Via Ferrata in the Dolimiti September 2006
Shelagh West reports:
Shaun, Shelagh and Jakob packed-up the car and went off to join the Alpine Club’s Dolomites meet in Cortina. The meet was held in a small campsite to the south of the town, that was nicely shaded by trees. On the Saturday of the meet a large group of us went for a walk to the Cascate Val di Fames. Perhaps the best thing with the waterfall walk was that their was a simple via Ferrata that went behind the waterfall and produced some rather fantastic view. For Shaun it was a good opportunity to use his new gear (just bought from Decathlon).
We spent the evening having a rather enjoyable pizza at perhaps the only affordable restaurant in town. Cortina is VERY expensive for ordinary mortals!
On Sunday, Shaun and Paul (a non-AC member) got up early took two lifts and (after blaging a lift in the car) to get to the start of the via Ferrata Lorenzi at around 3000m. A coffee was taken to on-route to help wake them up. Their route starts with the crossing on the longest wire bridge in the region before ascending the Cristallino. The remainder of the route followed the WWI front line up and down round and round the mountain.
Most of the route finding was simple it was only at the end where a steep down chimney is taken did they have any problems. Shaun’s map reading does not improve! But then the route went on and on. Shaun, not having a keen eye for detail had forgotten to note that the route was one of the longest in the region 6-8 hours and had 1600m of down excluding the extra up on the way! This led to sore feet but a memorial day in the hills.

Phill Williams wrote:
Now to this August, 2006, and another celebration, much less noteworthy. Nine members of my family, mainly the children and grandchildren in this country, gathered for my eightieth birthday. Encouraged by the grandchildren, we decided to mark the occasion by climbing Snowdon, up the Miners and down the PyG, something I first did in 1944. Unfortunately, my birthday fell on the bank holiday, so in spite of an early start our party, ranging in age from nine to eighty, was nearly overwhelmed by the huge crowds shuffling up and down the paved path: how times have changed!

Phill Williams wrote:
Old (very old) members may remember Miles Hutchinson, who joined ULMC and then ULGMC for a couple of meets in the late forties and early fifties. Last summer, 2005, Miles rang. Would I like to help make up a party for a celebratory ascent of Ben Hope?
I remembered that Miles has always been an inveterate bothy man, whereas I abandoned bothies for much more comfortable accommodation many years ago. So with the proviso that we avoided bothies, I agreed.
“Don’t worry,” Miles said. “We’ll go upmarket: I’ll book the Youth Hostel.”
I was quite relieved when he rang a week or so later to regret that the Youth Hostel was full, but uneasy to hear that he’d found a self-catering cottage for only £6 a night.
So in August we drove up to the Crask Inn cottage, taking in a couple of Marilyns on the way over the Struie. If you’re familiar with Northern Scotland, you’ll know that the Crask Inn is on one of the loneliest of roads, halfway between Lairg and Altnaharra, with no other habitation for miles in either direction. The apprehension I felt about the standard of £6 a night accommodation soon disappeared. The cottage, directly opposite the Inn, was remarkably well equipped – towels and bed-linen provided, hot water, central heating, fridge, etc. The driving rain and wind the next morning meant we were reluctant to leave these comforts for Ben Hope, and so because of the conditions we decided to climb by the ordinary route, rather than the North ridge.
Still in cloud and rain, we photographed Miles standing on the summit trig point, enjoyed a rapid glass of bubbly, wolfed the slices of cake, and headed back down the mountain to a superb celebratory meal in the Crask Inn.
And what were we celebrating? The fiftieth anniversary of Miles’s first completion of the Munros, on Ben Hope, August 10th, 1955.

Norfolk Mountains 15 - 17 September 2006
Keith Mott reports:
We were once again blessed by fine weather for this exceedingly arduous meet. Friends started arriving on the Thursday and by Friday evening 15 sat down to the traditional local fare of spaghetti bolognaise.
On the Saturday we continued our trek along the Waveney Valley, this time further to the west than before. Eventually we will make the watershed where the Waveney ends and Little Ouse begins. This effectively makes Norfolk an island! The walk was enlivened by the sight of thousands of geese on their way to a party at Christmas! We also surprised a pair of deer on a section of heath. The heathland was an unusual sight since the it is sandwiched between areas of wetland. The deer are a common sight.
We were joined at a pub by the non-walkers where lunch was taken. The walk in the afternoon retraced some of our steps with a diversion at the end around the mere. It was then back to the house for more food and drink. I said it was arduous!
Sunday saw us venturing a little further afield to Wymondham. We parked by the mid Norfolk railway and walked along newly designated footpaths onto an estate. Although there were numerous tracks marked on the map many were fenced off. We left the park and made our way to the nearest pub which turned out to be run by the owners of our local micro brewery whose beer we sampled last year. Sunday lunch was being served which we could hardly refuse. Some of the group managed to get a lift back to the cars and a scene from the Keystone Cops played out with cars going in various directions, although in much slower motion of course.
The group dissolved slowly with some coming back to the house for refreshments before the long journey home. Frances really enjoyed her postponed birthday party and would like to thank all those made it so memorable.