I intend to have a "traditional weekend" at the Derbyshire Hut: meet at the Robin Hood on Friday night having dropped off your gear at the Hut, discuss all possibilities and then everyone bugger off on Saturday to do something different!
I was hoping to catch a bus to Hathersage on Saturday morning but they run at 7:39 and 12:45 !? so an alternative has to be found. One idea is to make a reasonably early start from the Hut on Saturday (9:30'ish) in order to stroll up the edges, take in the odd climb and make it to the Grouse for lunch at about one-o-clock. After lunch we could visit Yarncliffe for a route or two before taking tea at the Grindleford Café. Then back to the Hut by a route dictated by the mood and the weather.
We'll let the evening develop as it will, but the "Prince of Wales" may well prove an attraction before it finally closes - thus reducing the number of reasonable pubs in Baslow to zero. NB - the Wheatsheaf doesn't even classify any more.
Sunday could be spent either climbing on Gardoms and Birchen or walking gently to the Devonshire at Beeley, hopefully we can find enough Oreads to keep both options open. I look forward to an enjoyable weekend in good company. Keith
Why am I writing this, oh yes climbing? As always the same site Trevaylor between St Just & Botallack. The same place at the bottom of the 2nd field as you come in, but this year the new hosts are Bill and Angela! Yes Ron & Pauline are moving on. I have sent them a note on behalf of the club saying thanks for many years of putting up with us. I personally will be sad to see them go.
However, sun kissed granite, the dark zawns of killas slate, blue seas lapping around your feet, the beer and fantastic company is what it's all about.
As a near local lad now I will be there on Thursday and will stop to Wednesday morning. As always I am sure people will come and go, but I would appreciate a call just so I know your intentions to ensure we have enough space. Daryl
This working party will be mainly concerned with a general spring-clean of the Hut. However there are one or two other jobs to be completed also:
It should be possible to achieve the above without anyone having to work both days, thus giving members a chance to enjoy the hills as well, so please make an effort to support your hut facilities, whilst also appreciating the surrounding hills. Contact Colin Hobday to book bed space and offer help.
This meet is based in a camping barn at Craken House Farm near Leyburn in Wensleydale. OS99, GR 121895. The barn has all the usual facilities on a £1 slot meter. It sleeps 12 in bunk accommodation. The cost is £12 per person, for both nights. It is about a mile to the pub. The barn has been used in the TV series of "All creatures great and small". We last visited this area a few years ago at Masham, and I seem to remember everyone having a really good time, as there is a nice mix of limestone and gritstone features, close by.
The intention is to explore the area by bike. It has very many small roads and tracks, and so it should be fun.
Simple Simon, Maggie, Mr Bayonet and The Fat Boy went to the Calanques in the South of France over Easter. We flew to Nice on Good Friday and because our flat in Cassis was not available until Saturday night, we stayed at Chateauverte on Friday night and climbed single pitch routes there on Saturday.
On Sunday and Monday, Steve, Simon and I took the boat across the blue waters of the Med. en route to En Vau where we climbed multi-pitched routes in the sunshine. At the end of each day we returned on the last boat to the Bar Liautard in Cassis to sip amber nectar in the evening sun before returning to our flat, which overlooked the harbour. On Wednesday and Friday the process was almost replicated with 'La Calanque' sans Steve and 'La Sans Nom' with him. The former saw Simon and me suspended immediately above the shallow clear blue water of the calanque and the chattering tourists in their boats - brilliant!
This routine was punctuated on Tuesday and Thursday by visits to Morgiou, a short drive over the headland from Cassis, for the technical pleasures of single pitch grimping.
We vacated our flat on Saturday morning and drove back to Chateauverte again for more climbing before taking our late night flight back home from Nice. To dispel the primary illusions of the week: I did not use my past experience to steal the best pitches for myself or avoid the 'fingery' ones. Steve did not follow 'to the ends of the earth' the bottom on the adjacent route. Simon and I did not notice the aforementioned bottom and we did not drink to excess! Great climbing, good weather, great company - bloody marvellous week! I'll do it again soon. Fat Boy
A total of 20 Oreads attended the work party which was also blessed with excellent sunny weather perfect for all these outdoor jobs. Everybody worked very hard and by late Sunday lunch all jobs had been completed and some even managed to go climbing. We had a plumbing/electric team of Tony Smedley & Graham Foster installing a new water heater and flooding the kitchen in the process. There was also a wood team driven on by Chris Johnson, Roy Eyre, Michael Hayes, sawing, chopping, and tidying the woodshed. Keith & Michael Gregson capped the wall up to the barn. Cleaning and gardening was done by Pam Storer, Chris Eyre, Gill Keeling, Uschi Hobday and Chiz Dakin. The barn had a thorough clean, getting rid of old furniture and mattresses, and filling in mouse holes. It looks very presentable now. John Dobson did a champion job, cutting the grass and cleaning the bridge walls. Reuben did a wonderful job sweeping the chimney, covering everything in soot at the same time. Mike K. fitted a new seal round the wood burning stove and removed the bars on the fire escape window. Nick Evans cleaned all the gutters, not disturbing the grey wagtail's nest at the front of the cottage. Rock and Colin painted the inside of the loo and fitted a new lintel over the door. Sorry If I have missed anyone. Thank you all for coming. Chuck was well impressed when he arrived on his inspection visit. Colin Hobday
I think the information I put in the last newletter needs a little clarification - whilst I'm doing well I have not made a miraculous recovery! The trip from the bottom of Giant's to the top of Scafell Pike is in the form of a relay done by the team and supporters. I hope to be there at some stage depending on my condition and treatment, and am giving the event as much support as I am able. Dawn
A warm welcome to Joan Pike - already seen more often on meets than many existing members!
Graham Bowers has applied for full membership of the Oread. Endorsements etc to the Secretary, Derek Pike.
Several Oreads have already embraced technology and are actively using it to organise their climbing lives. There are several ways in which you to can join the 21st century. Thanks to Mike Wren, we now have an Oread e-mail group. Members can send e-mails to the group and they are automatically distributed to all other group members. We're already using this to organise evening and weekend venues and make rude comments about each other (although mostly about Tony Howard). If you would like to join this group, please let me know. If you don't want to receive all the e-mails, but would still like to know what's going on, it is possible to let you have access to the Oread e-mail group website. This will let you see all the recent e-mails without them sullying your inbox and also add your own messages. Again, if you're interested, get in touch. Finally, if you don't have a computer, you can always phone or text me for news of where we are going on a Wednesday night (sorry, I don't have facilities for carrier pigeons). Simon Pape
Last month's solution [no prizes! Only one attempt submitted and that was wrong!] The solver is not privy to the values of either the house or chassis numbers, but since the house number alone was not sufficient, it follows that more than one set of three numbers add up to the same sum. Only the value thirteen fulfills this criterion, and so the code must be either be 661 or 922. Only 661 has a single lowest digit.
This month's puzzle:A hard nosed tractor salesman took advantage of a captive audience at the Dovedale Dash with a demonstration of a new type of quad bike. Notwithstanding the very difficult (for a wheeled vehicle) terrain, he attempted to run his demo buggy from the start line to the edge of the river (assumed to be 600 metres away to the WNW). He also touched the national trust boundary wall on route at a point calculated to minimise his overall distance, thereby creating a boomerang shaped journey which he aimed to cover at an average speed greater than that of the Dash winner. The wall also ran WNW 300 metres away from the direct route. The vehicle was fitted with tractor type rear tyres with lugs forming an included angle of 90 degrees. What was the greatest whole circle bearing of any part of the tyre track formed by the lugs, measured from the centre of the wheel towards the outside, at any point on the journey the journey? (Freak effects at the turn may be disregarded). Solutions to the editor. Suitable allowance will be made for Royal Mail users.
Rusty