Thanks to Ali and Sean for joining me at Grindon for what turned out to be a lovely 11.8 mile circuit. After a brief stop for a seesaw in the playground at Grindon we set off north for Warslow, where a few minutes of map consultation allowed time for the pub to open (coffees only were consumed). The route stayed mostly high, with fine views, and lunch was taken on the way to Upper Elkstone before heading south to Butterton Moor End. The return to Grindon did throw up a navigational conundrum, but allowed us to touch a (literally) roadside trig point before the final path from Grindonmoor Gate.
The sun stayed behind cloud for most of the walk, which was probably as well because it got hot for the last section and we were dry on reaching the car park. Here Sean pulled out a camping stove from his car and provided a very welcome brew to round off a grand day out.
Dave C
Kinder Upper Tor Climbing 22/7/2018
After a bit of confusion of which car park to meet at, the two parties of 6 climbers and a dog managed to navigate through the mist and fog to all arrive at Kinder Upper Tor.
After the first climb of the day and a spot of lunch, the mist cleared to give amazing views down into the Edale valley and beyond. All 6 of us (including new member Ian) managed at least one lead each ranging from diff to HS.
Thanks to Leon for saving the day and retrieving my gear after 2 abandoned attempts! 🙂
Kial
The Gower, 14-15 July 2018
excellent weekend with plenty of enjoyable “C’s”: climbing, camping, company, sea, sand and sun. Many thanks to our guide, Dave B.
Elen Rees
Castle Naze climbing, Sun July 8, 2018
Seeing as I self elected myself as leader here’s what happened. Met Kari and Nina at the crag and did a route with them. They went off and climbed numerous routes. Seeing as they’ve only been trad climbing a couple of months they have picked up the techniques very well. They are returning to Norway this week I believe so I guess we won’t see much more of them . But we wish them well and hope they can teach the Norwegians a bit about trad climbing. I believe they are traditionalists over there. Bill and Leon turned up and we climbed as a three. My view was the easier the grade the harder the route!!. Anyway we finished quite early and headed home. Crag not too hot so a pleasant day. And that’s it. Personally it’s good to get back onto rock again. Still feeling a bit odd. Cheers Steve B
Sunday walk 1st July 2018 – report.
A party of six left Cutthroat Bridge car park, closely followed by a small group of climbers heading for Dovestone Tor, on this lovely summer morning. It was good to see Frank stretching his legs, determined to go as far as current fitness would allow. The Club would be well represented on Derwent Edge today.
A cool breeze welcomed us as we arrived below Whinstone Lee Tor and we made good progress along the dry path, with extensive views in all directions, and Golden Plovers for company. Arriving at Back Tor we took a break, some finding the energy to scramble to the trig. point. Here we left Frank to retrace his steps, whilst the rest of the group descended over Lost Lad and down to a small plantation which provided some pleasant shade and a good place for lunch. We then made our way down to Wellhead for the short walk along the reservoir track before taking the path up to Grindle Barn. We paused here for a few minutes before continuing our climb back onto the Edge, thankful to return to the cooling breeze.
There now only remained for us to follow our route down the Edge and then the path to Cutthroat Bridge. And oh yes, we found Frank sitting on a boulder eating an apple, so the party was complete again!
Thanks to all who came along for this rather warm 10.5 mile walk.
Sean.
Tick Fest – Sat 30th June 2018 – report
Meet report.
A mixed day of enormous effort and some chilled relaxation on a very hot day.
The prize for effort goes to Linda and David who climbed 10 climbs, the initial letter of the climbs spelling out Tickety Boo. They also wore bikini bottoms on their heads. Strangely Julian was not too embarrassed to climb with them. They were joined by another super duo Kari and Dawn who cycled, swam and climbed (7 routes I think). This team surely won for their massive effort. They were joined by silent partner Charles.
A mixed team of cyclists, walkers, swimmers and a climber, Chris, Bill, Marianne, Marian and Sean probably got more on points, but the scoring system was so (deliberately) complicated it was impossible to tell.
Andrew and Ali brought along Lisa (fresh blood) and did good too, cycling and leading a breakaway swimming group to the lovely Barbrook Reservoir .
An evening BBQ where I failed at trying to engineer equal points for all, but John saved the day with his quick quiz where Charles showed his knowledge of Mountains. Then a quick round of stick the blood clot on the tick (Sean was best) before bed.
Big thanks to Kathy and John for tent and tea and all things practical , Mary for the bike ride plans and tick sheets, and Vanda and Paul for the loan of the gas bbq.
Thank you everyone for taking part and a great social, Chris I hope you haven’t suffered after your impromptu dip into Burbage brook
Big PS. Ali launched the Presidential Challenge. More later.
Family Meet report – Black Rock Sands, N. Wales 22-24 June 2018
18 of us turned up at Black Rock Sands at various times throughout Friday in superb weather, 17 years after the last family meet there.. Some of us even had our tent up and waiting!! After an evening around the fire and visits to the beach plans were made for Saturday, which dawned hot and sunny. The climbers split into two groups, heading for Cwm Silyn and Tremadog respectively. A walking group also assembled and ascended Moel-y-Gest via a café stop in Borth-y-Gest, a distance of 9 and a half miles over 6 hours, a fine effort on a scorching day.
Meanwhile the children and associated adults headed for the beach! Apart from swimming and being buried in the sand there was Frisbee throwing, jellyfish hunting, scrambling on the rocks and caves and discovering an underground river. All topped off by ice-cream.
Later in the day a bbq was planned and when the climbers eventually returned after a highly successful day, climbing many feet of rock, we congregated and cooked much wonderful food, topped off with a birthday cake for Ben. Included in the evening was what might loosely be called dancing from the children and certain adults who ‘Walked 500 miles’ ‘Kept their hats on’ etc. After a late evening more plans for Sunday, including a walk to Criccieth Castle, more climbing at Tremadog and Milestone Buttress in Ogwen. I can only report on the latter, which was successful with Jaycee-May being introduced to multi-pitch climbing on Rowan Route.
Thanks to all those who made the trip, there will be a few pictures on the Facebook site.
Cheers
Paul Gibson
Harpur Hill climbing Sunday 17 June 2018
A good turnout on a dull but warm day. Thomas cycled from Sheffield and Bill drove from just down the road. We were generally impressed by the quality of climbing on the Upper Tier crags where we spent most of the day. The routes were also longer than on some of the other sectors, with some climbs being thin wall climbs and others being steeper with big holds. We mainly sports climbed but Nathan led a trad. VS route on the lower tier. Unfortunately the mist rolled in at about 4pm wetting the rock, although some had managed half a dozen routed by that time.
Millstone on Tuesday was also well attended. We had to share the crag with the Buxton, Congelton and Peak clubs but there seemed plenty of routes to go round.. The weather was warm but windy so no midges were seen and routes from Severe to E1 were climbed. It was good to see Tim Miller who was there with the Congelton club.
David
Sunday Walk 3rd June 2018 – report.
A party of five left Edale station under blue skies and followed field paths to Nether Booth. A short stretch of road brought us to the old holloway path, now becoming overgrown, which led us to Clough Farm where we joined the track to Jaggers Clough. At this point the leader was under some pressure to make this the first stop of the day, but ignored the hints, and encouraged the party to make the gradual but very stony ascent to Hope Cross, where we found a wall to lean on in the sun, and watch numerous mountain bikers appear from the direction of Hope Brinks. The views up the Edale Valley and across to the Great Ridge were superb. Refreshed, we followed the grassy track which eventually led to the summit of Win Hill. The obligatory trig point photo on this occasion was not possible, as it was surrounded by a large group of walkers (posing for a photograph of course), so our photo was taken away from the summit, with a backdrop of the reservoirs and the Eastern Edges. Needless to say on a day such as this the views in every direction were stunning.
We descended to our lunch spot, under yet another wall, admiring the views down the Hope Valley, before continuing to Thornhill. We were soon at the garden centre, where, without hesitation, the party turned left into the café for a cuppa. Revived, we then attempted the most challenging part of the walk, crossing the busy main road, before following the riverside path back to Leadmill Bridge. On the way we were entertained by several flotillas of Mallard ducklings, one of which contained a rather unusual white (albino?) chick. Red Breasted Mergansers and Canada Geese were also keeping cool in the shade.
Thanks to Lin, Chris K, Andy and Rosy for their company on a very pleasant walk of 11.5 miles.
Sean.
The Great Ridge; 3 Jun 2018
Elevenses; 3 Jun 2018
Towards Win Hill; 3 Jun 2018
Top of Win Hill; 3 Jun 2018
Yorkshire Dales Meet 25-29/05/18
We climbed at Rylstone; Crookrise; Eastby and Rolling Gate; picking off the best routes at our grade. Blazing sun, cool breeze on the top. Some climbs rated the best in their grade on Yorkshire Grit. On such a fine bank holiday we only saw 4 other climbers at Crookrise, and 2 at Eastby. None at the other venues. We must be gritstone connoisseurs!
Geoff