+4°C, muddy and damp. Clear sky though.
I’m occasionally venturing out with a knock to my physical confidence. One ride left me empty and exhausted for 2 days – that’s the Covid after effects. This walk was good and left me all warm and refreshed.
2°C, sunny with a layer of hailstones.
This is one of my Covid-19 recovery walks. The roads are too icy for cycling this week but I’m itching to get the bike out and can’t – it’s not safe yet.
Chilly at night 7°C to about 12 in the days. Mostly dry.
Day 1: The second group were cobbled together after spells on sepf-lockdown. There is a lot of this going on during this phase of the pandemic. Both groups have the same route but it was too short. Their route card had errors on some legs that were way out. So the kids were very early to checkpoints all day. The funny thing was the location. The villages around here are familiar from all this bike rides from Lichfield where I used to live.
Day 2: a day of drama. One parent had, apparently dropped off her daughter then driven home. They turned out from the campsite drive and then crashed. It was a head-on. The driver had asked us to keep this even from his daughter so she could get on with the expedition without worrying.
I went out to lead them over a blind humpback bridge. Ambulances and police cars shot over the bridge while an air ambulance circled. I didn’t find out till later what actually happened.
It wasn’t untill the end of the job that I heard what happened with that crash. Spoiler alert – nothing.
23°C, light breeze and bright sun.
Camped at the same site as in July; the campsite the expedition is using is rather tatty. The showers still have an Out Of Order sign, even 2 years after the first time I visited.
Group A, 5 lads. A group I’ve met before who got on well and had no difficulty at all. It was warm and sunny both days. The plan is to walk with them for part of day 1 and check their competance. I ended up leaving them later than ideal because there was a risky road section further on that I wanted to escort them down. As it turned out, the road was held in check by HS2 works a few miles down.
A long checkpoint on by a grassy verge. I was there about an hour, enough time to brew a coffee and get the tent dry. I guy walked past and asked if I was ‘doing a spot of wild camping?’. I answered him politely, he seemed to have little knowledge of what that entails.
Group B, a week later… 6 girls this time. More fine September weather and a very able group. They only made mistakes near lunchtime when they got hungry. I could see their confidence inproving over the hours I walked with them. As last week, I left them slightly earlier to get my car for a few final checkpoints. They travelled safely enough but had rather more rest-stops than is ideal.
Group 14 arrived at camp last and were determined to prove their ability to erect tents AND cook in the short hour remaining before pickup.
Unfortunately for both trips, they couldn’t camp the night because of Covid-19 restrictions. Many kids see camp as the highlight of the expedition- it’s a time to relax, look back on the day and for many – stay in a tent for the first time. It’s a shame they miss out on their first camp.
15°C, rain. This is a replacement for a trip to Scotland recently cancelled (this morning actually). I woke this morning with a strong feeling that I couldn’t face a 6 hour drive to Kintail. After some suggestions from friends I settled on The Howgills. A quiet range of English hills only 70 miles from home. Ideal.
Rain set in during the evening but a spectacle came late in the night. I got out of the tent about 3am and was stunned by clarity. The Milky way arched overhead behind vivid stars. A couple of planets were in plane sight too.
Sunday; 6h 12 mins walk time. The Howgill Fells are a distinctive range sandwiched between The Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. My campsite lies to the east of the hill which is near the waterfalls of Cautley Spout. Climbing here put you up neat the main summit of Calf Top.
The falls were spectaular, more so after recent heavy rains. From this view, the land was laid out below in geological layers, glacial moraines and deeply cut river erosion which reminded me of Bohuntine .
Monday, walktime: 7h 15′ /sunny and warm after a cool start. I had time in the morning while waiting for a phone call, to plot a route up Baugh Top. A convenient carpark is at the north, Rawthey Bridge by 2 bridlepaths which gives gives a long lead-in and out. This turned out, in contrast to yeaterday, to be a most beautiful day.
This was a long walk over relatively easy terrain. There was no exposure and height gain was never huge. There could have been more wildlife, I saw mostly voles and a few raptors. The only real impediments were boggy ground and frequent flooding. Saw two hikers on the hill, they were on the horizon about a kilometre away. That was all, nobody else. How ideal is that!
I’m really taken by the North Pennines, I shall revisit!
Once back at the car, hunger set in but I had enough camping food to make supper in the carpark before the drive home.
22°C, full sun, light W.
Arrived at a campsite the night before. Even for a Sunday, the motorways were relatively quiet. I didn’t rush down and got 71mpg. This is a 1 day practice with no overnight camping, COVID conditions apply.
Day 1: a long route for bronze training is the conclusion. 18km meant that we had less time for training skills. Good for endurance but not mapreading techniques. It got worse later as rain set in. Actually, the boys group sped up then while feeling the pressure to get back to base on-time.
Day 2: this the, a group of girls who were a delight to work with. They were keen to learn and had good stamina for the somewhat shortened route. It t was about 15% shorter which helped tremendously. The weather held out after a grey but dry morning.
Day 3: another group of lads. These were less boisterous and more serious. They had a wide range of previous experience from none to extensive international trekking. They’ll have no trouble with their qualifying expedition in September.
End: the only disappointment was cloudy nights stopped me seeing Comet Neowise
24°C, light breeze, full sun.
This was the first proper walk of the season. As you can see, the weather was perfect, 24°C lowland with very little breeze. The time on the picture includes at.least 1 ½ hours stops, food, nav etcetera. It’s been such a long time since the last quality mountain day. THe focus was on Sharp Edge scramble which was fun but over too soon. There is some variety in the routes up there so a return trip is not out of the question. However, there is probably more variety on Tryfan, another 100 mile drive from home.
11°C, grey day with light breeze.
Surrounded by worries about the Coronavirus, we are back at this little campsite. The mule, who now has a name – Black Jack is still here and in good voice.
This pandemic could cause me substantial lost income. Most schools are allowing trips to go ahead although sports fixtures are being cancelled. We have lower contact numbers so we may only be affected later.
Poor little pups had horrible weather on day 2. He rain was heaviest at lunchtime. Though it was not quite torrential. One was pulled out after skidding in mud and turning an ankle.
Bronze practice expedition:
I’ve been here before, the camp donkey is in better voice than last year. At the end of each ee-ore, he does a horsey rasp as if to punctuate.
Day 1: walking with group 2 who were very energetic. I had to tick th off when I caught them high up a tree. They gone into woods to pee so of course, I stayed outside. That’s why I didn’t see them climb.
Day 2: what a blistery night. The tent got a really good shaking. Some kit was wet, which should never happen. It’s time for a new one.
Training, 1 day, Gold. They’re planning Practice and Qualifying on the slopes of Snowdon.
The is was a nice job. The kids, the school staff were great. These Gold Award students were obviously high fliers.
The biggest chunk of the day was mapping and route cards. Their routes are in familiar parts of Snowdonia, well trodden by me and Rosie over the years. The only negative was the enormous drive for one day’s work.. For this reason I’m not doing this run again.
Micycle 