Thursday walk 7 December Report

A really good turnout on a gnarly day 13 people and one dog. The weather forecast was for very high winds from a NW direction but it wasn’ t until we topped the steep spur overlooking Winnatts that we fully realised just how strong.

A decision as taken to still go onto mam tor despite it being clear this was going to be hard. Vanda, linda and lynn opted to do a lower level walk below the level of the ridge. The rest of us battled onto Mam Tor. Winds were so strong over the summit that standing up was very difficult, most people spent some time on all 4s and both Shaun and I got blown over. Two hats made their way down towards Castleton and probably further and I liked Jez s comment about the 2 hats flying off and the group on the hill. Once over the summit a quiet and calm area was found for a combined coffee and lunch break.

Progress along the ridge was comparatively uneventful and a decision was taken to contour to the south of Lose hill as no one wanted a repeat of our Mam Tor experience. The walk down to Hope and back to Castleton was uneventful but with a little”mudness” on some bits of the path.

A nice contrast was provided by Christmas lights in Castleton and return to the cars coincided with driving rain, hail and sleet.
We were a tired group returning to the cars. This was clearly harder work in these conditions than usual.

Welll done folks and thanks for your company. I wonder if this qualifies as an “Epic”

Paul has sent me some pictures. Not sure how to attach these so will send as separate e mail