Author: Ian Helliwell

Near perfect weather (no rain, not too cold, following wind…) on the back of a period of mainly dry weather over Christmas and the New Year delivered excellent walking conditions and fast times. Other than a bit of mist on Bleaklow Head, visibility was good too. Excellent support by Granville’s Glorious Soup Kitchen meant the participants were kept full and warm with soup, cakes, teas & coffees etc. Numbers down a good 30% from normal due to the train strike, but multiple offers of lifts at The Ramblers made sure everyone got back somehow. Some stats: Completing the M-E single: Members 8, Associate Members 1, Guests 8. Completing the M-E double: Members 7, Associate Members 3, (plus 1 member who did the overnight E-M only). Doing various partial routes: Members 22, Associate Members 2, Guests 3. So, total on the hills: 55 (Members 38, Associate Members 6, Guests 11). First to The Ramblers: Associate Member Simon Rippon – 1pm. First Member to The Ramblers: Jean Llewellyn (that new knee must be working wonders!). Many thanks to Carole Smithies for counting them out and counting them back in again, to Granville Toyn for excellent soup & cakes at both Longdendale and[…]

A quick update on trains etc. The morning Manchester to Marsden trains appear to be running as normal (operated by TransPennine express) – see my earlier post for details. No trains at all from Edale to Manchester due to strike (operated by Northern Rail). Offers of lifts from Edale so far (please contact them direct – details in the handbook) John Warburton (to Manchester) 3 or 4 places Guy Froud (to Saddleworth) 2 or 3 places (I’ve already bagged one!) Ged Cudahay if offering to put up 1 or 2 people overnight just outside Buxton. John Jefferies may have his car at Edale if he can get a lift from his house in Poynton to a station on Saturday Morning. There are usually a lot of people at The Ramblers so I’m sure many more lift options will be available on the day. For those who are social media literate, then the Rucksack Club FaceBook group is probably a good place to get a conversation going. Hope to see many of you tomorrow… Ian  

Looks like there will be no trains on Saturday from Edale back to Manchester after 5pm due to strike action. Please can anyone with cars at Edale help out with lifts…. Thanks Ian  

Marsden-Edale 5th January 2019. The annual post-Christmas romp on the moors needs no introduction! Meet as usual at Marsden at the end of Wessenden Rd (GR SE048107 OS South Pennines OL 21 map) for a 7:45 start – finish at The Ramblers in Edale. Granville will be doing his world famous soup kitchen again at Woodhead (car park at the start of the old road to Glossop) and Upper North Grain. Granville writes: “I will be in the two usual places. Firstly just off the Woodhead road, and then when everybody has past through, I will proceed to the Snake road, and again wait there until every weary soul has passed through. The menu will be… Woodhead road: Golden vegetable soup , mild chilli bean soup and bread roll. Tea , coffee, hot chocolate and plenty of water for bottles. Snake road: All of the above plus cakes various, for a little sugar boost, before hitting the Seal Stones. NB Both soups are vegetarian , the chilli soup is vegan. If any body needs gluten free bread and cake, would they please let know via email so I know what quantities I need to provide. COST! Sorry about this, 3[…]

Apologies for the flood of emails – the core website software was updated yesterday and it looks like there is a bug in there somewhere that is causing multiple notifications to be sent. I will investigate and, if necessary, restore to an earlier version. Thanks for your patience… Ian

The weather was kind to the participants with a generally dry day (plus a couple of short snow flurries) and an almost following wind. 23 people completed the single Marsden-Edale, plus around a dozen doublers and (amazingly) 2 people completing a double-double (see separate post). A further 20+ people did various partial routes and various other members were spotted in the pub. Granville’s Glorious Soup Kitchen was greatly appreciated at Longdendale and again on the Snake – many, many thanks Granville! All in all, a great day out and another roaring success. Here are some more pics from Rae Pritchard

Carole has been struck down with the norovirus (sounds horrible) so will not be up to doing her “I counted them out and I counted them all back in again” routine. In addition, I’ve badly sprained my ankle so am unlikely to be completing the walk. So… I will be the new Carole for the day! Please make sure I get your names at the Marsden end (I’ll be there from about 7am) and more importantly, make sure I tick you off the list at Edale. If you are setting off before 7, please text me so I can get your name on the list. Also, if you realise you are not going to complete the walk and are dropping out part way (and are not going to be at the Ramblers Inn later) please text/phone to let me know. One other update: Trains from Edale to Manchester depart 16:47, 17:47, 18:48, 19:47 Trains from Edale to Sheffield depart 16:34, 17:33, 18:35, 19:33 Hope to see many of you tomorrow. Ian

Marsden-Edale 6th January. The annual post-Christmas romp on the moors needs no introduction! Meet as usual at Marsden at the end of Wessenden Rd (GR SE048107 OS South Pennines OL 21 map) for a 7:45 start – finish at The Ramblers in Edale. Granville will be doing his world famous soup kitchen again at Woodhead (car park at the start of the old road to Glossop) and Upper North Grain. Granville writes: “I will be in the two usual places. Firstly just off the Woodhead road, and then when everybody has past through, I will proceed to the Snake road, and again wait there until every weary soul has passed through. The menu will be… Woodhead road: Golden vegetable soup , mild chilli bean soup and bread roll. Tea , coffee, hot chocolate and plenty of water for bottles. Snake road: All of the above plus cakes various, for a little sugar boost, before hitting the Seal Stones. NB Both soups are vegetarian , the chilli soup is vegan. If any body needs gluten free bread and cake, would they please let know via email so I know what quantities I need to provide. COST! Sorry about this, but inflation[…]

Hi All I realise that nobody has been getting the automated notifications of new content sent to their emails. Apologies for that – a little technical hitch which I hope is now fixed. So for those of you who have not “unsubscribed” to the emails, you should see this in your inbox… Recent posts to the site include: Summer Alpine Meet 2018 Club Photo Night December 5th. Outdoor meets programme – your club needs you Buedy heater malfunction Photos from Doreen Arkell SunRock 2018 This weeks meets: 4th – 10th December Check them all out here: https://test.rucksackclub.org/