Leo Houlding and I had been talking about doing the Old Man of Hoy for some years and my reaching the ripe young age of 80 seemed a good time to put our plan into action.
He incidentally is the youngest person to have climbed it – at the age of 11! The third member of our team was Andy Torbet, the One Show presenter, which is going to show the film some time soon.
| Myself, Leo Houlding and Andy Torbet. | 
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We took the ferry from Crabster to Stromness and got our first glimpse of the Old Man under a stormy sky. |
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| The road head is at Rackwick Bay, three and half miles from the Old Man. | 
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| The idea for the climb had come from Tom Patey (centre), the Ullapool doctor, brilliant new router and incredible character. He had recruited Rusty Baillie a very talented Rhodesian climber (right) and myself. | 
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Rusty led the formidable 2nd pitch using aid – big wooden wedges – but for the TV ascent the following year, Joe Brown climbed it free, inspired by Joe Brown, who had arrived earlier than me and made the first free ascent. |
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| I must confess I pulled on a sling on the crux but I managed to climb, though was very glad of a top rope. | 
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I’d led the final pitch in 1966 n- it’s probably the easiest of the entire climb but also the most beautiful. By this time however I was pretty tired and very happy to hand over to Leo. |
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A selfie on the summit. It had been a really brilliant climb. To see the little film of our ascent Click Here |
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