Brilliant pre-write up Sleepy
I never realised you actually got pictures of the Badger – the second one needs to go in the “what about the other animal photos” thread.
Not sure who this Mel with the cheery disposition is though…
So, well, yes. Originally Sleepy posted another meet and my thought was “ooohhh, a walk I would be able to do”. But, after checking my diary…. fully booked
I mentioned this in the hope that it would at least show there was interest in a meet like this, but, as is often the case, other commitments get in the way. I think Sleepy threw a few other dates into the air and I plucked out the 13th October as being okay. And so a new meet was born. I didn’t quite expect to get it named after me though
My intention was indeed to get there early, have a cuppa and my breakfast whilst I waited for everyone. The reality went more like; setting off on time to accomplish this and then being diverted round various streets due to localised flooding (it was heaving it down and had been all night). Fair enough, I wouldn’t have time for my cuppa and breakfast when I got there. And then, THEN (for those of you who know the Hull area), I got to the Prison roundabout and onto Roger Milward Way (which is a dual carriageway – important point) THEN to be greeted with road closure signs in 800 yards. Fab. Trapped on the dual carriageway with no turn offs. So I sat there, assuming there was a diversion and temporary lights, something ANYTHING. After about 3 days I got to Victoria Dock roundabout to discover that it was from there to the other side of Myton Bridge which was closed and we were all being herded over clanking bridge and into the Old Town’s one way system (yippee). Why on earth they couldn’t have put the diversion from Prison Roundabout and herded us up the Old Hedon Road instead I just, quite simply DO NOT KNOW. Sorry, that bit should have been in the Small Rant Thread
At last, I was on my way. Driving conditions were grim with standing water on the A63 and the road spray plus the rain making visibility practically zero.. Then I turned my wipers on…
SatNav took me via Rotherham and Sheffield (which was nice) and I finally found a spot to pull over and text Sleepy to let him know I was running late.
Scoffing the banana part of my breakfast as I pootled down the A57 and arrived at the car park to see 3 soggy figures stood forlornly in the rain. I leapt out of the car, apologised profusely for being late, phart-arressed about a bit, got my feet on and finally, we were off.
Oooh, the views
Despite the mizzle and murk to see hills, cloaked in autumnal colours, tis a wonderful thing. I think I managed about 100 metres before I had to stop and take a photo!
We got halfway across the second bridge when I, having been convinced I’ve walked “around here” before, asked “what’s that hill there?” pointing at what I now know was Bamford Edge. Sleepy obligingly unravelled his map from its case to inform me of this. There then followed a quick lesson in map origami and the pressure was on for him to get it all folded back up to how it was with 3 pairs of beady eyes watching. You wouldn’t have this problem with an electronic map….
Eventually, we got off the road and onto the permissive path on the western side of the upper “prong” of the reservoir.
Time for a group photo:
Hot topic number one – fitness and age. Somehow this ended up with Rob taking a guess at my age. He is now my New Best Friend. Sleepy left it about 3 seconds before bursting my youngness bubble and piping up with “that’s right, it’s always good to guess well below what you really think”. Yeah, thanks for that
Pleb (sensibly) kept quiet.
So, with Sleepy on the Naughty Step we continued along the mud track. And then, a voice piped up; “one point four seven” (or something) it said, randomly, out of nowhere. Rob looked a bit sheepish and ‘fessed up it was his new watch talking to him. There followed a “hard sell” sales pitch as he tried to flog me his old fitbit type thingy.
Hot topic number two – which forum members have you met. I was quite surprised when names (past and present) kept popping up and I was “yes, I met them on such and such a meet”. Thinking about this later, I’m quite surprised at how many of you guys and gals I have met – all thanks to forum meets (go on, you know you want to join one/start one)
We kept spotting “green things” half buried in the ground:
Hot topic number three – what are they? The writing on them said “DVWB” which we decided stood for “Derwent Valley Water Board” and similarly decided they were “something” to do with the reservoir. Hey, there’s nowt gets past us you know
We wandered through lovely, leafy woodland sporting some fine autumnal colours:
… and had a bit of a discussion of how grim it would be “up there” (the Hurkling Stones on Derwent Edge) in today’s weather:
Apologies for the splodges in the pic, I guess my camera lens still isn’t fully clear of the Shacklesborough Sheep Poo
Arty-farty pic:
After negotiating the hardest part of the walk – the steps down and up near the aqueduct – we arrived at Fairholmes where the option for a comfort break and cuppa was declined by all.
Hot topic number four – an activity which involves cars, parked, in lay-bys. Pleb took the lead on this conversation and knowledgeably updated us with what interior light, headlamp or indicator setting meant what. Oooh, Plebbles, you durrrrty dawwwg
As we headed around the corner we were confronted with this. Derwent Dam:
Wow. It was in full flow and just….wow
I stepped off the righteous path to go and have a closer look and, just, Wow (with a capital wobble-yoo).
Some pics:
So women are okay to bathe then?:
The Three Amigos were stood patiently waiting for me:
Easy quiet lane walking now:
Looking across the reservoir to the side we’d just walked:
Hot topic number five – flora and fauna. We kept spotting these small, dark purple berries. I wondered if they were blackcurrants or something:
… so I ate one. No, they’re not. And I’m still alive.
Herein started a berry-nibbling session. Everything we passed, we nibbled on and discussed the correct way to identify if something is poisonous or not, apparently a procedure none of us were following. We didn’t nibble on the Yew berries though
Arrrgh, quick topic hijack – I’ve just seen the first Christmas advert on telly
Back on topic….
We wandered past and eeee-nORmous bracket fungi and I can’t believe I didn’t get a photo of it
We also wandered past the “Effluent Sampling Point”. Although we were sampling the fruits of Mother Nature’s labour, we decided against taking up the kind offer.
It was about time for a snack stop and The Law of Sod came into play. Not a suitable place to sit was to be found. The only bench we spotted was occupied by other people. How dare they! Anyway, we loitered long enough, taking photographs and reading the info board (and discussing Hot topic number 6 – what the area looked like before it was flooded) for them to feel uncomfortable and move on. Excellent. Not only did we have a nice seat to sit on but they’d dried it off too
Our lunch stop view:
Info board:
From here it was a relatively short walk back to the road and, soon enough, one of the bridges came into view:
Some nice mossy stones on the hillside (me likey mossy stones):
Once back at the road we retraced our steps to the car park, but not before me sampling a bright red berry of some sort. Eeeeeauuuch, ye gods it was sour. I’m still alive. After googling “sour red berries” it came back with Cranberry?
And then our detour to see the plugholes (as mentioned by Sleepy):
I've not seen them in action before so this was quite a treat
As we returned to our cars it was time to check the mileage. Posted as a 6ish mile walk we were all gobsmacked to find we’d actually walked 9 miles! At first, Rob thought his new talking wrist gadget thingumabob maybe needed calibrating but my dedicated GPS phone with ViewRanger app is pretty accurate and confirmed it was 9 miles.
I certainly didn’t feel like I’d walked 9 miles, that’s for sure, and I feel quite chuffed with my little self for doing so with no tendon ache whatsoever and only “normal” hip/thigh muscle fatigue. We all agreed it must have been the good company and chat and chuckles that made the miles pass effortlessly
Hopefully Rob and Pleb will add any photos they took too (no need to write War and Peace like I have if you don’t want to
).
So there you have it. A Walking Forum Meet. For those of you who’ve never been on one, please, don’t be shy. Let’s get forum meets going again