The Monthly Newsletter of Chelmsford YHA Local Group
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Fun- Packed Month for CYHA Sometimes my colleagues at work complain that it seems like I'm always on holiday. Usually this is far from the truth (unfortunately), but this April and May have proved to be exceedingly busy months. We've bathed in sunshine in the Lakes (some of it liquid), waded through snow in Scotland, survived a heatwave at Langdon Beck plus had super walks at Danbury and Epping Forest - and I've just about got time to do my laundry before we're off to Scotland again. Marvellous! Read on for more details of our exploits…
Lakeland Easter Good Friday. And it has been! Today was intended to be a warm-up walk. Phoned weatherline who advised staying in all day as it would be windy wet and cold outside. 
Dave P led us up over the grassy mounds of Great
Dodd and Watson Dodd. The rain held off thought the sky was full of
clouds. Yet we had views! All the Lakeland hills from our vantage
point. Patches of blue sky and sunshine came and went. We were
battered by a score of hailstones, but still no rain. In the afternoon we joined a path that contours round the hills above Ullswater. And then it rained. Straight in our faces. Yuk! My dear, dear, blue and yellow wellies have a hole in, and no tread, so I was walking in leather boots. By the time it started raining the leather was soaked. Yuk! We persevered, and lo! the rain stopped, the sun reappeared and the views of Ullswater were lovely. The view of the pub just down the road was even better! We'd set off at 10.30 and reached the pub at 6pm, so it was quite a long warm up! Saturday. Another good day. Phoned weatherline; "brightening with showers"; sounds hopeful. This morning it was grey; mist out the back window
and heavy grey clouds over the fells at the front.
We (14) took the ferry across Ullswater and walked back over Place Fell - a walk that would have been a good warm-up for yesterday's warm-up! Good views, leisurely pace, no rain. 
And back in the valley we passed Patterdale Mountain Rescue post open for fund-raising. So we went in, got a guided tour of the new lottery funded base and were also given tea & scones! I bombarded them with questions about funding, volunteers, incidents and it was all very interesting. 
In the evening we enjoyed views of the lakeland fells bathed in warm evening sunshine. The view was briefly enlivened by a rainbow, ever-changing as the weather moved across the sky. Easter Sunday. Dawned bright and beautiful.
Phoned weatherline: The forecast however was "showers developing, heavy and thundery". Nonetheless, 13 of us set out. Gerry had to retire due to back trouble, and Trudi retired soon after. We left Dave & Ali behind so 9 of us formed a team for the assault on Helvellyn. The pace was nice and slow (for me), though at one point we threatened to tie a tow rope on Richard (24) "you're too fit!". And it didn't rain! By the time we set off the sky had turned grey and as we plodded upwards a smattering of raindrops fell on us, so the waterproofs went on and were off again within 400 metres! And that was all the rain we got. Dave & Ali caught up with us at lunchtime so we reached the summit all together. The rituals of Helvellyn summit: admire the cliffs and snow cornice; group photo at the trig; eat sandwiches huddled in the wind shelter, admire the monument to a faithful dog and quote of Wordsworth; and gasp at the number of people moving precariously on Striding Edge. Shiver in the wind, admire the view and leave. 
I remembered previous occasions on this summit. Sitting in the shelter with Will enjoying the evening light and contemplating the 8 miles down in the remaining 2 hours of daylight… In 80°F meeting an old boy with a limp, who somehow arrived at the car park before me, despite "they were going to take the leg off in 1944"! The clouds lifted above even Scafell and we could see the whole Lake District. Bowfell, Scafell, Great Gable etc ranked before us, and the sea beyond to the west. And the other way, Ullswater, Penrith and snow on the highest Pennines. Marvellous. So we shivered, admired, and set off down Swirral Edge, a notorious rock scramble. I heard Dave: "Lorna is not leading. If you want to go down that way you must sign a declaration that you do so from choice and at your own risk". "Listen to him!" I said. Nonetheless eight followed, leaving Dave & Ali to plod down the easy way. I was delighted that 8 were adventurous enough to come too. We got down the tricky bit, and there was Trudi! (and Polly the cairn terrier). I counted Sunday a success - six of the party had never been to the top before. Monday. Quieter now as have gone home. We'll
now be 10 for dinner.
Today most went for a valley walk before the long drive south. I decided to go to Saddleback and up the Sharp Edge, and Richard and Robert came too. It was good. At the top the mist/cloud came and went so we alternately could see nothing and had grand views. The grey clods lifted so that the white skyline silhouetted the fells. By 3.30 we were down at the pub. Then we decided to yomp the five miles back to the Centre, but we were soon defeated by the disused quarry having turned into a museum, and not wanting non-paying trespassers. Bah! So we turned away and phoned for a lift back. Six of us go to Crianlarich tomorrow., where Tom and Dave J are tonight. Forecast indifferent! Lorna
Scotland Part 1 ~ Easter 2000 Tom and I left the Lakes on the Monday due to the English weather being far too good. Unfortunately when we arrived at Loch Lomond it was sunny and we had no option but to climb Ben Vorlich and had some good views from the top. The next day was much better as we had to abort an attempt on Beinn Chabhair as the weather reached force 7 on the Zemurs scale (a bag of s***) so we had to adjourn to the pub for the rest of the day. The remainder of the Lakes party rejoined us that evening and next day I convinced Jane that she should accompany Robert and I on a 'nice, short , low level walk which would end at about lunch time' . 8 hours later we staggered back to Crianlarich after a long walk which entailed a seemingly interminable long climb in a huge wood which we thought might never end although it was only 2 of those nice little blue squares on the map. Next day Lorna had a great idea to go for Ben Lawers, any sort of visibility was lost 200 yards from the visitor centre. Never has so much effort been rewarded by so little view, in fact the view/effort ratio was at an all time low (i.e max effort/no view), so qualifying for the full force 9 on the Zemurs scale, a bag of w***. But, snow does help a descent as it enables you to charge down at full pelt confident that any fall will be cushioned by at least 18 feet of powdery snow, great fun!. Near the end the mist/fog/cloud did lift a bit to reveal nearly superb views of the mountains as we headed to a welcome pub in Killin. But at least the week did give sufficient training to enable an attempt on the Yorkshire 3 peaks a couple of weeks later. It was a lovely sunny day as Tom sped past Tim and I at mach 2. Each of the hills of Pen y Git, Whernsod and Inglebugger had its own distinctive shape and nasty steep bits but it was a good day especially when we found a Theakston's pub at lunchtime. Essex is a bit flat and dull after all that but there's always next time!
Dave J
Three peaks of Yorkshire Yes Yorkshire was fun. We all kipped at Tim's place in Bradford on Fri. Colin took Tim out and they both got tiddled by the time we caught up with them at 11pm. Sat was dry but greyed over in the middle (no view but also not too hot) and then warmed up considerably in early evening. Scores: Tom 3, 7.15hrs, Tim & Dave 3, 9hrs, Lorna & Colin, 2. (Whernside & Ingleborough, and half Pen y Gent before we decided it was time to catch up with the others). Total: blisters 5, cramp nil. Then we had takeaway & tinnies with Daryl & Karl. Their rambling Georgian mansion is amazing, huge and decrepit. Daryl put in a request for the services of the SW gardening team! We took it in turns to use the bath which is next to an ornate iron fireplace in one of the 15ft square bedrooms which currently has bare plaster walls and bare floorboards (and a film of plaster-dust) together with heaps of timbers, a workbench and plastic-wrapped bathroom porcelain.. I wish I had taken a photo of self in bath (using the timer of course!) it would've made a great pic. Lorna
Beer and Birdsong Twenty-one (an all time record) happy soles met up outside the Cricketers, Danbury, for a super walk through the Common and wildlife park. The twilight was perfect for bringing out the glowing colours of the buttercups and new spring growth. Confidently led by our interpretive guide, Nigel, we were delighted by the unmistakable songs of both cuckoo and nightingale, and slightly concerned by the rumble of distant thunder. With astounding judgement and timing, Nigel got us to the pub just minutes before the heavens opened. Rodings Rally by Day No check points or crawling through holly bushes at
midnight (which is all some of our members can associate with Epping
Forest) but a beautiful summer's day with icecream vans every hundred
yards! Admittedly there was some fighting our way through the
wilderness as Dave confidently followed a bearing, but otherwise a
thoroughly civilised walk (apart from high humidity and huge, itchy
insect bites). Notably we met a very nice oldish chap who claimed to be a member of the Dirty Sole Society - not what you might think! He'd been walking barefoot for over 35 years; twigs, dog poo, the lot. He was clearly quite mad and we thought Trudi would have got on with him really well!
Ali
Chelmsford YHA T-shirts
We'll soon be having some more T-shirts printed with the group logo. Quality 100% cotton Fruit of the Loom - proven on mountains around the world!
T-shirts: £4.60; Polo shirts
(short sleeve with collar): £7.75; Sweatshirts: £9.
Announcement
The last committee meeting saw us discussing what to do with our modest winnings from the Presidents Awards. As you may know we have already spent £15 on a commemorative tree for Saffron Walden Hostel, the question was what to do with the rest. As a thank you for all the hard work put in by our members we are going to use some of the money to fund the barbecue at Saffron Walden YH on Saturday 12th August. All members are very much welcome, even if they are not taking part in the cycle ride Jim is organising. The remaining cash we have decided to donate to the John Muir Trust, who purchase chunks of Scotland so it can be preserved for the public (i.e. people like us). |
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