Martin’s Christmas Quiz 2017

As promised, here is my quiz for anyone who is up for a challenge. It’s not my best. Feedback so far has been:

Pictures too small
Too esoteric
Needs to be more generic

(And that’s despite somebody, other than me, at the lunch being present when all but a handful of the pictures were taken.)

So I need to try harder. My excuse is that I left it to the last minute and ran out of time. There were no complaints about the prizes though – everyone was a winner, thanks to Pure Cocoa.
 

Martin's Quiz - 2017

Name____________________________________

41 points available

Taken from which hill?	Where is this Trig point?	Which peninsula?	When and Where?	Which island is Richard on?
Where?	Manufactured by?	*1 see below	1. Name the hill? 2. Date it became a Munro?	1. Valley? 2 Reservoir?
City?	Entrance to which castle?	Lake?	Forest?	Place?
English name for this car?	Which castles are nearby?	Name this band?	1. Name one of the nearby horses? 2. Two relevant dates?	Which mill?
Name the country of which this city is capital?	Where?	Name the hill?	Name the viewpoint?	Name the mountain? (Note the railway.)
What is Paul waiting to do?	Where?	1. Where? 2. When?	Where?	Where?
Where?	Where?	Where?	Where?	Where?

*1 -Rock formations, mineral springs and catacombs. What else is this Cycladic island famous for?

If you fancy having a go, paste the table above into a word document, fill in the answers, and send it to me at xmasquiz@topwalks.com. There may even be a prize!

Have fun!

Sunday 17 December 2017 – A Christmas Circuit from Bakewell

Last year’s Christmas lunch at The Crispin proved to be a great venue, so it was booked again for this year. It has the benefit of a private dining room for up to thirty diners, and a good chef.

Rather than repeat last year’s walk from Tideswell, a ten mile circuit from Bakewell was devised. Some of us enjoyed a coffee in ‘The Lime Lounge’ before setting off into the rain.

Last year we were 23 in number. This year’s spreadsheet had the same number, but by the time we started we were down to 18 due to crockedness and illness, though numbers did rise to 21 for lunch. Alan R had bravely risen from his sick bed for his first full day walk for over a month. Well done Alan, it was good to see you. He pictured me celebrating that with Sheila.

We rendezvoused with the poor people who couldn’t afford a coffee, and set off beside the River Wye, where goldcrests joined a variety of different tits (many with long tails) in nibbling the riverside berries.

I wonder how many of the group noticed a brief hiatus in the rain as we passed by this fine edifice.

Full waterproofs were deployed as we headed up a gentle slope to cross Stanedge Road, heading west over easy ground.

There was no snow on our path, but the frost made for a mostly satisfactory firm surface in lovely Peak District scenery.

There were good views down to Ashford in the Water.

As we passed the church in Ashford, Andrew (crocked but able to join us for the walk for 3 km) contrived to fail to notice 18 hikers as they passed by the shelter under which he was waiting. Luckily we stopped for elevenses nearby (see top picture), during which break Andrew was recovered from his blind spot!

Then it was an easy stroll in soft conditions, culminating in a dash to the pub.

I organised a quiz, as usual, and Jenny (crocked but hungry) kindly took a few snaps to record the occasion.

Quiz results time – one team managed (with the aid of a large magnifying glass) to get 25/35, but everyone was a winner. The questions will feature in the next posting.

After our two+ hour break, the rain had stopped, and navigation for the afternoon would be easy, though numbers had now risen to 21.

This snowball is all that is left of Great Longstone’s giant snowman.

It’s a pleasant stroll to the Monsal Trail.

Perhaps some people were put off by the frost? Maybe some dived into the café at Hassop?

Light began to fade, but the route along the railway track was clear. Nevertheless, by the time we reached the end of the path at Coombs Lane we were down to eight people, a further thirteen having apparently sloped off by way of a variety of ‘cheats’.

Anyway, the route followed by those eight stalwarts is shown below – 16.6 km with about 350 metres ascent. Shorter routes are obviously available, but this was a very satisfactory one.

Thanks for coming everyone, especially those who travelled a long way and who we only seem to see very rarely. I hope you all enjoyed your day out.

Saturday 16 December 2017 – Wythenshawe parkrun Number 318, and Another Christmas Dinner

After last week’s cancellation, this week’s run director Jenn was eager not to cancel again, not least because she wanted lots of tickets for next week’s post run refreshments to be sold. So the ‘bowtie’ course was used, with an added ruling that runners should use the grass at the side of the icy tarmac paths and must ‘on no account’ stray onto the tarmac. This made for slow times in the soft grass and light rain, but 189 runners and walkers braved the conditions, and happily complied with the rules, obviating the embarrassment of a 999 call.

The top pictures shows Sue flying unaided down the finishing straight in under 29 minutes, unlike the chap ahead of her who clearly had the unfair advantage of being dragged to the finish by a canine friend. Elsewhere in the picture are various folk going home, which can be a bit frustrating for the slower runners, especially if they have only done one lap by the time the fast folk have finished.

At the far right of the top picture is a push chair with two children on board. Despite the need to push the buggy through soggy grass, this combo finished well ahead of me and well ahead of the 25 minute flag paraded (rather slowly) by Dan.

The following picture of Sue walking to the finish gives a fair indication of the poor light conditions!

Full results are here.

Then Sue and I went to Hinckley, for our fourth Christmas meal of the season, cooked up almost professionally by Sue’s brother, who together with her sister seem to have escaped from the photographic record shown below…

Never mind, we had a lovely afternoon, including in my case a lengthy nap following an overdose of champagne.

Friday 15 December 2017 – Shutlingsloe Again

Here we are again (well, not me, I’m taking the picture), on a lovely frosty evening after earlier snow, on the summit of Shutlingsloe.

The fine night time views to Greater Manchester and across the Cheshire plain were admired by everyone, even if light pollution meant the stars did not completely fill the sky. With the bright white reflective snow, we could see perfectly well without torches despite the lack of moonlight.

This year’s hour and a half wander from Trentabank car park was enjoyed by me, Sue, Toby, Graham, Alastair, Kate, Andrew and Alice. We returned without serious incident down the slippery slopes, and most of us adjourned to the Leathers Smithy, where Andrew (crocked knee) was tucking into his third tumbler of vodka. Or so it seemed!