Just to round off the build-up to Christmas, we thought you might
appreciate Dave Evans' report on last weekend's OM
pre-Christmas, beat the shoppers meet in Hope :-) Unfortunately,
somehow both the OM editor - sickness - and the OM routes editor -
puncture - failed to make it along, but here's what happened :-)
Pics by Hamish Fenton - see his OM
Meets Album
The Pre-Christmas meet in Hope.
The Pre-Christmas meet proposed by Jon and given much discussion,
about date and venue, went ahead as suggested for a gathering of the
clans in Hope last Saturday. The arranged meeting point was the
Woodbine Café on the high street of the village.
And Lo! The wise did follow the prophecy foretold by Good Jon,
'long many roads, vales, and 'cross hills, to find the chosen place.
They did bring with them gifts of Berghaus, Paramo and Meindl, and
from that time on there was peace across those lands.
Ok drop the nativity parody,
The sun was shining though; the skies were pretty clear and very
crisp with a nice hint of winter.
Ten walkers from OM, some regular - hardened members, along
with several new faces eventually gathered in Hope - in hope of a
really good days walk - at the allotted time at the Woodbine
café. A decemt interval was allowed for any stragglers to
arrive - and at 10:30 we set off along the path towards
Castleton.
From Castleton there was a long but relatively comfortable haul up
through the limestone gorge of Cave Dale, the views were worth the
effort, back through the dale and across Peverils castle to Lose
Hill.
I don't think that anyone was looking forward to the steps
up on to Mam Tor, mainly because they are hard stone, but it's not
really an awkward climb, and the crowds were out in abundance. The
Mam Tor / Lose Hill ridge is generally pleasant, today was no
exception. It was nice to get a view of Edale and Kinder Scout last
week it was shrouded to put it mildly (very low thick cloud).
Lady Luck was out with us today - well maybe not lady
luck but Judith, so I hope that she counts - we had a good walk, it
was a great wintry day with a good group, a good time was had by all,
and the views were great in all directions. It was a good hill day.
What more can you ask for at Christmas, you cant buy presents like
that.
