Meet Report: 12-14 December 2018.

The 2018 Christmas meet returned to Cote Ghyll Mill YHA just outside Osmotherley, on the edge of the North York Moors. This is a spacious and comfortable venue, and 29 members and guests enjoyed their stay.

Most of the attendees arrived on Friday evening, with a few turning up on Saturday morning. Saturday started fine and sunny, so much so that a rock-climbing party enjoyed dry if rather windy conditions on the crags in Scugdale. Other parties mostly set off to walk from the hostel, exploring the Cleveland Way towards Black Hambleton, looking for wildlife around the local reservoirs, looking at the ancient Lady’s Chapel and visiting the ruined Mount Grace Priory (returning with tales of naughty monks; the priory is unusual locally as a Carthusian foundation, and well worth a visit). Some of the more enterprising parties got as far as the trig point above Lord Stones, enjoying the views north from the Cleveland scarp, and one fast-moving group then visited the telecoms mast above Bilsdale, returning via Cow Ridge, a round of some 20 miles. Some less long-legged or maybe more sensible parties extended shorter days by exploring the hostelries of Osmotherley.

One team came across a memorial stone to Bill Cowley, instigator of the famous (infamous!) Lyke Wake Walk as they followed the Cleveland way.

David Hick reminded the party that YRC member David Laughton was one of the party to make the first crossing of the walk on 1^st October 1955, thus making him a founder member of the LWW Club. The route was much tougher then, with lots of deep bog and trackless heather rather than the motorway that exists today.

Later in the afternoon, cloud rolled in, and there were a few spots of rain. Snug in the hostel, we enjoyed slide shows of Romania and of the recent Kanchenjunga trek from Mick Borroff, and of John Sutcliffe’s epic Cape Cornwall to Cape Wrath trek; meanwhile Michael Smith’s slides and films of several recent meets in the UK, Romania, Norway and South America were much admired. A couple of archive photos tested the memories of some older members, with the astonishingly young-looking Albert Chapman, Derek English, and Michael and Helen Smith with small children among those we COULD identify.

A splendid meal followed, with mackerel pate, pheasant casserole, and fruit crumble; the subsequent vote of thanks to Tim and Richard Josephy, the meet organisers, was fully deserved.

After supper, we saw more Kanchenjunga slides, and a fascinating film from John Sutcliffe documenting a visit to a gold-mining site in Peru; some members recognised peaks they had climbed in the background. The usual cheerful conversation followed; and Ian Crowther, after considerable research, decided that the single malt Jura was OK, but the Islay was better.

Sunday dawned fine and clear; some members set off for home, some to Lord Stones with a view to walking to Scugdale to meet the climbers, whilst others went to Roseberry Topping.

Four people made the arduous 10 minute walk up to the Scugdale crags and enjoyed a morning’s climbing in brilliant sunshine and only light breezes.

Thanks once again to Richard and Tim for organising this very successful meet, providing such a delicious meal, and laying on such good weather for us.

Rory Newman

Attending:

Rory Newman, Mick Borroff, Alan Linford, Andrew Duxbury, Arthur Salmon, Carol Whalley, John Whalley, Christine Harrison, Jim Harrison, David Hick, Derek Bush,  Fiona Smith, Frank Wilkinson, Iain Gilmour, Ian Crowther, John Jenkin,John Sutcliffe, Michael Smith, Mike Godden, Nick Welch, Paul Dover, Paul Everett (G), Peter Elliott, Philip Dover, Richard Gowing, Richard Josephy, Robert Crowther, Tim Josephy