Merry Christmas everyone! Meetings are off over the festive season so I’ll see you all in the new year. Have a good one!

Hey all! Last meeting of 2011 tonight. There will be tears and hugs and all sorts of other sad stuff so bring a tissue. See you later!

Hi all. There will be no meeting this week due to the Christmas meal. If you wish to pay your deposit for the Snowdon trip then please come to The Rutland Arms at some point after 6:30pm where you can pay one of us. We’ll be upstairs.

This weekends walk will take place in and around the Derwent Valley.

We’ll be catching the 9:00am bus from the Interchange and head for Fairholmes. The walking is fairly low level for the majoraty of the time with a big climb half way round up to the Ridgewalk Moor.

Transport

* Meet: 8:30 (for 9:00 bus)

* Location: Sheffield Interchange (Bus Station) Bay TBA

* Cost: £3 – £4

Statistics

* Start: Ladybower Inn

* Distance: 13.5 miles

* Map: O L1 The Peak District, Dark Peak Area (1:25,000)

* Difficulty: Medium

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What You Will Need:

*Tough footwear – Boots preferably

* Thick socks – Make your boots more comfortable

* Appropriate clothes for the weather/ time of year (please don’t wear denim)

* A waterproof coat

* A small rucksack for carrying your things

* Water – At least 1 litre

* Lunch – Better to bring too much than too little

* Money for transport and pub

The above is the bear bones stuff you’ll need. The following is some more optional stuff:

* Waterproof trousers – Fantastic for keeping your legs dry in the heavier showers

* Gaiters – For covering the gap between your waterproof trousers and boots or for keeping the mud off your trousers

* Hats, glove, scarf, etc. – For keeping extra snug in colder weather

* Camera – for taking pictures of the scenery/ people falling over (please remember to be careful with expensive gadgets on walks, especially in the rain)

* Biscuit Of Choice – Will you win the votes of your fellow walkers with your Biscuit of Choice and be Biscuit Master of the walk?

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Route

Weather

Hey gang!

I’m afraid there will be no daywalk this Sunday. James Dowsett has been unable to plan one due to his workload. The night hike this evening is still in so I’ll see you all there bright and early (well, sort of late-ish, actually).

Another cancellation, Andy Thorpe is unable to do his weekly lecture next week. The regular meeting will still be be on; 7:30pm, Room 942, Owain, City Campus.

Mr. Fenton has arranged us a treat for Tuesday 22nd November after the weekly meeting. Meeting will be at 7:30pm (or 7pm if you want to go to Thorpe’s lecture) and then we’ll be heading off to Quasar at around 8pm. Don’t forget to bring your skills (or skillz) as there may be a couple of certificates up for grabs!

In the meantime though, night hike tonight and a nice day off on Sunday. See you soon!

Night Hike Facebook Event

Night Hike Website Page

VERY short notice, I know, but out resident man of safety Andy Thorpe has arranged a night hike with a few pubs along the way. It will allow people to do a bit of practice with there night-time navigation and everyone else can just have a good time!

The walk will be about 12km. Andy has a route of sorts on the Facebook event… I say route, more a list of the pubs we’re going to. Bring normal kit and remember it is NIGHT so it will be COLD. Don’t be afraid of popping on a couple of extra layers, you can always take them off if you get too hot. Also, a torch will be essential. You can pick up a cheap, wind-up torch from Wilkinson’s for about £5.

We’ll be catching the 272 from the bus interchange which leaves at 18:20. If you prefer you can catch it at Hunters Bar where it will be leaving at 18:29. We should be arriving in Fox House (the start of the walk) at 18:44 and be leaving for the walk around 19:30. We will be walking back to Sheffield and current ETA is around 11pm which will leave us refreshed for the walk on Sunday (information on this to come).

A quick word about the “Unofficial” status of this (and Sundays) walks. The Union like us to fill in lots of forms when we go out so that they and you are covered if something goes wrong. Sometimes we don’t have time to fill in these forms as plans can be quite last minute and the Union would rather us not go out if the forms haven’t been done. To get around this, we are going out as “friends” and not a club. We’re sneaky, see?

Anyway, hope to see you there. Link to the Facebook page below. If you have any questions about this then a message on Facebook will probably be answered a lot more quickly than an email so message us on there. See you there!

Facebook Event

A circular walk which will take us to Alport Castles and then round the bottom reservoir back to the pub, Yaay!

Transport

* Meet: 8:30 (for 9:00 bus)

* Location: Sheffield Interchange (Bus Station) Bay TBA

* Cost: £3 – £4

Statistics

* Start: Ladybower Inn

* Distance: 13 miles

* Map: O L1 The Peak District, Dark Peak Area (1:25,000)

* Difficulty: Medium (The second half of the walk is relatively flat)

Kit List

Route

Weather

Thinking of having the vindaloo? If you finish it there may be a certificate in it for you .

Socials have been a bit thin on the ground for the last few weeks so let’s get together and have some good nosh for a decent price.

We’ll be eating at the Bankers Draft, near Primark, at about 7pm on Thursday 2nd November. Myself, Stocker, Andy, Dowsett and Gibbons may be a bit late due to having to attend a meeting but we’ll meet you all there.

Thinking of having the vindaloo? If you finish it there may be a certificate in it for you .

Price wise we’re looking at around £6.50 for a curry with a drink (more details in the menu below). Last time I had this a curry feast was an extra £2 and a pudding was also £2 I believe. Prices subject to change (i.e. being higher than they were before).

Map

Menu

Dan Soup reports…

My day started as well as anyone could hope; by finding a papier-mâché Power Rangers mask on floor. It was lovingly hand-crafted to perfection by some distant warrior of the night and I couldn’t let such workmanship go unappreciated. We boarded the bus where I made a new friend who pointed out where the Prime Minister stays when he comes to Sheffield. Fifteen of us assembled in Bakewell and prepared for a wonderful day of adventure.

“We are normal… “

After scaring the locals with my newly acquired mask we set off along the path, stopping briefly to take a photograph the the St. Trinians Mobile. We walked through The Scary Tunnel and climbed our way up to Monsal Head to see the view. A few of us treated ourselves to some delicious ice cream before heading back down to throw some stones off the bridge and take a compulsory group photo.

“It was scary, but I didn’t cry.”	“Now with 50% less crookedness!”

After watching Gibbons fall in the river we were thirsty for something a bit more hardcore so we made our way up the steep hill to our lunch stop. The way was hard and treacherous but no one fell and we all made it to the top for a well deserved break.

“Feel the burn.”	“A beautiful day for a walk.”

James Dowsett’s chocolate hobnob (ooh er) won biscuit of choice. We set off across the emerald green fields to the Magpie Mine. We passed some cows on the way there and stopped a while to absorb the history of the place… and to look down a hole.

“Moo… “	“Anybody down there?”

Following foraging through a few more fields and cooing at collections of cautious cows we witnessed, hovering above the horizon, a Virgin hot air balloon, full to the brim with Richard Branson’s face. We soldiered on through a couple more fields and then a couple more fields and… well, there were a lot of fields.

“Field No. 3776″	“‘Ere kid!”

A little tired and very thirsty we made it back to Bakewell where we had a drink and visited the bakery to get ourselves some goodies. We went to catch the bus back only to discover that it had broken down en route. We opted instead to get a free bus… a full free bus. We had to get out every time someone else wanted to get on but we made the most of it. All in all an enjoyable weekend, but I’m looking forward to Kinder Scout next week… no fields, see?

“Dan Claude Van Soup.”

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Photos:

Dan Soup’s Album

James Gibbons’ Album

James Gibbons reports…

A somewhat later than usual start was welcomed by an already assembled group of dedicated walkers at the train station. Despite what the weather reports had said there were a brave few who decided to rock up in shorts.

A rather amusing train journey and a very cheerful conductor later we arrived in Edale where we were greeted by a light drizzle, the weather man lied! After a short climb we were soon greeted by what was to become a somewhat heavier rain… turns out he was telling the truth after all.

After a bit more of a climb and a few cyclists later we reached the top where the weather was somewhat less than agreeable. Nevertheless still time for a photo.

What a beautiful view to go with the beautiful weather.

The windswept look

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The walk down through Winnats Pass was more sheltered from the elements however the rain had made the planned scramble impossible.

A welcome break from the wind

The bus station served adequately as somewhere to escape the weather for lunch and after a pint in the pub we were off again, deciding to take a shortcut to Hope and miss out the second ascent in favour of another pint in Hope.

Nom

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Photos:

James Dowsett’s Album