Here be Dragons.

Snowdon, 19^th May 2012.

North East meets East Midlands in the West! The Northern Division (Ian and Robin) travelled to Wales on Friday evening, to be met on Saturday morning by two members of the Midland contingent (Joe and Myself) with the aim of climbing Snowdon. That was the plan anyway. Didn’t quite go as simple as that due to a full car park at Pen y pass and a general lack of mobile network coverage, which meant that after an hour of waiting, Joe and myself set off along the Pyg track, hoping Ian and Robin would catch us up, which on fitness levels wouldn’t be too hard.

Having never walked up a mountain before this was going to be a real test for Joe and I, which should really give us an idea of how difficult this whole challenge was going to be, if it was going to take us 4 hours just to get up Snowdon, then there was a lot of training to get in.

View from the Pyg track towards Llanberis

So, about 15 minutes into our trek, we got a phone call from Robin saying they had trouble parking and would meet us at the summit. At least we were in the same area! Onward we trod. At about 2000 feet (I’m guessing here) we hit low cloud and mist, making it difficult to see any of the views which was a big disappointment seeing as we were bristling with cameras. Trekking on, the visibility got worse and in some places you could only see a few feet in front.

Visibility poor, crazy sheep on a rock ledge...nutters!!

The amount of people walking on Snowdon was amazing, in some places it became congested (usually the nasty slippery narrow bits) so we had to use some fancy footwork to get past the slower ones and in turn, the faster ones passed us. The going got tougher, taking it’s toll on us and thoughts of ‘who’s great idea was this?’ , ‘what have I gotten us in to’ and ‘how much further do we have to go?’ went through my mind. Seeing as it was me with the daft ideas, it was better that I kept my thoughts to myself. After a few hundred short ‘ get your breath back’ stops we finally reached the summit. It was a great feeling knowing that we had made it to the top, despite the fact that we couldn’t see anything. After a quick refuel in the visitor centre, we called Robin, who told us he’d be there in 30 minutes, which was good, because I reckoned it would take that long for my legs to stop feeling like jelly.

It's all downhill from here kiddo!

The Northern Division arrived via Crib Goch (the hard way) and after introductions, a brief review of the morning’s events so far, a refuel and a fair amount of piss taking, we headed back down. Following the Pyg track until it met with the Miners track and then down towards Glaslyn (Tarn) where we stopped for a photo opportunity against a wonderful view of the mist. We had done all of the hard descent part and now it was a case of a fairly leisurely walk without too many slopes to Llyn Llydaw (Bigger Tarn). It wasn’t long before we arrived back at the car park at Pen y pass.

It's amazing what comes out of the mist.

So, how did we do time wise I hear you ask…..you did ask didn’t you? On the ascent (that’s the up bit) it took us 2 hours 14 minutes, which I’m pretty pleased with as it means that we’d be able to complete Snowdon in the time required with a little bit more fitness. The descent (the down bit) was 1 hour 57 minutes.  We have to bear in mind that by the time we get to Snowdon, we’ll have already done something similar in Scotland and England, so still lots of fitness work to do yet.

Thanks to Ian, Robin and Joe for a great day (despite my negative thoughts), I now know the enormity of the challenge ahead. Onwards and upwards.

Chris

Tales of Ye Olde Mam Tor

9th May 2012 

T’was a cool morn when the intrepid duo arrived in search of adventure. Tales of the gallant deeds of this day will echo throughout the years and the names of Sir Joe and Sir Chris will become legends amongst those that hear of these stories. Alighting their trusty steed at the Crushing Circle they moved swiftly to the foot of the beast that is…..Mam Tor.

Crushing Circle

Following the well trodden path, our courageous pair strode out purposely through mud and water to eventually appear at Hollins Cross on the Great Spine. After much joviality and slapping of backs at the conquering of the first hill it was time to move on to steeper adventure in the form of Back Tor and Lose Hill. It was at Lose Hill where our brave duo encountered fellow thrill seekers who were intent on claiming the glory of the day, buoyed by their early successes our goodly Knights set about the foolhardy opponents and smote them until their number were gone. Hurrah!!

Fresh from victory and much more back slapping the plucky pair turned to retrace their steps to Hollins Cross and looking ahead to the monster of Mam Tor. In what seemed like an age they arrived at the summit of Mam Tor with need of refreshment. Much bread was eaten and much mead was drunk at this time until their bellies were full.

What sorcery was this!!! Winged beasts landing atop the Tor, like Bees around a honeypot they buzzed around. This puzzled our goodly Knights, were these demons of the sky, devils about spread evil doings across our green and pleasant land? What could they do, but wait until the demons landed and with all their strength they smote every last one of them as they came to earth. Much back slapping ensued. Hurrah!

The winged demons.

A quick descent from Mam Tor bought our brave heroes to the foot of the Lords Seat, a truly magnificent sight. After much effort and toil they reached the summit to look out over all that they had conquered previously.  

The view from Lord's Seat.

With the storm clouds gathering, they decided to return to their trusty steed before they were soaked to the skin. Back over Mam Tor and down to the Crushing Circle the heavens opened. Our brave Knights sought refuge from the rain and came across a cave. Fearing it to be the home of more evil, courageous Sir Joe entered to smite any beasts. Unfortunately, there were no beasts to be smote. No back slapping was to be had.

Brave Sir Joe and the cave.

The rain had now passed and the goodly Knights returned to their trusty steed, taking more bread, mead and with a hearty back slap they departed the scene of their victories.

Chris

A word from T'up North.

 Bizzle Burn, 5th May 2012

Northumberland! Have you ever been?

After having lived here since 1987, thanks to a conversation I had with Ian " Guru" Cobb (while working on shift at 02:00 in the morning, about 2004,possibly a Wednesday, I think the wind was from the SW?), I was given the opportunity to sample the outdoor delights that this county has to offer.

Ian has been climbing and mountaineering for some considerable time now, while I, the Johnny come lately, only started the outdoor lark when I was just turning 40 (mid life crisis?). So, when the opportunity arises to broaden someone else's horizons, I consider it to be a privilege to be able to give something back. I didn't know one end of my compass from the other when first starting out all those years ago, but I was fortunately tutored (and kept out of bother) by T'Cobbster. 

Bearing all that in mind, a work colleague of mine and acquaintance of Ian, Rob "Chuck" Norris, had been duly nominated to accompany us on days out, when available. So, a glorious Saturday morning, a late start (out of the house for 08:45 - a certain amount of socialising involving beer spillage had taken place the night before) and away we went. After picking Rob and Ian up, we proceeded north at a rate of knots (nautical terminology is allowed as it tends to be quite wet up here). It's about 45 miles to the parking spot, at a place called Langlee Ford, just south of Wooler, and once you are off the main roads it's pretty much all single track, following the course of Harthope Burn, a small but stunningly pretty water course.

So, out of the car, a brief discussion about gaiters and their merits, some meaningful looks from a particularly belligerent pack of sheep, and we're off.

Normal looking people.

Not a normal person, note the insane grin.

 The initial part of the walk runs north west keeping Hawsen burn on our left side, where you quickly gain enough height to look back across the valley to see Langlee Crags, with the car parking area in the valley below. The path does not appear to be that well used, although Ian and I have traversed this route quite a number of times. There is also a Landrover track that runs parallel to it for the bird chasing, gun toting athletes that have forgotten how to walk..... sorry, went off on a one momentarily there. The hill crests at about 450 metres, with the path running between Blackseat Hill and Scald hill to our left, and Cold Law and Broadhope Hill to our right. As we plodge fourth the valley opens up below and in front of us. A leap over the fence, a walk through the trees and we are back to a steady descent to the valley floor. A brief sad session ensued when we found a red squirrel in a rat trap, then in no time at all we find ourselves walking between the farm buildings at Goldscleough and continue our westerly route to Dunsdale, effectively having walked around the bottom of The Cheviot.

Bizzle Valley 

Having reached Dunsdale, we start to make our way into the Bizzle valley with the somewhat unstable crags high up on the plateau to our right (don’t ask why we know they are unstable, alright, you saw nothing.....). Again, Ian and I have passed through here many times before, and it is one of the few places in Northumberland where a decent ice climb forms most years. It has also been the scene of a particularly tragic event, when in the early 1980’s, two young men were killed in an avalanche.

Looking up Bizzle Burn

 The valley becomes quite narrow as you get higher, eventually turning into a slot that holds Bizzle Burn, collecting the water from the plateau and channeling it down hill. After a short stop for butties and a bit of a play around on the solitary block, we started following the burn, with this probably being the steepest section of the walk. Most of the way up you can stick to the side, crossing the stream a number of times to make better progress as some of the sections require you to either go up over the rocks in the middle of the stream or swap sides due to the path disappearing into a rock wall. The only really tricky bit was the occasional bits of ice on some of the rocks. As we got higher we then started to traverse off to our left, the very steepest bit, and break out on to the plateau near to Bellyside Crag. After a few more photos, a quick snowball fight (not joking) and a very light snow storm, we made our way  about another kilometre across the reasonably flat , water drenched top to the summit and the elevated trig point.

Just on the Plateau

One of the best things about the Cheviot is that some enterprising souls installed an excellent path made from huge (and I do mean HUGE) blocks of stone. Ian tells me that it was particularly unpleasant in the old days, especially as the mountain - yes, it is officially a mountain - is more of a mud splat than a pointed rock edifice. Anyway, the path is a good 1 km or more long, and allows you to make excellent swift progress across the top.

Guardians of the sacred Trig

And, as they say, it’s pretty much all downhill from here, quite literally. The route down is quite steep in places, but navigating is really easy as there are a number of fences that give you a “hand rail” (its a navigating term and simply means a reliable object that points the way). So, back to the car, a swift drive to The Shoulder of Mutton at Long Horsley, a pint to toast the day’s success, and away home to the sounds of Steel Panther, dropping my chums off along the way.

Perfect? Pretty much really.

Robin.

Distance 15km

Max altitude 815 metres

Total ascent ~1000 metres

Duration 4hrs 30 mins