Peak District Debrief

Well, the weather was great, the food fantastic, and the Peak District exceeded all expectations… a few highlights below, more photos can be found here.

Day 1: Mountain biking

A brief pause by the dam

The reservoir from our elevated lunch stop

The dam (one of), in sunshine, finally... while everyone else has pedalled off down the road.

Day 2: Geocaching

On the highway.

Pondering the valley... there's a cache down there somewhere.

We descend...

"This side of the wall." "No, that side of the wall." "No, this side of..."

Victory is ours!

The spoils...

Day 3: Bouldering

Rob traverses the Cobra.

Nic traverses the Cobra.

Boulder of many uses...

The Peaks approach…

So, speaking of planning, the weekend approaches.  As I see it, currently looking as follows:

Day 1:

All going well, we should arrive at 10.15 on Saturday.  Head out to Derwent Valley for a day of mountain biking.

Days 2 and 3:

Play it by ear:

switch(weather) {
   case good: activity = bouldering or climbing; break;
   case mediocre: activity = geo{cache,hash}ing; break;
   case abysmal: activity = climbing wall; break;
   default: pub and further planning;
}

Any additions/deletions/modifications?  Do we want to be any more organised?  (face it, could we possibly be any more organised? what could go wrong?)

So, we’ll definitely pack harnesses and shoeses; question is: should we bring ropes and gear too?  Quite happy to, as it’s a feasible load (especially with three of us); at the same time, if climbing is not likely to be on the cards, we’ll leave it at home, as hauling great loads of nylon and metal up and down the country for fun is, well, not really that much fun…

I realise that the weather will be a pretty significant factor; will keep an eye on how the forecast develops.

In terms of the long range forecast, I reckon it would be good to get another day/weekend in at Portland before the Summer deserts us (if it hasn’t already); looks like the next free weekend is last weekend in September (27th-28th).  What do people reckon?

Outdoor Show – Part 1

Still surprisingly knackered after the weekend so I’ll write up a full report later, but for now here’s a few photos of a cracking weekend.

Obituaries: Simon’s climbing shoes

After many years of dignified service Simon’s climbing shoes sadly passed away on Simon’s first successful 6b+ climb. Doctors believe that the strain of being bought out of retirement and bouldering 2-3 times a week proved too much for them as they cracked along the sole. Simon commented “It’s how they would have wanted to go, and now I can buy something with that new fangled velcro stuff that I’ve been hearing so much about.”