Navigation training day 17th November, 2013

I met Chris at Hebden station and we drove up to the New Delight pub at Colden. Such a very Thomas Hardy name for a pub. I can just picture John Durbeyfield rolling out.

Before long, Cath turned up with H and B. We did some intros and health and safety standing in the road! Then some map symbols and setting the map.

We set off ticking off points along the way. Then taking legs gradually building up skills. We went to Scotland (farm) and then off onto Access Land. Showed a bit about contours where there was a re-entrant. We counted off some field boundaries and then took a long straight track to Four Lane Ends where there were helpfully five to confuse matters. Next we did some pacing and discussed timing as well.

By this time, the weather had finally come in and we were starting to get cold. That’s the only trouble as inevitably there is quite a bit of standing around explaining things on a training day.

We headed back to the pub where there was a roaring coal fire and tea for the Manchester party, beer for Chris and water for me!

A great day with good company.

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Relocation, relocation, relocation!
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Just loved that they bothered to do this on old farm gateway.
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Horses get ready!
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Stoodley Pike on the top layer
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Chris’ latest friend!

Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

Sheffield Pike, 10th November 2013

I got up really early, well same as a weekday and I should have been at Chris’ house at 7.30 but first I nearly went flying along the paving slabs because of ice and then there was so much ice on my car that I couldn’t get into it! I eventually got the passenger door open and then had to kick the driver side door open from the inside. Couldn’t get into the boot at all. This all took ages.

I picked Chris up and we set off after I’d drunk her delicious coffee, literally her cup of coffee that was part of her breakfast. We’d just turned out of her road when we saw a dying cat, so I stopped the car and we went over but it had died by then. A nice man came out and covered it up. He said its owners never let it out.

So after all this we were late getting going and then we had to stop for loo and coffee at Lancaster services plus a little visit to M&S Food and WH Smiths.

We arrived at Glenridding and got togged up and managed to leave the car park at 11.40, not quite the 10.15 in my head!!

I’d wanted to go up to Glenridding Dodd but from the track there was no obvious access to the access land and clear signs saying no path. Despite magnifying the map I couldn’t see how we could reach the access land so we abandoned that plan and instead decided to go for Sheffield Pike first.

We went along the path to the Youth Hostel to where there are a lot of old mine buildings which are now activity centre bunkhouses, and a sign referring to skiing but no sign of any ski slope, I’ve now found that the ski slope is at Raise and better accessed from that side I would have thought: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raise_%28Lake_District%29 However we did see snow on the top of Helvellyn as it came into view.

We then moved around the substantial mining area and pondered what had been mined, I suggested lead and copper and this page says it was lead and silver: http://www.mineexplorer.org.uk/greenside.htm although you have to read the lot to work that out.

Eventually the path beside Greenside flattens out to a sort of wide, sandy beach by the stream, another less beautiful relic of the mine. Then it was our bog walk because Chris and I can’t go out without one. We stopped for our lunch but although the sun was stunning with the white tops it was quite cold. Then to the top for fabulous views across and around for long distances.

To descend we went east. I took a bearing so as to avoid some cliff areas, this was wise and worked a treat, we snaked down to the wall and then decided to go right and along a path we could see to the road as this was shorter than left along the wall to a PROW and down to the road. As it turned out not necessarily quicker! We handrailed the wall until we could get onto the path. Some people were at this point going down from Glenridding Dodd which meant that there must be a way through the access land to get back to the car park but we decided to stick with our path that we’d selected and follow it down. As it got darker and darker the path got harder and wetter. My dear companion had aching legs and did not enjoy this section. Apart from being concerned for Chris, I’m afraid I did!

Onto the road, we put our headlights on, batteries dying in mine and flash function not working in Chris’. A short hop and back to the car.

An adventuresome day all in all, but QMD as well.

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Who’s that girl?
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Over to Striding Edge
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From the top of Sheffield Pike
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Ullswater
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Getting dark
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It was dark from where we were standing but camera said OK

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Please visit Map and Compass and learn how to interpret a map with me and my navigation partner, Cath.

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