navigation training – Page 3

Mountain Leader refresher

Friday 25th April

Drove to the Pen y Gwryd hotel arriving just after 9pm. I unpacked and went to the residents’ bar for a couple of halves of beer. I met 3 brothers and their father and some others who were staying.

Saturday 26th April

I had the full Welsh breakfast and got to Capel Curig on time to meet up with Paul (trainer), Chris, Adam and Branwen at the cafe.

Walked out behind Moel Siabod cafe and basically did hours of intense navigation practice on quite lumpy and bumpy terrain with lots of little knobbles and nipples! The Clogwyn and Crimpiau area.

I found at one point that my compass wasn’t working properly which could have been because of the big iron stanchion I was next to but on further testing it was affected by my magnifier.

So I know now to keep my magnifier well away from the compass. I’ve also tested all my jewellery against the compass and my necklaces are ok but some of my bracelets are a bit suspect so I won’t wear them when I’m out with the compass.

This was a very active day running up and down hills and I felt pretty tired at the end of it but also reasonably confident that I do know what I’m doing and am not too bad at interpreting contours.

I went to Cobden’s hotel for my supper and had a risotto which was a bit greasy but tasty and inexpensive. I was later told this was not the best place to eat and it’s true the place is a bit neglected but my meal was actually quite ok and I didn’t suffer after eating it. There were lots of photos of Dylan Thomas and although I’ve looked, I haven’t worked out why.

Back at Pen y Gwryd, I met up with the 3 brothers and their lifelong friend and their dad and had a nice time drinking beer with them (these brothers were just here for the weekend, and not the brothers who run the hotel) and also with a lawyer called Nigel from London.

My wash basin can be hidden behind discreet curtain!

Wally the MR bear looking towards Snowdon

Sunday 27th April

Back to the cafe to meet Paul, also Chris, Tim, Dan, Ken and Branwen. We set off to the Ogwen cottage, parking up on the road, and walked up to Llyn Idwal with helmets and ropes. We practised indirect belays, direct belays and the 3 types of descent methods – angel wings, traditional abseil and South African abseil. I felt much more confident about doing all of these and Paul reminded me that there is no need to rush anything on the assessment.

We then did some confidence roping and tried this across different sorts of terrain. This was useful as this is something I can imagine doing if a member of the party was injured or needed help.

We then went back down. Branwen and I went to Idwal Cottage for refreshments and I used the new facilities before heading off home. I got home in 2 hours and 20 minutes which was great as it took me nearly 3 hours to get there so am definitely sticking with the A55 as far as possible route for the future.

Practise, practise, practise now!

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

Mountain Leader refresher

Friday 25th April

Drove to the Pen y Gwryd hotel arriving just after 9pm. I unpacked and went to the residents’ bar for a couple of halves of beer. I met 3 brothers and their father and some others who were staying.

Saturday 26th April

I had the full Welsh breakfast and got to Capel Curig on time to meet up with Paul (trainer), Chris, Adam and Branwen at the cafe.

Walked out behind Moel Siabod cafe and basically did hours of intense navigation practice on quite lumpy and bumpy terrain with lots of little knobbles and nipples! The Clogwyn and Crimpiau area.

I found at one point that my compass wasn’t working properly which could have been because of the big iron stanchion I was next to but on further testing it was affected by my magnifier.

Sunday 27th April

We then did some confidence roping and tried this across different sorts of terrain. This was useful as this is something I can imagine doing if a member of the party was injured or needed help.

Practise, practise, practise now!

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

Lakes in April 2014

Tuesday 22nd April

I picked Chris up from Todmorden and we set off smartly, stopping at Lancaster services for supplies from M&S and coffees, Tebay services for more supplies, Penrith for diesel and Keswick for an anorak and a head torch for Chris to add to her collection. We ate our M&S salads in the car park. She had butternut squash and I had a beetroot and mint one, they were very tasty.

We parked in Bowness Knot car park and then walked the 7 miles to Black Sail youth hostel which really does feel remote as that’s the only way to get there although the YHA does have a Land Rover which trundles up and down with duvet covers and bottles of beer. We were in a room on the left of the main room with 4 bunk beds in it. Chris very kindly took the top bunk as I was worried that if it was hot, the heat would rise which would probably melt me as I’m currently having thermostat problems. We made up our beds. There was one other occupant. We made our dinner of boiled mixed veg, rice and LWIF meatballs. C didn’t feel so well so I had some of hers too then yummy Simnel cake I had made. We drank Jennings’ Cocker Hoop and Snecklifter. I liked the Cocker Hoop better. Early to bed.

Wednesday 23rd April

C snored and I sneezed but the woman we shared with from Birmingham was very forgiving or at least too polite to say we had kept her awake. I haven’t really slept for 3 weeks since my internal thermostat decided to go on the blink and give me the experience of random hot sweats at any time. The only good thing is that they don’t last very long but I do long to sleep through an entire night without either sneezing or sweating.

We had breakfast of yoghurt jam and granola pots. We tidied up and set off for Pillar. It soon became clear that Chris really wasn’t going to be able to go very far uphill so we changed our plans and walked a little further towards the head of the valley and then back to Bowness Knot along the south side of the river. This was a lovely walk going through different types of woodland. On the way we had pork pies for our lunch. We had planned to walk up Pillar and across to Steeple and down to Ennerdale YH but the walk we did do was still very pretty with the river burbling away.

Back at the car we went for a drive round to Wasdale and stopped at the Wasdale Head Inn for a pot of tea and shared a piece of cake.

Then drove back across the moor road to Ennerdale Bridge and stopped at the Fox and Hounds for supper. C had Cumberland sausage and mash and veg and gravy and I had sea bass and chips and veg and homemade tartare sauce. Washed down with Jennings beer on tap. The food was ok but not totally top notch. My fish was overdone.

We then drove back to Ennerdale YH for the night. I had asked by email if we could park here for last night while we walked to Black Sail but got a reply that we couldn’t. I then found that the woman from Birmingham had done so and she hadn’t even been staying there, Ggrrr! When I get time I will write a letter. However this reminded me that they never replied when the man in charge of Bryn Gwynant broke the noise curfew he was supposed to be implementing by playing rock music so loud it woke me up. Anyway it was lovely to shower and drink Moretti beer.

I watched the manager reverse the brand new YHA Land Rover in the dark towards the gate posts. Probably best to learn how to do this in the daylight IMHO!! I think it was unscathed but looked a close shave.

Thursday 24th April

We had a leisurely yoghurt breakfast again and then set off to drive across the mountain Whinlatter Pass to Keswick’s west side. We parked up and walked up Catbells. Chris found this hard work but I’m very grateful to her that she stuck with it and helped me reach my 61st Wainwright. After all her efforts, we went into Keswick and had some food in the Square Orange cafe. C had a ciabatta and I had 2 tapas, a sort of omelette and some fresh tomato on bruschetta. Very delicious and a nice relaxing cafe.

Then we drove home.

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

Mountain Rescue bears Ted and Wally on Catbells

Chris with Derwent Water after exertions on Catbells

Cross Fell 13th April 2014

There are 2 places called Kirkland within about 40 miles of each other, one is to the west of the M6 and one to the east. The one I was headed for is near Penrith. Unfortunately I didn’t check where I’d programmed my sat nav to take me and although I did know I was going just east of Penrith, somehow I was so absorbed in listening to Bag of Bones written and read by Stephen King that I barely noticed that I’d passed Penrith.

Once I’d actually arrived at Kirkland number 2, I was about 2 and a bit hours later than I’d intended to be so this had to mean cutting my walk time back a bit. The original idea was for a circular walk taking in Cross Fell and back to the hamlet. I parked near the church and made my way up the fell. Straight away there is a sign mentioning that the path is part of Pennine Journey, this is a reference to Alfred Wainwright’s book of the same name. AW made his journey at the end of August/beginning of September 1939. He makes scant reference to world events and that’s understandable given his surroundings. He takes off to walk a good chunk of the Pennines as far up as Hadrian’s Wall clad in what I would say sounds like inappropriate clothing and footwear. There are accounts of the hob nails coming up through the boots. He only has one handkerchief and is suffering from a cold [this reminds me of Victoria Wood sketch where the prospective medical student is being interviewed and is asked “what do you think Othello was suffering from?” to which she brightly answers “he might have been suffering from a cold”!] Despite the time of year, the weather is awful and he gets it all. The most annoying scene in the book is when AW turns up at a farmhouse where a flood has taken place. Instead of offering to help out, all AW does is demand cups of tea from a woman who clearly has enough on her plate already. This narration did not endear me to AW but his walk probably did inspire and helped to lead to the formation of the Pennine Way in the 1960s.

My walk was just a fragment of AW’s. The route up the flank of Cross Fell is mostly along the Corpse Road. I felt really sorry for the poor people and more likely the poor horses who would have had to carry coffins up this track, the track is good in a lot of places particularly as far as the old mine workings but where it disappears it goes into deep bog. I managed to keep out of this and navigated my way through it but it wasn’t very delightful.

Although Cross Fell is high at 893 metres, it never feels as if you are climbing up a mountain, there are no steep sections, everything rises gently. It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach the top. The top is a very broad plateau and on a lovely day would give views to Scotland, all the Lake District and so on. On a not very lovely day, it was just very cold (still some snow lying about) and very windy. I saw 7 people on my travels, 2 pairs of geezers, and 3 fell runners.

At the top I wolfed down the remains of my lunch and decided to return the way I had come, this was my compromise due to the reduced amount of time at my disposal. The weather was coming in and I found I didn’t really like Cross Fell very much, it had felt like a battle to get up it and so all I wanted to do was to get down.

I got back to the car in a record 1 hour and 40 mins which was nearly half the time it had taken me to get up. Partly this was because there were lots of long grassy sections which were virtually rock free and gently sloping, this enabled me to run for as long as they lasted so although I’m not a fell runner by any means and doing this with big boots and rucksack was not ideal, it was great fun and very liberating. I’ve run 3 times a week for a year and it feels like it’s really paid off and I was impressed with my stamina. I managed to avoid the bog on the way back down by sticking more rigidly to the Corpse Road. So even though it’s not quite long enough to qualify as a QMD, I would still say this was one as it was challenging, involved some navigational techniques and I learnt some things about myself.

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

It's a standard, I love these, looking towards Scotland — It’s a standard, I love these, looking towards Scotland

Llanfechain March 2014

15-20 March

Sat 15th

We arrived in Llanfechain after a visit to Sainsbury in Oswestry. After getting settled in we set off for the circuit from the cottage.

We went to the Lime Kiln in Porth-y-Waen. C had a Swiss burger and I had plaice with a sort of hot salad. It was very nice.

Sun 16th

We parked up just north of Trefonen and walked a chunk of Offa’s Dyke. Fabulous day warm and sunny. C did very well with some quite steep sections. Back for chicken and pasta. Watched half of Skyfall.

A quick bit of whittling as Offa passed by

Mon 17th

We got up early to whizz into Welshpool to the brand new renal unit for C’s holiday dialysis session. As I drove off to whizz up a hill my wing mirror glass fell off and I suddenly became unable to drive my car. I couldn’t even parallel park!! I went to Oswestry and got a replacement glass at Halfords. By the time I’d sorted all this out I didn’t have enough time to do any hill whizzing so instead I went back to Welshpool for coffee and a chocolate brownie. I picked Carol up and we went off to Rhydycroesau. We walked a bit of a Ron’s Ramble which I shortened for C who had not been feeling so good. Watched the rest of Skyfall.

Before I saw this hut from this angle I said "if this was in Finland it would be a compost loo!" — Before I saw this hut from this angle I said “if this was in Finland it would be a compost loo!”

Tues 18th

It was wet so I started off with a run of the circuit from the house. Then to Oswestry for a mooch including coffee and cake in Booka which is a really great independant bookshop. Then back to Rhydycroesau to eat our lunch and to walk around the lanes above Llangedwyn. Back to the cottage and out again to drive to Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog which is across a small mountain on mountain lanes. The Hand has an AA rosette but the food wasn’t that exciting although lots of it. C had beef lasagne and I had veg crumble which came with bread and chips. Then we were overcharged but they apologised for this. Lovely drive back along the lanes in the moonlight with the big orb shining brightly through the trees.

There are quite a lot of memorials where the war went on beyond 11/11/18

I've got a thing about lines of trees on skylines — I’ve got a thing about lines of trees on skylines

Weds 19th

We had a lazy start then drove up to Lake Vrynwy top end wanting to do an anti clockwise circuit but the road was blocked for tree clearing. We’ve seen so many trees blown over. We walked a bit on some forestry tracks but found we couldn’t even get past the tree blocks without a lot of difficulty. There had also been considerable landslip and more downed trees further on if we did pass the first lot. Retraced our steps and went up the road instead practicing some relocation and measuring techniques. Back for Welsh dragon sausages, baked beans, boiled spuds (no masher) and mushroom and tomato mix. Ever so sophisticated dining at home. Watched The Butler DVD kindly provided by our hostess. I got distracted by American pronunciation of Cecil (thought it was seesaw) and the lack of 2 whole presidents (Ford and Carter).

Thurs 20th

We came home but first called in on our landlady Nicky in her new home which is a white cottage near the river. She showed us some of her photos. I can’t help liking that she knew/knows Warhol, Hockney, Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mick Jagger. I’ve been trying to read Patti Smith’s autobio since I saw her playing at Burnley Mechanics last year but it’s very poorly written so I only pick it up (it’s on my phone) when I’m filling time and I’m a bit bored. Nicky says Patti has used some artistic licence about the early days! I need to read the book a bit more but this is something to do with Patti and Robert not being able to afford the Chelsea Hotel. This is an article about Nicky and her friends: http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2012/08/21/how-i-met-andy-nicky-weymouth-and-the-team-of-bohemians/

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