15°C, brisk W, sunny and dry.
Uh-oh, how did that happen? There are plenty of clues. The wreck lies just beyond a sharp corner, the wipers are up and it rained last night.
Good ride, despite the strong wind on a fixed gear. Ideally, I’d ride the Racelite but the cassette I ordered last June still hasn’t arrived
15°C, mostly cloudy, mostly dry
3 days with 2 silver groups who were delightful. That was a fine way to finish the season.
We’re still suffering the effects of Covid Restriction rules on DofE. These two groups did a combined bronze Qualifying and Silver Practice last summer. I don’t think they camped back then either. The effect of reduced training meant that supervising these groups was, at times, like herding cats. Considering their lack of experience, they were very well motivated and thought carefully at those places where navigation was a proble. On the east side of the hills, paths were often disrupted by quarry works or signs were badly maintaned.
For a final trip of ther season, I had the satisfaction of bonding nicely with the kids. That, of course, is easier on Silver level because we get more days together.
We’re working with a lot of groups, 127 kids in all. They’re doing Bronze qualifying. Here is another place I’m familiar with. The weather should be good.
22°C, grey with distant rumbles, humid and still.
Woke with a very fidgety feeling. And eventually got on the bike immediately after lunch. After the obligatory 8 mile warmup, I raised the pace.
It’s been a strange year. for the first half, I was inhibited by a dull malaise. Rarely did I get the fizzy legs feeling. Now I have it. In normal years this feeling kicks in around April. Not this time.
I blame covid.
start with grey but warm 17°C
Day 1, Thursday:I’ve got a mixed group of seven to assess on DofE Gold Expedition. Our job, as assessors was to supervise too because this was an Open Award trip. Their routes are basically an orbit of KinderScout. Today’s route is familiar and ends at Rowlee Farm Campsite.
Day 2, Friday: Rowlee to Glenbrook. Drizzly on the hills but clear and grey lower down.
This took the group over the dam and onto Derwent Edge. The tracker ran hours late so progress was more difficult to deduce. They’s missed a checkpoint with another staff. That turned out to be due to direction finding errors before the resevoir. Nevermind, they identified and fixed it themselves.
Day 3, Saturday: Glenbrook to Greenachres Camp via Kinder Scout’s south edge. A grey day with clear summits and comfortable temperatures.
I got onto the ridge from the Edale Youth Hostel. The tracks were confusing through the hostel grounds itself, and the climb steeper than others to the plateau.
Day 4: Sunday; Greenachres to finish via Jacob’s Ladder. Beautiful sunny day getting hot later. 16-24°C.
On the plateau, it was eay to see groups approaching from as far as 3km away with binoculars. I didn’t use the tracker this day having last faith in it.
The goats had this look on their faces as if we’d taken their resting place.
That was an excellent trip. I know this area quite well and feel at home. Some of the sites I’ve been to before. My group were delightful. The other staff were easy to get along with, we made a good team. I could do this every week
22°C, light wind and full sun.
Best ride of the year. Loads of energy available for the hills near Parbold. I did a loop around Ashurst Beacon for a bit more extension. The only regret is that I didn’t do another couple of miles to make it a metric century.
19°C, light N, sunny and dry.
33km/hr indicated a good ride by my standards. The first half of this year has been disappointing on the bike for me. It’s possible that I had something like long covid after the Alpha infection at Christmas. I’ll never know for sure.
Here’s another sad rant from some conspiracy nutter. They’ve printed slogans and stuck this one to an ash tree in the middle of nowhere. That itself is futile enough without unwittingly publicising their ignorance.
This was a satisfying day.
21°C, full sun, moderate SW breeze
Dry sunny Cannock Chase. I was braver.
19°C, light cloud and a stiff breeze.
21°C, slow moving showers, high pollen.
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.
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.+
Micycle 