Christmas Market - 26th November 2005
The meeting place was 5pm at the Kuhstall ...so by about 6pm we had finally met everyone and stocked up on sausages...After a full tour of the market (which took about 10 minutes!) we retired to the beer tent where some sampled the Gluhwein, others the Weissbier, some the lager.
The goulash soup, roast pork and other German delicacies were enjoyed, whilst Sander & Jasper entertained us (?) with their antics. When the food & drink in the beer tent had been exhausted we all moved on to the warmth of The Victoria, where (at Eirik's request) we made ourselves comfortable in the armchairs in the non-smoking room. A bid for freedom to Carpe Diem was made by some, but the armchairs proved too comfortable, and the breakaway group were forced back to the Victoria. One by one club members left the group, many already worn out from a late Friday night, and it was just 8 that made it to O'Neill's for last orders.
Michael soon whisked his Icelandic/Italian entourage back to York and then there were four...And after a long night in each others' company, we'd had enough and called it a night! |
Malham daywalk - 20th November 2005
The location of that daywalk itself promised a good day for the 21 walkers who decided to come to the Southern Yorkshire Dales with us. But great weather accompanied with a great group made things even better.
As a change to previ ous daywalks, rather than meeting at the train station, we took minibuses – Malham is wonderful, but not accessible by train. The hour from Leeds to Malham was easily be filled by discussions between Martin and Eirik as to whether it’s more important to organise things for the next weekend trip on the phone while driving or sticking to the rules and not answering calls…
After meeting up with Becky, we started the walk over slightly frozen grounds. Rime made the scenery very lovely. Janet’s Foss was used by almost everybody for an enjoyable break, apart from Paul who decided to go the adventurous route and jump over the waterfall.
The highlight of the walk was definitely Gordale Scar, a spectacular gorge complete with waterfalls cut right into the limestone hillside. Our walk led us straight up Gordale Scar which included quite an attractive and exciting climb. Even the experienced people of the Club had a new experience: lifting Becky’s dog Willow up the cliff. 16 kilograms can be quite heavy! But with joined forces, Becky, Willow and Martin managed this mission without problems.
Four people walked round Gordale Scar whilst the rest of the group walked along Malham Tarn (and except for bit of road walking towards the end, the slightly frozen lake shore with sunlight glimmering on it was gorgeous).
Twilight was already falling as we reached Malham Cove, which apart from Gordale Scar is probably the most impressive sight in the Yorkshire Dales. Malham Cove is a huge curving amphitheatre shaped cliff formation of limestone rock. The vertical face of the cliff is about 260 feet high (for the ones who only do the metric system: it’s high!).
Walking the last bit down into the valley was a piece of cake and the arrival in the pub back in Malham was welcomed by everybody, finishing a superb walk in a good atmosphere.
Back it Leeds, Nazams, our favourite Indian restaurant, saw its regular customers again, even with Tom and Mark who didn’t make it back from Sheffield the night before and therefore couldn’t come on the daywalk. |
November Pub Crawl - 11th November 2005
There was a record to be beaten: none of the previous Walking Club pub crawls had suceeded in visiting more than 3 pubs... With an ingenious plan from Martin, another attempt to overcome this hex was launched on Friday evening...and it turned out to be a more than successful event.
Starting in O’Neill’s by Millennium Square, there were already over 30 member. Having emptied the first pints and J2Os (Martin!), we moved on to the next pub, the Victoria – all of 15 metres away. Its classical ambiance motivated us and gave us the necessary energy to move on to the next place which meant walking across a city illuminated with bright Christmas lights to Whitelocks, the oldest pub in Leeds. There, last orders were placed for some of Northern England’s best beers – sadly they didn’t serve their famous burgers anymore that late at night.
Oxygen was the starting point for the second half of the evening – after all, the traditional pubs had closed already. By 12 o’clock people became a bit indecisive about where to go, however, most of the group went to ‘TigerTiger’ where those with the dancing spirit in their legs were fully satisfied. A great night out, and, more importantly… the record was beaten!
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Loch Lomond & The Trossachs: 4th - 6th November 2005
Friday
The long drive to Scotland inevitably finished in the local pub. The pub was host to the local musical talent (?), which despite being mistaken by most for karaoke, kept everybody entertained whilst waiting for the luggage to arrive. After a bit of confusion over lost wigwams, everyone had found a place to sleep...although some chose not to use it.
Everybody denied knowledge of the fireworks set off at 2.30am, but curiously we now have a selection of photos of them...
Saturday
Although rather promising at 8am, the weather soon turned against us. The hard walk was destined to be long, wet and windy, so many opted for the "medium" walk. The medium walk surely would have been medium on any other day, but the weather conditions made things difficult, and half the group turned back early. The brave headed on up the mountain, despite the lack of path, and were rewarded by amazing views across the valley as the wind blew the clouds away. It was wet and blustery on the top, but conditions improved as we headed down again in the late-afternoon sun. The lack of official path down the mountain meant the climbing between fences and crossing of many rivers, however this was just a taster of what was to come! When we reached the forest in the valley, most people thought that the walk was almost over and we would soon be on the road back to the wigwams...However the forest track was longer than anticipated and the footbridge over the river had been washed away....After much toing and froing along the banks, and with the anticipated arrival of the night, the decision was made that the only way out was to wade across the river - and wade we did. Once across we had to negotiate the barbed wire and the railway lines before finally reaching the road - still 5 miles from the wigwams! Many thanks to Martin who brought the minibus to collect us!
Sara soon organised the walkers who had returned early into preparing the meal - thanks guys! Hot soup followed by traditional walking club spag-bol was just what was needed after a wet-day's walking. Martin was soon in demand to ferry people to and from the pub (what would we do without him?!) for a nice relaxing end to the day.
Sunday
After Saturday's wind and rain there was a general reluctance to walk today! Many people still had wet boots and opted for the tourist trail instead. The brave headed for the hills whilst the easy walkers followed the westhighland way through the valley to the waterfalls.
The non-walkers headed off to Balloch to visit the castle, stopping off along Loch Lomond on the way. Balloch Castle was closed for winter (although Bea seemed to think if we knocked on the door someone might open it for us...!) so inevitably we headed to the pub for a long lunch. After leaving Ana in Balloch, we headed through Glasgow down to Moffat and its famous (?) wool mill, full of interesting arts, crafts and souvenirs.
We finally made it back to Leeds in plenty of time to fill Nasaam's for the traditional curry. The weather might not have been perfect, but a good weekend nonetheless!
In the wise words of our president: There are three types of people: Bavarians, people who want to be Bavarians, and people with no ambition....(?) |
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