There have
been an almost equal number of walks in Scotland, England's Lake
District and Wales this year, plus one Meet in the Pennines and one in
Mallorca, Spain. The Annual one-week Scottish Meet, this time in the
Cairngorms, and the Annual Spring Meet, held this year in the Beacons, were very successful
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Weekend Meets
46th Annual Meet
at Keswick 11 - 12
November 1006 37 attended
On the Saturday
Group A, led by Alan Matthews, walked from Buttermere to Scarth Gap,
then they ascended High Crag, High Stile, Red Pike and Starling Dodd.
Along the tops the atrocious weather of heavy rain and gale force winds
made walking very difficult and the use of a compass was necessary in
the thick mist. What is usually a moderate walk turned out to be a real
challenge for the group. Group B. led by Kenneth Burt, walked from
Keswick to the top of Walla Crag, arriving at 11 am and, as it was 11
November, the group stood in 2 minutes silence to remember those who
died in the two World Wars. The group then split into two, one
descending to Ashness Bridge and the other group continuing to Bleaberry
Fell. Because of the bad weather the group then descended to
Derwentwater. The Annual General Meeting was held in the Boardroom at
the Keswick Country House Hotel and it was followed in the evening by
the Annual Dinner. On the Sunday a small group did the Great Dodd
circuit in thick mist.
One-day Meets
Snowdonia, North
Wales 28 December 2006 5
attended Meet leader: Mark Thompson
The group met at
the Snowdon Mountain Railway Station and, with the help of a compass in
thick mist, ascended firstly Moel Eilie, then Foel Gran, where the mist
disappeared. The next summit, ascended in strong winds, was Moel
Cynghorion after which the group had lunch in the shelter of a wall with
good views. The last summit of the day was Clechog then it was back down
to Llanberis, arriving just before darkness fell. It was a hard but
enjoyable walk with 3700 ft of ascent.
One-day Meets
Central Region,
Scotland 17 February 2007
4 attended Meet leader: Kenneth Burt
The walk started in
cold but sunny weather from the car park at Bracklinn Falls near
Calander. The track ascended first through a forest, then over heathery
ground and patches of snow to reach the remote peak of Uamh Bheag. From
the top the group had excellent views of the Trossachs and the peaks of
the Southern Highlands.
One-day Meets
Central Region,
Scotland 17
March 2007 3 attended Meet leader: Kenneth Burt
After meeting at
the Pass of Leny car park near Calander, it was decided not to ascend
Ben Ledi because of the heavy rain. Instead, the group visited the Falls
of Leny then drove to the Trossachs to ascend a shapely rock peak called
Ben A'n (An Binnein).
One-day Meets
The Tarren
Hills, North Wales 31
March 2007 2 attended Meet leader: Shaun Hamblett
The walk, in
summer-like weather, started from the village of Abergynolwyn and
followed a river through woodland then zigzagged up a slope to a forest
track which was followed up to a ridge leading to the first summit,
Tarrenhendre (2080 ft) where the group had lunch. A leisurely walk on a
grassy ridge beside the forest fence led to the second top, Tarren y
Gesail (2188 ft). The day's walk was 9 miles long with 2,900' of ascent.
On the Sunday the group ascended Tyrrau Mawr (2169 ft) then proceeded
along the steep-sided ridge to Craig-u-llyn (2041 ft), a top giving
extensive views of Barmouth and the sea.
One-day Meets
Southern Fells,
Lake District 21
April 2007 8 attended Meet leader: Mark Thompson
This 13.5 mile walk
over 10 tops with a total ascent of 4,400 ft started from the
Coppermines YHA near Conistion. The first summit, Wetherlam, was
followed by Black Sails, Swirl How (via a rock scramble up Prison Band),
Great Carrs, Grey Friar and Brim Fell and finally to the main summit of
the day, the Old Man of Coniston, where the group had lunch in the warm
sunshine. The final summits of the day were Dow Crag, Walna Scar and
White Maiden, then it was straight down for the thirsty walkers to the
Sun Inn for pints of Bluebird ale.
Two-days Meets
Spring Meet at
Brecon in Wales 5 - 6
May 2007 9 attended Organised by the Committee
The venue for this
year's Spring Meet were the high hills just south of Brecon called the
Brecon Beacons. To avoid the crowds of Bank Holiday tourists, the group
started from the Neuadd Reservoir at the southern end and did an
interesting horseshoe ridge walk in warm sunny weather, ascending Corn
Du, Pen y Fan (the highest peak at 2907 ft, Cribyn and Fan y Big. In the
evening the group enjoyed an excellent meal at the Castle of Brecon
Hotel.
One-week Meets
Braemar,
Aberdeenshire 19 - 26
May 2007 16 attended Organiser: Alan Matthews
The members who
attended the Scottish one-week Meet were based in two comfortable
cottages in Braemar. Because the Cairngorms is a large area of wild
country, and many of the peaks to be climbed were very remote, most of
the group hired mountain bicycles for the week which helped to save time
on the long tracks which gave access to the starting point for the
walks. Each day the main group usually split into three smaller groups
to plan out different walks, the leaders of which were Alan Matthews,
Shaun Hamblett and Kenneth Burt. The biggest walk of the week ascended
the Devil's Point (3294'), Cairn Toul (4236') and Sgor an Lochaine Uaine
(The Angel's Peak) (4150'), a total of 24 miles and 3,700' of ascent.
Excellent weather provided good views all around. Another highlight of
the week for two of the groups was the ascent from Derry Lodge of Beinn
Bhreac (3054') and Beinn a Chaorainn (3553'), a walk of 18 miles and
2,700' of ascent. These two peaks are in very wild country and it is not
a good place to twist an ankle, but that is what happened to Ian Dalton
in Shaun's group. Luckily other members of the group were able to help
him down. The only walk of the week that took place in very wet and
windy weather was led by Alan up Monadh Mor (3652') and Beinn Bhrotain
(3816'). They first had a long bumpy bicycle ride to the start of the
walk at White Bridge and, with cloud down to 3250', careful compass work
was needed to ascend these two remote peaks. Many more Munros (peaks
over 3000') were ascended during the week by Alan and Shaun's groups,
while Ken's group concentrated more on Corbetts (peaks over 2,500') in
the area around Braemar and these included Morrone, Creag nan Gabhar and
Cam na Drochaide. Everyone agreed that it was a very good week.
Western Fells,
Lake District 16 June
2007 5 attended Meet leader: Mark Thompson
The group of five
met at Wasdale Head to do the 11-mile Pillar - Steeple - Red Pike -
Yewbarrow horseshoe walk. The weather was cold and drizzly with swirling
mist and the cloud base was at times 2200'. Careful compass work was
particularly needed on the ascent of Yewbarrow because of its rocky
cliffs.
One-week Meets
Mallorca, Spain
26 September – 3 October 2007 2 attended Meet leader: Alan Matthews
On the programme
this was originally a weekend Meet but it was changed to a full week.
There were four days of walks of between 4 and 8 miles in length and
between 1132 ft to 3618 ft in height and 2 rest days for sightseeing.
One walk, up Mola near San Vicente, included a pleasant Grade I scramble
up a rocky tower followed by a ridge walk to the summit from where there
were extensive views of the sea and hills.
One-day Meets
Alston, North
Pennines 5
August 2007 2 attended Meet leader: Alan Matthews
On the programme
the venue for this day's walk was stated as Dufton, but for a good
reason this was changed to 2 miles north of Alston. An 11-mile circuit
of 8 tops started with the ascent of Great Heaplaw. There were no paths
to follow and it was rough underfoot with bushy heather and peat hags,
some of them waterlogged, which made it hard for walking but there was a
fence to follow the ridge to the tops of Grey Nag, Tom Smith's Stone
Top, Black Fell, Hartside Heights, Benty Hill, Scarberry Hill and Park
Fell. 3 of the 8 tops had OS triangulation pillars which must surely be
very unusual on a one-day hill walk.
One-day Meets
Western Black
Mountains, South Wales 1
September 2007 4 attended Meet leader: Shaun Hamblett
All the group
stayed at the Llwyn-Y-Celyn YHA for the weekend. The day's walk started
3 miles north of Crickhowell and an ascent was made up a steep slope,
partly covered in bracken, bilberries and heather, to the boulder strewn
plateau of Pen Cerrig-caich where the group had lunch. From there they
followed hill tracks along the 13-mile long ridge to the tops of Pen
Allt-mawr, Pen Twyn Glas, Waun Fach (the highest at 2660 ft) and Pen wyn
Mawr.
One-day Meets
Central
Carneddau, North Wales 27
October 2007 2 and thedog attended. Meet leader: Shaun Hamblett
From the village of
Aber the walk followed the river through the forest to the top of Aber
Falls then continued uphill to the summit of Llwytmor (849m). The
weather became misty with gale force winds so the group decided to
abandon the rest of the walk and returned down to Aber.
