BBQ Weekend: 23rd-24thJune 2017
This year the club ventured south for the annual barbecue, visiting Fell End on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors.
As one club member resides in the area and is a keen caver, he offered to introduce us to the world beneath the hills. Along with fellow cavers Mandy and Vaughan, Jim guided five novices through Upper Churn to Alum Pot near Ribble. A very eventful experience which involved getting wet, abseiling down a waterfall and a 45 foot ladder descent, the highlight of Joe’s day. A thrilling afternoon which may even be repeated! A big thank you to Jim, Mandy and Vaughan for bringing back out the same number that went in.
Two of the group decided to forgo the pleasures of crawling underground into darkness and water hazards and decided to do a walk over Wild Boar Fell (708m high) returning by a footpath marked on the 25,000 scale map as 'A Pennine Journey' through the valley of the Grisedale Beck and the River Rawthey. Unfortunately, before the summit was reached they encountered very thick mist and occasional rain showers and had no views at all. On reaching the valley the footpath was a figment of imagination of the map makers, only a few marker posts indicated that there was supposed to be a footpath over 8km of near bog underfoot conditions.
They would have been better caving!
Sunday dawned brighter and while the rest of us went home, one member walked up to the waterfalls at Cautley Spout. The route to the top went direct from the bunkhouse, took a left turn at the path and continued as far as the cairn, then back to the trigpoint and followed the path around and back down. The weather was perfect for walking – sunshine but with some clouds providing a bit of relief on what couldn’t have been a better day.
Thanks to Jackie for organizing.
