Monday January 17th- David's Night Navigation Course

 David was out on a Night Navigation Course with Caroline McCann of Pro-Mountain. It was a fabulous evening under the "Wolf Moon"- superbly clear and deliciously cold.


Sunset (and mist) over Chapel-en-le-Frith

We were found some straightforward, and then (very!) challenging objectives on Colborne Hill. Despite the bright moonlight, none of us actually saw the sheepfold that we were meant to find, despite being within 10-20 metres from it. More entertaining was a spot-height (521m). The four of us on the course were dotted around what felt like a very flat area and Caroline pointed out that this "summit" was only 1m higher than the somewhat distant ring-contour around it.
We switched over to a contour-only map for our next object, a curious "polyp" sticking out from the 500m index contour. As we got nearer, it became clearer that it was the tiny plateau for the Cowburn Railway Tunnel Air Shaft. I'm happy to say that none of us altered our course for the shaft itself, as it was situated on the edge of the plateau... we trusted our compasses as we were aiming for the middle.
Plotting the next leg of our route

The picture above (taken by Caroline) shows me contemplating the next leg of our course, again using the contour-only map. It does actually show something that I had to contend with- my headtorch tended to illuminate my conk, as well as the map and ground ahead of me. It tended to make me follow my nose- literally. Caroline put a tiny dot on each of our maps and told us to go there. Our routes showed the strengths and limitations of the 1:25,000 OS maps- some features were clearly marked. The peat groughs that we had to navigate weren't, although one very deep one had a plank to help negotiate it.
A properly risk-assessed, but still perilous grough crossing

Our final objective, prior to returning to our start point, was a tiny contour feature. Fortunately, we were allowed to use the fully-featured OS map (but even so, I didn't choose the best route to it 😞). 



Crown Copyright

I'll leave it as an exercise for you to decide how you'd go from A to B, in the dark, remember!

The four of us had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I'd thoroughly recommend Caroline's Night Navigation course.

Return to Base


Popular posts from this blog

Saturday December 31st

Image
 Lyme Park- Bowstonegate, Dale Top and Cluse Hay Our last walk of the year; less ambitious as it was not that clear what the rain would do. In the end, we enjoyed a dry and slightly different walk of a bit under four miles around Lyme Park. We parked at the top by Bowstones Farm and followed the path more or less south outside the wall of the park. Clear division between Lyme Park (right) and agricultural land The track looped around to the south west, giving us a view of the dreaming spires of Manchester. Dreaming Spires of Manchester Further on, we had a nicer view, the dovecote on Cluse Hay, one of the key buildings in the park. The dovecote on Cluse Hay After the dovecote we headed across and through the woods of Knights Low to reach the usual uphill route to Bowstonegate and the car. A pleasant walk and a satisfying end to our bumper year for getting about in the countryside- at home and abroad. 3.7 Miles, 250m ascent.
Read more

Friday December 2nd

Image
  Western Edale Circuit The forecast was for low-level cloud/mist and possibly clear tops so we abandoned our original plan to do the "Frisky Cows" walk from Castleton. We'll definitely save that for another day. An obvious alternative was to walk from Mam Tor and over Rushup Edge, and then see where we went to from there. On further reflection, starting from the Mam Tor car park would mean that the final stretch of the walk would be uphill so we took the sensible option of starting from Edale and having a coffee in The Penny Pot . As with our walk last Friday, we walked up to Hollins Cross. Although the mist was blowing in and out, we still managed to have some typical views. On the way up to Hollins Cross- Grindslow Knoll in the background At Hollins Cross we turned right rather than left as we had last week. As we made our way up towards Mam Tor it became more and more misty. Into the mist on Mam Tor Having walked over Rushup Edge we stopped at the junction of the path...
Read more

Friday November 25th

Image
 The Great Ridge, Lose Hill and Kinder The forecast was for a dry and sunny day and it certainly didn't disappoint. There was lovely sunshine all day and this only changed as the sun went down, just before 4pm and we were virtually back at the car. We made an early start- stopping for a coffee and a warm-up at the Penny Pot. Warmth at the Penny Pot We walked up, a pleasant walk under Cold Side (the landslipped side of Mam Tor) and up to Hollins Cross on The Great Ridge. Walking past Cold Side. Back Tor and Lose Hill in the sun ahead Arriving at Hollins Cross. Edale, Kinder and Grindslow Knoll in the background We had brilliant views all around, including back to Edale, across to Kinder and Grindslow Knoll, and to Mam Tor. Mam Tor, with the closed road below We then made our way to Lose Hill which is a great landmark. It felt easier going up this side than the other and it was a pleasant walk. We stopped for a snack at Lose Hill and made our way down to the outskirts of Hope an...
Read more