OUTSIDE NOW!
Out and About
Despite the recent mixed weather, HMC
members have still been out and about, enjoying the fresh air, not just on hut
meets, but also on other days out.
Ackie and Julie have recently been to
Maureen has been to the Costa Blanca in
There is some great news regarding Pete
H -he’s now out of hospital and back home. He can get around in his wheelchair,
and has even managed a walk around the garden, which is excellent progress! His
aim is to be out walking for the President’s Meet, so we look forward to seeing
him then.
Talking of which, there is a menu
attached to the newsletter - see page 2 for more info.
On our recent trip to
Congratulations to Andy and Annette A,
who got married on July 4th. Also, Ruth and Kev
welcomed Daniel into the world on July 21st. A very relaxed labour by all
accounts - Kev was at work whilst Ruth set out two
rows of Broccoli, a few hours later….
All are well, and very happy!
There have been many regular outings to
local rock. Rich, Debs and Mo went to Froggatt on June 14th, with mixed
weather, where Mo decided to lead Slab Recess Direct (HS 4C) and Heather Wall
(HVD) seconded by Debs. Chris, Stacey, Gianluca and
Stacey’s friend Chris went to Birchen Edge and managed to do a couple of routes
including Gun-Cotton Grove (VD) led by Stacey, and Horatio’s Direct (VS) led by
Chris, before being ’boiled off’!
Huts have been well attended, and over
the last few months, we’ve welcomed into the club many keen new members, and its great to see them all so active.
Thanks to all those who wrote articles
for this edition, if anyone has any write ups, news etc, please email me
edwardsandi@hotmail.comor take it to the Holywell on a
Thursday evening.
Andrea
BMC Lecture
Once
again, our club is hosting the BMC Winter Skills lecture. This years event will be at Lutterworth Grammar on Thurs 20
November. The talks will be presented by Dave H (aspirant Guide &
Mountaineering Instructor) and Rob J (Mountaineering Instructor). Dave and Rob
will share a host of humorous tales about winter mountaineering and climbing
from which to glean invaluable advice. They'll also cover equipment and clothing,
navigation, footwork, route planning, avalanche awareness, climbing and much
more. Will keep you updated in the next newsletter.
President’s Meet 2008
Its that time of year already! Our annual President’s Meet
will be at the Chamois Hut in Llanberis,
The
menu and booking form is attached to the newsletter, so if you would like to
go, please return the form along with your cheques, made payable to Dave
Gair by Friday 26th Sept.
As
there are limited spaces available, and with the club growing rapidly, I
recommend that you return your form ASAP to ensure you have a place.
PHOTO
COMPETITION
There
will also be a photo competition, same as last year, to be judged by Ted C,
with prizes for the winner of each category. There will be 3 categories- Landscape,
TAT Worthy and Action. Each person may enter 6 photos MAX,
from the last 12 months. Entry will again be £1. If you would like to
enter, please get your photos to Ted before 4th Oct (not on the weekend
itself) - preferably email him tedcottrell@mac.com or give him a
disk with your photos on.
Also, if you have any photos from trips that you would like people to see aside from the photo competition, Ted can put them on his laptop to be shown throughout the evening in one of the rooms. Just let Ted have them before the event.
Stoney Middleton
April saw a group descend on a new hut for
HMC at Stoney Middleton in the Peak.
On Saturday, a group consisting of Brian
K, Brain G, Annette B, Theresa T and Dave P set off for a 9 mile circuit from
the hut. They walked up onto Eyam Moor, then down to
Abney Clough and on to the pub at Bretton for light
refreshments. Walking down into Foolow, they
continued across the fields to Eyam back to the hut.
On Sunday Brian Kirton, Annette, Theresa
and Dave did a 5 mile walk around the Chatsworth area, getting caught in a
tremendous downpour before managing to reach the car park!
An enjoyable weekend for all.
Dave P
Nant Gwynant by Dave P
On Saturday,
Brian K started out early to walk up to Pen y Pass, where he was met by Dave Pybus
who had caught the bus up. Joining forces they ascended Snowdonia via the Pyg Track. Lunch was taken at the summit with great views,
before taking the south ridge and Watkin Path back to
the hut.
On the Sunday,
Brian and Dave went and parked the car by the entrance to Sygun
Fawr copper mines, walking from there to the head of Llyn Dinas where the turned couth
and walked over the top past Hafod Owen into the Nantmor Valley. Turning down the valley the followed the
river and then went through the woods and over the top again to reach Nantmor village. From there they headed for the Aberglaslyn Gorge, following the Fisherman’s Path back up
the gorge and the valley into Bedgelert where
refreshments were taken at the Tanronnen Inn. A short
walk from there got them back to the car.
Pete’s hut is
currently having a new roof fitted. Stripping of the roof will be led by HMC
members Phil N, Dave I & Andy O. DoE students will also be assisting and
Barbara L is manning the “paddock canteen”. Fingers crossed for fine weather,
whist work is in progress and good luck to the workers. We look forward to our next visit, to a hut
that is always in our programme and is indeed, a special place!
Dent by Ed
Bank
Holiday weekend and 3 days of walking, climbing and mountain biking.
Unbelievably, we had 26 members there and still lost £40 on the weekend!
Must be loosing my touch.
Anyway,
on the Saturday Brian G; Stuart & Dave P did a walk over the moor, up Grisedale to Hell Ghyl, in the
On
the Sunday, “Monty’s group” completed a ten mile circuit from the bunkhouse, up Nunthouse Outrake, down a green
lane and on to Keldishaw. Gianluca
& Richard P completed Tree Stump Crack (VD) Tree Wall (VD) and Brunch (HVS)
in extremely windy conditions on the South West Face of Twistleton.
As
usual, the pubs in the village did a roaring trade, and we practically took
over the The Sun Inn, and The George & Dragon.
Both pubs did good food and excellent beer.
Ken
& Tracy pulled in some mountain biking with various bods,
including Ian Ball, who managed to scrounge food and beer from most of the HMC caravanutters and campers, who were slumming
it just up the road from the bunkhouse!
WaterAid by Dave T
A
dozen HMC members gathered at Pete’s Barn in beautiful Nant Gwynant during the
evening of June 6th in readiness for the Water Aid Trail 100
Challenge and in preparation, Chris P managed to pull in
Then
heading
All
participants completed the route without incident (yes makes for boring reading
I know!) it stayed dry all afternoon and the first pints were on the table
before
(Sadly,
two participants suffered fatal injuries in
On
the Sunday, Pete B and Gianluca headed out for some
traditional English climbing on the Wenallt
completing the Ox/Bovine classic VS/HVS. Dave Teece
and Julie stumbled across the beach, on what turned out to be the hottest day
so far and Harry, Ed, Dave , Netty
B & Theresa did the Sygun Circuit.
“So, any ideas for next year”?
Rhyd Ddu Elvyn H
Members
of the club were welcomed at the hut at the end of a wet day by early arrivals
Dave and Julie. They had lit a fire and emptied cans of air freshener in order
to improve the hut atmosphere.
Saturday
promised to be the best day of the weekend but in the morning, the cloud was
low on the hills. Stef had possibly the best idea of taking the train from the
station by the hut to Caernarfon, for ice cream and sunbathing on the beach.
Harry, Ash and Alex traversed Cnicht in the cloud.
Dave, Julie and Elvyn crossed bogs from Friday’s rain to join the Snowdon
Ranger path, and Dave and Julie opted to wade the
swollen stream on route. The trio followed the ridge directly above Clogwyn D’ur Arddu,
in cloud, to the summit of
After descending the south ridge to the col,
Dave and Julie turned for home while Elvyn continued over Yr Aran and on over
pathless moor to Bedgelert in the sun.
At
night, the group reunited in the cosy alcoholic comfort of the hut with mild
concern that Chris and Stacey had still not returned. Asking the mountain
rescue to search all pubs and hills north of Tremadog was not a good idea, and
embarrassment was saved by them arriving at
Chamonix 2008
What
a trip this turned out to be! The weather was perfect for plenty of sunbathing,
ice cream eating, wandering around town...oh, and walking and climbing too. The
chalet was gorgeous; plenty of space and a great garden, just perfect for
BBQ’s!
We
arrived on Saturday to torrential rain, which lasted two days - it didn’t look
good, but it certainly didn’t put everyone off. Ed C and Jez
set off for the Conscrits Hut and did the
As
soon as the rain stopped, we had clear blue skies and blazing sun.
Sinc, Harry and Lee had a great time doing the big stuff! The
ticked off Petite Aiguille Verte and Cosmiques Arête (in Sinc’s words
’Seriously out of my comfort zone!’) Well done, Sinc!
After
catching Lee testing out his bivvy bag in the
kitchen, he set off and managed to successfully solo
Sinc, Carolyn and Lee had a day monkeying
around (ho ho) at the tree top adventure park - big
kids - sounded great fun though!
Sinc took Carolyn for a play on the Grand Montets
glacier with crampons. The only comment from Carolyn on their return was ‘give
me a pair of skis any day!’
We
were also joined by Andy and Annette for the last part of their honeymoon, and
Dave T at the start of his 6 week holiday!
Dave’s
first walk was with Ed (short guy) and Sinc. They
went from Servoz up to Le Prarion
with a beer at the top of the
Dave
P was also clocking the miles up, walking everyday, including the Petit Balcon Sud from Tines back to the
chalet with the Eds, and Le Buet
to the Pierre a
Berard refuge with Ed and Dave T.
Meanwhile,
Ed C and Jez also visited the Couvercle
hut to do Point Isabella and L’eveque, and the Trient hut doing Col Blanc.
Stef and Harry enjoyed a day out to Lac Blanc, and with all the good weather, Stef was able to put her sun bed to good use!
With
cheap wine, and a few cocktails in Elevation 1904 (or was it Evolution 1664?)
it was a very good trip! Most nights we ate in, followed by a showing of photos
from the days activities - many of which may well be
seen at the President’s Meet!
Chamonix 2009?
This
years trip to
It
was very spacious, everyone had there own twin/double room, we had a great
garden with stunning views of
The
general feeling was that we could take it for anything up to four weeks over
July / August.
It’s
very early for anyone to commit I know, but it would help if we had a rough
idea on how many might be interested, and for how long, before we get too
excited.
If
you are interested, please let me know and we can start planning for next year. Ideally, I would
hope to be able to include it in the 2009 programme by the end of this year.
ED
Saga Louts:
I
was lying in my pit, listening to the weather forecaster on Radio 4, give out a “severe weather warning”. The phone rang at
the same time. It was Brian K, wondering if we should go. “Sod the weatherman”
I said, “we’re going anyway”. And what a fantastic day we had. A walk through
and above the Manifold Valley, visiting the impressive Thor’s Cave in a
spectacular situation, then over the summit of Ecton
Hill to finish off at the pub in Hartington.
Never
trust the weatherman.
That
was in June and myself and Brian have since been to Cham & Croatia, respectively. However Trowie, Stuart
and Monty have all been putting in the miles, taking along Netty
B, Theresa and more recently, Lily. Pushed for time, we all completed an 8 mile
circuit from the Cove, bagging Croft Hill en route - in crap weather.
It’s
not “mountaineering” as we know it Jim, but hey, who cares.
You Could Be Here - “Seize The Moment”
In August we’re off to St
Just. Staying at Kelynack Bunkbarn
and campsite, the bunkhouse is well equipped and is currently full, however,
those wising to camp should inform me pronto so I can reserve a pitch outside
the hut. It’s an excellent site. Spotless and just under a
mile to the village. Ideal for coastal climbing,
walking, exploring etc. In September we have the hut at Little Langdale.
No introduction needed as we have had this hut many times and it’s always a
favourite. (Limited parking) Some bed spaces still available,
but be quick.
Moving on, we have the
Presidents Meet coming up in October, which is mentioned elswhere
in this newsletter, and then November it’s Patterdale.
Again, a very popular hut, so make sure you book early to avoid disapointment.
December. Think
Let me know where you want
to go.
Beat the credit crunch. Our
cheap weekends can be even cheaper if you share travel arrangements and cook in
at the hut!
Taking the rough with the smooth
by Ted
We
have to take the rough together with the smooth in life and certainly in the
photography business. So having had the delights of camping in midge invested
Scotland, survived mountain huts with little and often no sanitation and stayed
in Hostels ruled by wardens trained by the SS, it was time for the rougher side
of life.
And
so I found myself sitting business class (AKA First Class) on the 10 hour BA
overnight flight to
Rough!
Yes, on arrival at
I
was in
After three hectic unwashed days of visiting
the projects around the capital I was reunited with my bag, 30 minutes before a
flight to Livingstone and course the site of the
in the world as four countries,
Arriving
at our lodge we were immediately off on a safari river cruise on the River Chobi. Our first glimpse of wild life were elephants by the
dozen, hippos by the hundred, crocodiles, giant monitor lizards and an abundant
of bird life kept us occupied until a magnificent sunset ended the cruise at
7.00.pm. Early to bed for there was no time to relax, up before 6.00am for the
early morning drive, this time on dry land, first beast to be spotted, a lion
walking along the track, then more elephants, baboons, monkeys, crocs in the
river and then four lions out of sight on one another, stalking a herd of pukka ( a type of antelope),
totally oblivious to the 14 safari trucks watching. This went on for half an
hour or more until the pukka got wind of the
approaching menace and took off. The lions gave a halfhearted
chase then went back into the bush. This all before
We
moved back to
A
visit to the
Next
day we flew north in the smallest plane of the trip, propeller at the
front another at the rear, room for five including
our pilot, I sat in the co pilots seat, ready to take over in an emergency.
Edmund took off, we circled the falls again and then he set his Biggles version of a Tom Tom GPS,
which flew the plane for nearly four hours to Mfuwe
and the South
Passing
the croc valley camping site (anyone for a bit of tenting?) we moved to the
Bush Camps, more basic, more fun, this time walking safaris accompanied by a
Zambian soldier with a gun, he used it once to scare off a male elephant which
looked as though it was going to charge us.
River walking a mile or so along the river, two shallow for crocs and
hippos…or so we were told, sandy bottom, warm water arrived at our “sundowner” site, chairs and tables, bbq’s lamps tables all set out….in the
river, we sat on chairs in the water
drinking beer, wine, spirits, and eating nibbles freshly cooked on the fire in the water. Surreal.
Our
final camp, and now really basic, a straw hut, no electricity, but a shower and
flush loo and elephants and lions outside at night, no we didn’t see them, its
dark, we heard them and the footprints the following morning were there.
That
was our last night, but nearly wasn’t, our flight from Mfuwe
International, (like
causing some concern amongst many of the passengers
including us as our flight back to
the following morning from Lusaska,
200 miles away. Eventually it arrived our luggage put on, only to be held up as
the pilot, and airport staff unloaded all the luggage as one of the suitcases
was vibrating, very suspicious, having found the offending case, its owner, red
faced was taken to the plane to explain. A simple explanation, it was his
electric toothbrush. So three hours late we departed for
And
who was this man with the vibrating electric toothbrush, his name is Dave and
he lives in…
We
told the story of Dave’s vibrating toothbrush to the BA manager that night
and I jokingly said good job it wasn’t a woman. He told us, Oh yes women
sometimes have that problem, buts its not caused by
toothbrushes.
Great
place to visit, no mountains, the average height of the country is about 4000ft
and the highest hill is 9000ft, Up at Luangwa (it’s a
river) there are escarpments which looked inviting and we could see a few paths
on them as we flew over, but the locals, both black and white couldn’t
understand why anyone would want to walk uphill.
Founder member stumbles across HMC
Some of you
may remember Mark Bown—he was a founder member of
HOPA - Hinckley Outdoor Pursuits Association (now HMC), going along to the very
first meeting at Hinckley Climbing Wall at the age of 15.
Last month,
Mark and his wife Sherry happened to be visiting family and came for a drink in
the Holywell, and came across our Thursday gathering!
Mark now lives
in
He reminisced
over his first caving experience with Dave Gair to
He and his
wife mainly did caving, but since having children, they do a bit of walking and
climbing in the Melbourne area, and even did their first 3 day walk as a family
a couple of months ago.