Author: Dominic Oughton

Hi SunRockers I’m getting in touch with plans for the 2020 SunRock meet. By popular demand I’m proposing to head back to the Costa Blanca and also push the dates back a bit from the usual slot – both aimed at putting the SUN back into SunRock (though don’t get me started with the ‘if only you’d come in the official week you’d have roasted in Leonidio’ story…) I’ve started looking into accommodation options (including FinePark near Finestrat (which is available) where we stayed in 2017 – check out https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2017/02/11/rucksack-club-sunrock-meet-sella-costa-blanca/ https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2017/02/12/penyon-difach/ and the posts around there if you need a reminder). Before getting too much further I’m keen to get an idea of numbers, so please let me know if you are keen.       Flights from Manchester that week are currently around £150 but cheaper from Liverpool (£100) and Leeds (£90) for some reason. There are plenty of flexible accommodation options in the area, so if you want to stretch your trip to overlap say 10-24 you can get a bargain from around £60. www.skyscanner.com is a handy site. More details to follow once I have an idea of numbers – all thoughts and feedback welcome! Cheers, Dom[…]

My last post prompted a flurry of further great photos – see below (and sorry I’m not web-savvy enough to get them in the right monthly folders of the previous post!) A hint for viewing these and previous entries – click the images to get the full picture rather than the cropped square thumbnail. Still plenty of opportunity to get your entries in – especially for September and October this year, of course, but also for the last 10 months (March seems particularly light – what were you all doing???) Cheers, Dom

Hi Everyone With a bit of badgering I’ve managed to accumulate a few contenders for each month of the planned 2020 Rucksack Club Calendar (all proceeds to charity – to be printed in November 2019 and ready for stocking fillers and the New Year). There’s still time to ‘Get In There!’ by sending in your photos. Each month will feature a photo from the same month’s activity the previous year (with Nov & Dec from 2018 for logistical reasons). Photos need to be landscape (could be cropped from a portrait photo though) and ideally of and/or by members, featuring action shots of the Club’s activities (climbing, mountaineering, and hill walking obviously but also scope for running, ice-climbing, MTB, caving, skiing etc). Even better if they’re on a Club Meet. Please send more contributions (high res please) to calendar@rucksackclub.org or dominic@oughton.uk.com with month and a caption and a credit. Here’s what we’ve got so far (about half a dozen contenders for each month – apologies that there are so many of my shots; that’s why we need more of YOURS!!!): November: December: January: February: March: April: May: June: July: August: September: Cheers Dom

It takes more than a few showers to dampen the enthusiasm of the Wednesday Evening Crew! Pics from Harpur Hill. Fingers crossed for an improvement at Stoney next week!

Big thank you to Steve for a great meet at Beudy last weekend – a nice mix of the Usual Suspects and the Next Generation made the most of patchy weather with numerous classics on the Cromlech and Grochan in The Pass and Castle Helen and Red Wall at Gogarth. Here are a few pics courtesy of Steve:

Just in case you missed Andy’s post on the Club FB page, the evening meet this Wednesday has been moved to Shining Clough to take advantage of the mini heatwave!

Hen Cloud abandoned – heading to New Mills Torrs for some all weather fun!

Wednesday evening is looking grim 🙁 so the venue for the evening meet will be Manchester Climbing Centre. Looks to be perking up for the weekend at Gogarth though! Cheers, Dom

With an improving forecast, the optimistic contingent amongst the climbing crew were rewarded with a fine evening’s cragging at Horse Thief Quarry. No one could argue that it’s the most impressive or majestic crag in The Peak, but it’s hard to beat for sheer convenience (50m from the road) and has a couple of dozen routes, mostly low 6s. Perfect for a sociable “quick fix” The evening also saw two of our newest members, Adam and Marcus, make their first outdoor leads – quite a milestone. And Will, who was recently awarded with the Club’s inaugural Expedition Grant for his trip to Madagascar, came along to pick up some Big Walling tips and try his hand at “Living on The Ledge”.