January to April 1977 - A Compendium

My '1977 slide scanning project' involves scanning some 150 slides that will be reproduced here in four postings. There's also a European Road Trip during which a further 267 pictures were taken. Of these I have found just 50, so I'll be scanning those. The rest must be somewhere; maybe I'll come across them some day, but hopefully the 'best 50' will do for the purposes of this exercise. 

Click on any image for a slideshow.

There are no diary entries for this period, so I'm relying on the slide captions, correspondence, walks programmes, and memories, which after 45 years may be a bit suspect. I'll circulate the links to the 10-20 people who appear and with whom I'm still in contact. Any extra information from them will be welcome. Sadly, some of the participants are no longer with us.

I suspect that 1977 started in Staithes, where a friend of Roger's had a tumbledown cottage that we used to stay in. I remember using a sleeping bag on an upper floor, and waking to snow falling through a hole in the roof. We may have spent New Year's Day in Staithes, as the first picture of the year, above - featuring Roger Freeman and John Clark, is captioned 'Jan 2 - early am near Goathland'.

We must have gone for a walk around Beck Hole, before driving to Northumberland.

West Beck

West Beck waterfall

A view across to the North Yorkshire railway

Beck Hole

A winter scene near Goathland

On 3 January the following pictures were taken near Hexham.

There's a gap in photos to 13 March, when Bob Selig and John Howarth joined me for a walk up Snowdon. Just one photo (below) records the event. Meanwhile, in February, I acquired 'Bluebell' a Ford Capri 1.6 GT, and did the 55 mile Bogle Stroll in a shade over 10 hours. The whole team of 10 finished, in superb weather and average time of 12:15. We may only have come third, though. Around this time, Roger bought his friend's cottage in Staithes for £2000, and we went there for a weekend.

Soon after this, John (a colleague at Thornton Baker) moved to Leicester to work for one of the country's leading tax experts, and with a young family as well, we saw him rather less often.

On 19 March, a trip to the Yorkshire Dales found us in rain above Kettlewell.

The rain didn't really bother us, as we went caving. From L-R: Brenda, Rob Corbin, John Mansell and two who I don't recognise. (Mike Brown in the red - thanks Dave.)

The only picture from 3 April shows a group above Patterdale, 'attempting' to ascend Helvellyn, from which caption I gather that we must have turned back before reaching the summit.

From L-R: Laurie Marshall (RIP), John Howarth (RIP), Rob Corbin, Johm Mansell (RIP),
Brenda, Bob Selig, Dave Sims and Dave Scruby

The next trip - 9 to 11 April, brings this phase of the Compendium to a close by way of a visit to the Isle of Mull. We had several trips there in the 1970s.

Rubha nan Gall lighthouse

Dave Sims and Dave Scruby, on a steep slope with a view to Ardnamurchan

Tobermory

Breakfast at camp, with Lofty, two Daves, Rodney? and Roger

[I think that's Lofty, part of our Bogle Stroll team, but I may be mistaken. As for Rodney, was he Roger's friend who drove around in a Morris 1000 Traveller with a corrugated iron roof?]

A walk at Treshnish

Ruins at Treshnish

Dam of the week

View to the outer isles (Rhum, as it was then known)

Relections

Our campsite, on a grassy patch just outside Tobermory by the high tide mark

A view to the Sound of Mull

Roger cooks breakfast

Dot may recognise her old frying pan, which served me well for years, until I inadvertently left it in a holiday cottage in Scotland in the late 1990s.

Ascending Ben More on 10 April

Dave Sims on Ben More

Rodney on Ben More, at the col

Friday = Isabella Day (11)

"When I grow up I want to be a train driver."

"Banana and yoghurt... my favourite."

"Grandma, show me again how to fasten these clips."

"I like Walton Park."

"Playing with water in Grandma's garden... now that really is Fun!"

November 2004 - The Annapurna Circuit - Day 11

Thursday 11 November
Yak Kharka to Thorung Phedi

Itinerary: DAY 11 Thorung Phedi (4,420m) We continue to move north passing through Leder (4,176m) on this treeless alpine valley. Crossing Jhargeng Khola to its west bank we walk over loose scree on the steep-sided valley to Thorung Phedi in time for lunch. The afternoon is spent relaxing and saving energy for tomorrow's climb. (3 - 4 hours walk). 

[Diarist: Martin]
Oh dear. Today we find that George Bush has beaten John Kerry to the US President's position. 

Usual 6 am tea from Sagar, shortly followed by hot water, packing up, and a stroll to the tea house where we are served breakfast at 7 am. Porridge, always topped with muesli, and doused with honey in many of our cases, followed by a bread muffin and a fried egg. It made a nice sandwich. 

We got away at 7:45, on our own for a change. Another beautiful day, but we have turned a corner from Manang so the sun doesn't light our path until nearly 8:30. By then we have reached 4200 metres and have a short break to re-group. Nabrash is worried about being told off for going too fast - we must let the kitchen to catch up, and washing up is a hard slow process at this altitude due to the low temperatures.

I'm wearing thicker gloves and my hands warm up fairly quickly, but my feet, whilst not really cold, do not feel comfortably warm until 9 am. The problem is we can't walk fast as we get out of breath. Sue and I did have a walking race along a flat section to the 4200m break - that and a bit of jogging on the spot did help us to warm up. 

At 9:30 we had an hour's break for the leading group - Andrew came in 25 minutes behind the first to arrive, at an outdoor tea shop with a resident goat that expected food from everyone. It was a fat goat. Noisy Spanish, then the familiar French, arrive. 4390 metres, 13C, 597 millibars. Lovely views in all directions. Lots of naks seen on the way, many with young.

Approaching the tea stop on the ascent to Phedi, with Annapurna 111 and Gangapurna

The tea shop was just a brick shelter relocated to this point quite recently when the main route was changed to this western side of the valley. A new bridge had been built this year (2061 in Nepal). Another half hour, spent chatting to Mark about work related topics, on the heels of Nabrash, took us to Thorong Phedi - 4500 metres according to my altimeter, but 4430 metres according to Kev Reynolds' book. Some adjustments may be needed, but the statistics for today are:

Start: 4030 metres
Ascent: 485 metres
Descent: -15 metres
Finish: 4500 metres
Time: 3.5 hours
Stops: 1.0 hours
Walking time: 2.5 hours 

The fat goat

Yak

The route ahead to Thorung Phedi

High camp at Thorung Phedi

And so, by 11 am we were at 'base camp' for our attempt at the crux of the trek - the Thorong La pass - 5415 metres. We were soon shown to our nearby tents, where we vegged, reading and preparing gear for tomorrow. Then we adjourned for lunch in the porters' dining area at the Thorong Phedi Hotel - quite a smart place. Trekkers staying at the hotel have their own posh area, but our quarters are better than the mess tent. 

There is hydro power here, and a TV blasted Nepalese pop music, then an Indian film, from the corner of the large room. Our porters sat glued to the action, including Sherpa Hosta. The porters eat rice and potatoes in large quantities, with their fingers mostly, whilst we enjoy fried frankfurter type sausages, potatoes, coleslaw and bread, followed by tinned peaches and lemon tea.

Sanjeev sets out tomorrow's timetable - tea at 4:30 am, breakfast at 5:00, leave 5:30 (no washing water) This sounds fine. And so by after 1 pm, we are well fed and adjourn for another spell of rest in the tents. Hot water for our last wash before Muktinath soon arrives, so we chill out, clean, whilst the sun warms the tents. 

The only 'cloud on the horizon' is some high cloud to the south that could herald a weather front. We hope the brilliant weather will last another day though. 

Here the pressure is 587 mb - quite low.

Camp kitchen

The day ends early after another good meal in the porters' dining room, with a film on in the background. The meal was at 6 pm, bed at 7:30, ready for the hard day ahead. A game of Uno had passed the time before dinner.

The view ahead, from high camp

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Tuesday 21 June 2022 - Mid-summer in Timperley

De Quincey Park, Timperley, on a lovely summer's morning. And that's it for today, midsummer celebrations having missed a walk this year, in favour of a visit to Dot's (selfie courtesy of Kate) in Kate's nice new car,

and dinner with Richard and Jenny after Prosecco in our garden...

It's great to hear the swifts overhead from time to time. Despite abandoning our eaves as a nesting place several years ago, there does still seem to be a Timperley enclave of swifts, albeit much reduced in size.

Enjoy the sunshine!

18 to 20 June 2022 - Sue Goes on Holiday

You could ask "Why go on holiday when the above scene is just a five minute walk from home?"

Nevertheless, Sue went on holiday to a spa somewhere 'abroad'. 

Friday didn't = Isabella Day this week, as Issy is on holiday herself, and evidently enjoying the experience.

Sue then had an appointment at Wythenshawe parkrun, where she had promised to be Owen's buddy for the 5km run on Saturday morning.

295 participants assembled in the start field.

Sue  and Owen made it round in 39:30, half a minute slower than I made it round with him two weeks ago. It was warm on both occasions. Full results are here.

Sue's holiday resumed with a trip to Japan...

Meanwhile, Mike and I attempted a selfie after our Sunday morning exercise back at Wythenshawe.

Mike and I are exactly the same age, and we run at the same pace (he used to be much quicker) and we both support the Sunday morning community run, which makes for a good start to the day.

Here's the flier that we've been asked to circulate. Try clicking on the image.

Meanwhile, Sue resumed her holiday.

She went for a wild swim.

Perhaps pilchard sandwiches were not such a good idea!

My non-holiday at home continued with a 1977 project (scanning slide photos from that year - quite an eye-opener, watch this space), a walk along the towpath to the shops, and a good deed regarding a handbag found in the middle of our road! The owner had driven off in her convertible with said item on the boot, which it had abandoned at the first corner... Neighbours congregated whilst the owner was found, and everyone had their own tales of similar mishaps.

Then Sue returned from holiday and we enjoyed an evening at Eagley Jazz Club with the Canal Street Stompers, featuring Derek Galloway (trombone), Roy Freeman (trumpet), Colin Bostock (Reeds), Charlie Bentley (banjo), Brian Woods (Drums), Dave Parr (double bass).

... and two umbrellas rescued from Geoff (RIP) Gilpin's loft!

The Canal Street Stompers can be found on the last Wednesday of the month at the Railway Inn, Sale. We must pop along sometime.