A two day Bronze qualifying expedition based on the edge of Buxton.
Day 1, staff briefing was at 9am for a school due to arrive at 11.00am. I asked which school is this? Wow, the place I worked for 15 years! Anyway, this day is for final training. That’s not usual for bronze but the school has bronze, silver and Gold running concurrently. I took my group out on the local moors to get a nice view and a sense of place. My group did grumble though. They had a minimal pack though.
Dismantled railway, an intrguing site. Reminds me of Dark.
Day 2: their first day of qualifiying expedition. It didn’t take long before my two groups opened a huge gap that grew throughout the rest of the day. By the finish, one group was the first to finish, and the other was amongst the last.
After handing over my group, I went home. I can’t stay to the end because I have work on school the next day. In the campsite, the projector was set up to show a football game and most of the the kids watched too. Driving back was strange because the roads were as empty as a lockdown. And, the lights were all on my side so I got home easily.+
Kona Jake: set out for a slow evening plod and turned out towards the sea. The ground on this track was dry enough to support the bike to the end. Last time, didn’t get halfway.
Day 0: A nice warm evening to set up camp at Hulme End for the first couple of days. My group would walk here from their start point. The sun is shining and I can relax while I wait for the boss to bring kit (tents, stoves and paperwork). Next to me were staff from Lichfield Cathederal School with their team the other side of the field.
Here is an especially interesting job. I have a single group from a school to Supervise and Assess for Silver Expedition. TN brought trackers to issue to the group. I’ve not used this one before, it seems especially neat and runs off an app on my phone.
Moorlands near Leek
Day 1: Meet the minibus at the start. They were late because one of the boys wasn’t ready. There are two boys and the rest were girls. Getting ready seemed straightforward, they seemed to know what they were doing. With all issued, they got away at 10.15am.
Problems arose before the first checkpoint which was about 3km from the start. They were to follow a bridlepath westward near the bottom of the map. They phoned me after 2 hours saying they were stuck. And they were – they were off the bottom of the OS map and needed interception, I could see on the tracker.. The tracker located them south west of their route so I send them SE to catch the bridlepath. In fact, they’d strayed off the bottom of their map.
Day 2: The planned route was far too long at 27km. After yesterday’s progress it’s obvious they need less, considerably less; so I met the team in the morning and set them off planning changes. A new route can be more or less as the crow flies North East. Even so, they faced a 20km walk, though with a much earlier start. Even though the new route followed bridle path, they were back in the routine of crossing field after field. Each time they had to set direction, check where the cattle were and go. After maybe ten fields, there’d be a road or a turn. Then another ten.
Finally, a change of terrain on entering a lesser gorge Lathkill Dale. Later, they talked of their enthusiasm about this section. Many photos were taken. I waited at camp because this was the last leg, but then the phone rang. They were stuck. Apparently, their path was closed and one of the girls was in no fit state to go back. I set out to meet them.
The photo shows a footpath gates with the sign indicating the end of Open Access land. The group had read this as no access. They were tired, not surprising after over ten hours of travel.
A misread sign.
Day 3: to finish. Another radically redesigned route. They’ve come to the White Peak area, famed for upland farmland, white limestaone and cut with numerous gorges of geological interest. Their route was more fiddly field hopping with no recognisable purpose beyond running up the miles. Another day like Friday and I can’t see how they could pass. It could go either way. Today’s new route took them down Biggin Dale onto the Manifold trail. Here is a dramatic change of scenery and a relief from endless rural field navigation. There was a chance that they could finish early but after two very long days, they all deserve it.
Going home: on the more eventful trips, I come away turning over thoughts in my mind. This time, I really felt for this group. I had spent all of my time thinking of ways to get them through to a Pass. I never wanted them to Defer, and I beleive I handled them well. They do have a pass but it hung in the balance for a few days.
Warm and sunny, upto 22°C, dry with a brisk southerly.
This trip marks some interesting health issues. I had my second Astra-Zenica jab the morning that I drove up here. Like last time, I had a head-ache over night and a mild aching feeling all over. On the morning I started walking, I too 2 ibuprofen.
Anyway, I pressed on without entirely losing that side-effect feeling. The route is quite long, half of it is in farmland. There was a problem on the Pennine Journey leg with herds of cattle. I got encircled in one field and had to vault over a fence. That got the adrenaline up, I headed back and along another track to rejoin the road.
It’s fortunate that I did because it soon became obvious that the next field was filled with cows, this time with calves. I’m glad that I didn’t get stuck there with only a large field of cows ony escape route.
I suspect that I’ve had a mild dose of long-covid since Christmas. It’s no more that a low-level can’t be bothered feeling. Normally, when I skip a bike ride, I’d get the agitated fizzy legs feeling; not so this year.
After this trip, the old feeling has come back. I’m stronger and feel more ambitious physically. There are reports that discuss the possibility that a vaccine can switch off long-covid
Chain guages are invaluable. If you replace a chain before too long, then you don’t have to replace the cassette. My Zing passed the test, which is strange – it’s done 1,400.
The Racelite bike I was on failed the 0.75 and the 1.0 measure. That means a new chain is urgent.
Later: fitted a chain, but it skips over the cogs. Now need a new cassette. Nobody seems to have any in stock.
The wettest May on record has hit my milage somewhat.
Another thing, today was good weather to catch up on some laundry. Mundane, I know. For decades, I’ve checked laundry with a sniff test but it hasn’t worked since covid. Now, it’s back; if faintly. For six months that salty odour has been missing.
Warms sunny days with cold nights. Still using the winter sleeping bag.
Another problem free expedition, this time – bronze practice. I always like these better than Qualifying Expeditions because I get a good walk on day 1 and get to know the kids. There were few anecdotes to relate here, but I did see one thing. Checkpointing one day, west of Long Itchington, I waited on a low hill for my group. I could see at least 3/4 kilometer down the road where they were to appear. The wait wasn’t quite long enough to put a bew on the stove. A car pulled up and hesitated. Then they stopped and let 3 dogs out onto the verge. Nobody got out but they drove slowly along with the dogs trotting along the verge. Then they stopped while one of the dogs had a poo. Nobody got out to pick it up. Then they drove off faster forcing the dogs to sprint for a few 100 meters. In the distance, I could see the car stop to collect the dogs. If I ever made a film, I’d put this scene in.
Micycle 