars on or around my birthday (05/04). I'd also like to make my centenary pillar my first munro too (probably Ben Macdui or Ben Wyvis), so that'd be a nice milestone.

I don't think 200 pillars is too crazy a goal by the end of the year - but of course, as you tick off your local trigs, you have to travel further afield!

Interesting, bagging by block . Reminds me of the T:UK user maurice with his neat ST square http://trigpointing.uk/trigs/view-map.php?u=517&v=y . It seems that I'm a bit behind on blocks compared to counties, though it is heartening to see that I have completed HZ, albeit with only one trig in it . Good luck too with getting a Munro for your centenary pillar - it's nice to do something special to mark these landmark totals.

It's very true that about having to travel further afield as you exhaust your local trigs, but as long as you keep the interest going you'll have no end of fun taking yourself to all manner of places that you would never have thought of visiting if it wasn't for trigpointing.

I hope it all goes well for you.
Alex

[peregrinus]

Interesting, bagging by block . Reminds me of the T:UK user maurice with his neat ST square http://trigpointing.uk/trigs/view-map.php?u=517&v=y .

That's superb! Nice thread Alex.

My main trigging focus currently is Passive Stations. I always used to target pillars and regarded surface blocks, Berntsens et al as too difficult. Now I quite enjoy the challenge.

I have a sort of a plan to finish my remaining pillars this year. The sticking point (apart from the 2 Unreachable but Seen Scottish MoD pillars) is Dutchmans Cap with Carn na Burgh Mor and the much simpler Staffa in support. If we are lucky with the sea conditions in a few weeks time, that would just leave a few mainland hilltop pillars needing a revisit, and a remoteish pillar in NH needing a first time visit; these might be doable.

[trigging on an island]

Reviewing 2015, it turned out pretty much as I expected to. One of those years where you keep plugging away without necessarily passing any memorable targets. I felt that my pillar count was satisfactory and my T:UK stats tell me that I amassed more overall logs than each of the two previous years, which I am certainly happy with. Looking into 2016 i feel that it shall be more of the same. I have been picking up quite a few Cheshire and Shropshire logs so am now in a position to be able to complete Landranger sheet 117 and also get close to doing 126 too (124 and 125 both possibilities as well at some point). I like the focus of working on a particular sheet, after all that is what all my walks revolve around anyhow. It's a great feeling of achievement when you get the last one in the bag .

Otherwise, the 1000 pillars chase is just over the horizon. I'm not thinking of getting there this year but I would like to make a healthy dent into the total and set myself up nicely for the first half of 2017.

Regards, Alex C.

[MAC.HAWK]

I'd be grateful for half a dozen new pillars if finances can wangle me getting somewhere I haven't visited before. Not so easy if you're on a limited budget and you've 'tigged' all the local pillars/FBM's. Nearly all of the Intersected rubbish I'd rather give a miss.

[ted]

My trig targets tend to be aimed at getting any particular sub-list (based
on counties, grid squares or land ranger maps for example) down to 10 trigs
or less remaining rather than necessarily completion. That allows for the
fact any list tends to have a few "impossible" items (MOD land, secure reservoirs etc)
and makes the target realistic.

Mac Hawk writes:

I'd be grateful for half a dozen new pillars if finances can wangle me getting somewhere I haven't visited before. Not so easy if you're on a limited budget and you've 'tigged' all the local pillars/FBM's.

I think we are based in the same city and similarly use public transport when trig bagging.

One option to consider is a Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket:
https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_roads/public_transport/tickets_passes/rover_tickets/derbyshire_wayfarer/default.asp
I used these extensively for day trips by train+bus to get most Derbyshire trigs and its good value, especially
considering that Sheffield counts as a Derbyshire location for the use of this ticket.


Regards
Ted

[MAC.HAWK]

Thanks ted

I'll have a look at that, particularly when the daylight get a little longer.

Mac.Hawk

[Aqueously90]

Looking back on last year's objectives, I didn't manage to finish NH (72/140), having moved south to Glasgow in August. NJ is much more accessible from my home up north, so it has been there that I have been focused on when in the area. I did my first foreign trig this year while in Gloucester for business. I was around a week late for my 100 trig target, but I comfortably managed 200 extant trigs before the end of the year.

My plan for 2016 is to make significant progress through LR64, having done almost half already over the last few months (46/94). I'd like to start doing some island trigs this year too - Lismore and Cumbrae are short ferry hops, and Coll and Tiree are just a short flight from Glasgow. I'd love to visit either Uist, Orkney, or Shetland again, as it's been quite a few years since I've been to any of them.

At my current pace, a total of 350 extant trigs is doable for this year (it'll be close... currently on 213), but it all depends on my work schedule, which is a bit up-in-that-air at the moment.

[trigging on an island]

2016 turned out to be a so so year for me with pillars. I got some good ones done and managed to cover quite a bit of the country, aided by trips to, amongst other places: Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter, Leicester, Scarborough and Skipton. As well as four separate trips up to Scotland. I made progress too with trigs on islands and got the awkward ones in the Sound of Harris done, in addition to the Monachs. Ailsa Craig, I finally got out to on the third attempt, and had one of my very best days of the year on. St Martins Head in the Isles of Scilly was also a relief to get in the bag. On the whole it was a reasonable amount but not quite as many as I perhaps could have managed if I really concentrated on the task at hand.

This year I must admit my ambitions as far as trig bagging goes are quite low, for the start of the year anyway, as I am intending to concentrate on Welsh hill lists instead and this will be taking me to areas where I have already done all the pillars before quite some time ago. It should pick up a bit though as the year goes on and I start venturing further afield. There's also the Trig Bagger's Weekend in the Welsh Marches coming up and I still have some I need to do around there so that should be productive. There is still the incentive of reaching 1000, but I'm not putting pressure on myself to go chasing that. It'll happen if it happens.

Happy Bagging everyone .