Year: 2006

CUHWC Keswick Trip (24th-26th November 2006)

For the last weekend trip of Michaelmas term, we stayed in the compact but cosy bunkhouse at Causeway Foot, near Keswick. Having read the dismal weather forecast for the weekend, we were surprised to have good weather with many sunny spells and only a few showers! On Saturday I did a long, fast walk including Blencathra and Skiddaw (and everything between those and Longlands Fell!). On Sunday I did two walks, bagging High Rigg with Michael and Alex first thing, and later doing some more Northern Fells, including Blencathra via Sharp Edge. Overall, eighteen Wainwrights, seven of them new for me, taking my total to 168!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/zskRrAn9cvNSGW876

Alex on Sharp Edge

CUHWC Snowdonia Trip (27th-29th October 2006)

The first weekend trip of the year was to the Caseg Fraith bunkhouse in Snowdonia. On the Saturday I did a fairly long walk with lots of scrambling, taking in Tryfan, Bristly Ridge, the Glyders and Y Garn – great fun despite the rain and low cloud! On Sunday the sunny weather was perfect for a circuit of the Snowdon Horseshoe.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/K6dapRgKek11E1WY6

Ruth, Alex and others crossing Crib Goch

CUHWC Edale Trip (15th October 2006)

This was my fourth freshers’ trip to Edale in the Peak District (and my last as an undergraduate). Michael and I led a group on a route I hadn’t taken before, ascending Grinds Brook then crossing the Kinder plateau and following its northern edge before descending past the reservoir to Hayfield. I also enjoyed the journey there and half way back in Gordon’s car (before switching to the coach to save him the 20 mile drive from Fen Drayton to Cambridge and back)!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NLQ8PWi3cePdjWDv9

Grinds Brook

Westminster College (1st October 2006)

This year my room is in Westminster College – it’s just off the Queen’s Road / Madingley Road mini-roundabout for anyone who wasn’t sure. Renovation of some staircases in Christ’s during the Bradwell’s Court redevelopment meant they had to look elsewhere for fourth-year accommodation. Here are a few photos of the College and my room, taken the morning after I moved in.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uQ3AGvacixuz9hcV6

The main front of the college

CUHWC Unofficial Colorado Trip (14th-26th September 2006)

For this year’s summer trip (well, one of this year’s summer trips!) five of us flew out (and Emily drove) to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. Emily’s mum’s Suburban provided spacious, luxurious, 4×4 transportation. After a day in Denver, we visited and camped in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Elk Mountains, and then Leadville. Snow on the ground meant that our walks were a bit different to what we’d planned, but gave lots of fantastic views. Then it decided to snow properly, with two feet falling on the mountains, and a foot in the valleys, over a couple of nights! We therefore moved to warmer accommodation at a condo Emily’s parents had rented in Breckenridge, and did some exciting winter walks including, for four of us, Quandary Peak (a fourteener!).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ew9XwNd4iTxWAXcV8

The group below Maroon Bells: Emily, Jonny, Ruth, Gordon and Alex

Two walks in the Dark Peak (27th-28th August 2006)

A couple of friends from the Hillwalking Club joined me over the bank holiday weekend for two walks in the Dark Peak. On Sunday, I walked with Alex and Simon, doing a long, boggy ridge walk starting and finishing near Howden Reservoir in the upper Derwent valley. On Monday, it was just Alex and me for a walk around Ladybower Reservoir, including more classic Peak District edges.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8JwcJ14anNiCXUjRA

Simon found a soft, deep bit of bog!

Family day out in Matlock Bath (20th August 2006)

I met up with my uncle Jonathan and his family for a day out in the Matlock Bath area, including meeting my cousin Xavier for the first time. We took the cable car up to the Heights of Abraham and visited a mining museum in the town. Then we went to Haddon Hall, where, by pure coincidence, we met my uncle Michael and his family, on holiday from their home in Dorset!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yVW1yAH33MnZxbzs7

Xavier, Jonathan, Bethany and Julie at Haddon Hall

CUBB Barbecue at Chris’s house (15th July 2006)

While his parents were away on holiday, Chris invited the band to his house in Grove (near Wantage, in Oxfordshire) for a barbecue. Only seven of us actually attended, however. As well as the barbecue itself, we enjoyed driving trains around Chris’s garden (and this seems to have been the subject of most of my photos!).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JiQAAkE8q9AAKcW8A

The butane-fuelled steam locomotive

CUHWC: Emily’s last day in Cambridge (23rd June 2006)

A few hillwalkers decided to make the most of Emily’s last full day in Cambridge, starting with an uncomfortable night in Alison’s very own bunkhouse! This was followed by sunrise-watching on Castle Mound (no photos), a trip to the University Library (again, no photos), punting along the Backs, and fajitas in Alison’s kitchen.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/r3sHDbSgAdgkchB36

Ruth, Alison and Emily in a punt near Magdalene

CUHWC Glenridding Trip (9th-15th June 2006)

A few hours after handing in my third-year project reports, I was off to the Lake District for five days of fantastic walking. We stayed in the Gillside Farm bunkhouse in Glenridding, and climbed most of the hills in the surrounding Eastern and Far Eastern Fells, boosting my Wainwright count to 161!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XXP8vkmrjHoPDBJc8

Alex and Emily on Froswick, with Caudale Moor and Thornthwaite Crag behind