About

This is me. Sturdy Girl. Lovingly named by my big brother many years ago when I realised that I’m never going to be a catwalk model, but then, who wants to be? But I do want to be healthy and have developed a passion for walking and that’s what this blog is all about.

Archives

• November 2006
• December 2006
• January 2007
• February 2007
• March 2007
• April 2007
• May 2007
• June 2007
• July 2007
• August 2007
• September 2007
• December 2007

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

It's Raining Again......

Oh no, my walks at an end.......!!!!

Well, what can I say. A sorry state we're all in that's for sure. My thoughts are with those of you affected by the flooding and hope you and your families are safe. Needless to say, walking and camping plans are a bit on hold at the moment and I don't know about you but these grey skies and wet days are really starting to get to me. Here's hoping it dries up soon and we can all get out and about again and those in the worst affected areas can start to re-build their daily lives and reclaim their homes.

Strangely enough, I spent most of Saturday underwater! I finally got around to taking my scuba review. I used to teach but haven't been in the water for years. Couldn't fight the urge any more though and took the plunge - quite literally. All went well and I'm back in the scuba frame of mind. Interestingly enough, just noticed that it's possible to dive in Wast Water and Coniston up in the Lake District so should be able to combine a bit of hillwalking and a dive or two next time I head up that way! It's also another way of keeping fit and making sure I've a nice balance of interests in my life. For some reason my mum and friends thought I was become a bit obsessive with the walking thing....don't know what they were on about :-)

Definitely getting fidgety though and have an urge to go for a good long walk this weekend. Am scanning the route cards to see where I can head off to. Maybe up towards Walton-On-The Naze in my home county or possibly over to Kent or even Sussex - we'll see. Have postponed planned trip to Kinder for a couple of weeks - I understand it's boggy up there at the best of times so think we'd be more in store for a swim than a walk if we went now!!

Now you might not think it but my training is, generally, going well. I might not be doing the obsessive walking disorder bit but I'm still in the gym 3 times a week, out walking (gently) in the evenings, plus a walk or cycle or swim (or all three) at the weekends. I'm down to 10stone which is brilliant! Only another half a stone or possibly a stone to go and I would have reached my personal goal. So come on Ben Nevis, I'm ready for you.....I hope! Only a few weeks to go now. Sorting out flights and accommodation. Mum is coming with me but I won't be dragging her up the mountain. Strangely enough - she wants to do some more scrambling! Think we can arrange that one mum!! And talking of scrambling, seems I might be doing Sharp Edge after all - but only because I've been promised ropes, safety equipment and the company of Search and Rescue chaps - so what could possibly go wrong???!!!!

Would still like to hear from you if you've been up Kinder Scout and have any top tips, or Ben Nevis - nothing like learning from the experience of others.

Off to party now with work colleagues - it's supposed to be a summer party so, of course, we've got our brollies and warm jumpers!!

Hope you are all well.

All for now.

Sturdy.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Straddling Edge....

Yes....I know that should be Striding - but Striding I wasn't.....!!!!

Just got back from a fab weekend in the Lake District. Despite the 9 hour drive up there on Friday (don't you just love the M6), it was worth the wait as not only did the rain seem to ease for while, so we only had constant drizzle instead of torrential downpours, but I got to achieve a dream, conquer a fear or two and have a great time thanks to the expert guidance and general cheekiness of Will4Adventure - the company I booked with for a two day scrambling course.

On day one we met at the campsite and was greeted by the friendly smile and early morning humour of Will. The rest of the group soon assembled and I was delighted to find we numbered 10, plus 2 assistants and the group leader. At first I was seriously worried that I was out of my league but as I started to talk to others in the group I realised that we were all pretty similar and that few had done this sort of thing before. It was quite windy so we headed off a little later and hoped for the best as we slowly made our way to the summit.

The pace going up was brilliant. Nobody was made to feel uncomfortable, rest stops were short but frequent and the general feeling was of a relaxed walk with a group of friends - such a change to the Navigation course! The winds were still gusting strongly towards to Edge and it was touch and go as to whether or not we would try it but, after a short break and some top class homemade fruit cake care of Will's girlfriend, we decided to give it a go. Other groups were ahead of us and apart from making it look like Piccadilly circus, the cynic in me though, oh well, we can watch them to see if they get blown off first! Will opted to take the lower path, rather than the ridge, and I always find if an instructor takes this option, it has to be for a reason, so me and one other followed him and took the lower, safer(!) path, which was a bit challenging in it's own right. The others, adrenaline fueled (and probably sugar fueled as well after the cake and flapjack) went for the top. The winds actually seemed to die down and so about a 1/3rd of the way along I took deep breath and went for it, traversing up onto the ridge with the others. The assistant leaders were great and talked me through bits and I only dropped to my knees on two occasions when the wind picked up a bit and even ended up straddling the ridge for a while, whilst I figured out which way to move next! I was terrified but in a good way!! To our right was a sheer drop, the the left the footpath so there was always a way off - one good, the other not so good :-) At the end of the ridge, whether you've followed the footpath or not, there is some down climbing to do, which is always more difficult, and then a scramble up to the summit. I found the down climbing challenging and exhilarating but would have preferred to have had my climbing harness on, or at least a helmet. It's these moments that bring home the risks involved with scrambling and I did wonder whether it was really worth it. But with a big grin on my face we got down safely and made our way up the final scramble which wasn't anywhere near as bad as it looked and onto the summit. Standing on Hellvelyn, looking back at the Edge before it disappeared in the mist, I felt elated and pleased that I'd done it. I was also standing at my highest point so far in my walking career. Sadly, the mists closed in and the winds picked up so not much of a view and we were almost blown off of our feet a couple of times on the way down. A truly fantastic days walking with some lovely people and another personal challenge met.

Sitting in the pub later that night with the group, enjoying a fantastic salad and a pint of Speckled Hen I had another one of those self realisation moments. I enjoyed the scramble, and I'm glad I fulfilled the dream of walking along Striding Edge but would I go out of my way to plan a scrambling walk? Er.....no! When I booked on the course earlier in the year it was for a number of reasons, one of them being that I thought I wanted to be this hard-core, mountaineering Joe Simpson type hill walker - no fear, no limits etc. It's taken a few moments like this to realise that I'm not these things, and I don't want to be. I'm happy to take calculated risks when need be and I'm certainly up for adventure, but I'm not going to go out of my way to add high risk 'thrills' to my walks. The thrill for me is in enjoying nature, the views and landscape and pushing myself physically and mentally but in a relaxed and fun way. Striding Edge was fine, the scramble I did with my mum and friend in Wales - brilliant. Will I be standing on Sharp Edge - don't think so.

On the second day Will had planned another Grade 1 scramble near Coniston but I knew my head and heart weren't in it - too many other things on my mind about home life and also the realisation that I'm not a hardcore mountaineer and so I opted out. I did feel like a wuss but knew I'd made the right choice as, like most things, if your head isn't in it mistakes often happen, and that's not good when scrambling. It's certainly no reflection on the course which I would highly recommend to anyone that wants to have a go at scrambling in a safe, controlled way - Will and his team are brilliant and I can't recommend them highly enough. And affordable too - only £25 for the weekend - you can't get better than that now, can you?!

Before heading home early, I enjoyed a couple of hours walking around Sweden Bridge, High Pike and Low Pike just outside of Ambleside and made the most of the rare appearance of the sun - and boy was it hot. Then headed home for what turned into another 7 hour epic drive - ho hum.

So, thanks to Will4Adventure for the experience - you can find details on this course and all others, including the very popular and unique 'Fear Of Heights' course at http://www.will4adventure.com/

This weekend I'm off for some water based fun and my best friends 40th birthday party but hope to get in a couple of evening walks and then, in a couple of weeks time, Tomcat and I are planning an adventure to the Peak District, planning our own course and practising navigation at the top of Kinder Scout. If you've been up there and have any tips, let us know!

Hope you've all had a good weekend. All for now.

Sturdy.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Summertime...and the living is easy.....so is the walking!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Show Me The Way To Go Home....

I'm tired and I want to go to bed........

What a weekend! Headed off from London on Friday night to the depths of Wales for a weekend Navigation course at Plas-Y-Brenin. My train dropped me at Llandudno Junction at 7pm and I then had to amuse myself until 9.30pm when the mini bus picks up from the station. Can't complain - it's a free service from the centre and I took the time out to call home and read through my navigation books.

Needless to say, the weather in Wales was like everywhere else - wet, windy and wild. The course began in Saturday morning with a brief intro and overview and then we donned the waterproofs - or as it turned out - not so water proofs - and headed on to the mountain where we spent 7 hours walking around learning how to match details on a map with 'real' features in the landscape. It was interesting to see how this course differed to the one I took last year on the Preseli Mountains. With this course the emphasis was on map interpretation, on the previous course the emphasis was on compass work - which I actually found more useful. Yes, if your on a mountain or hilly area then using the landscape and map can work very well, but on featureless, low lying terrain such as moors or even forest, it's the compass that is going to work best - but what do I know! Anyway, the day was spent meandering around the hillside, spotting features, finding tick marks and even an occasional game of treasure hunt. We stopped briefly for lunch and the 7 of us in the group huddled into the emergency shelter which was like a small piece of heaven when, for a few minutes, we were out of the wind and rain. This excellent piece of kit is a bit like a small tent but without a door, which just pulls over the top of those inside - a bit like a giant breathable bag. Nifty bit of kit to keep in the rucksack and they come in different sizes - made by Mountain Equipment I believe.

Windswept and soaked through we made our way back to the centre for 5pm for much needed tea and cakes before our end of day briefing - which actually turned into a planning session for the second day's route. We were given a starting reference and a finishing point and how we got there was up to us! We were shown how to work out distance and time, plan escape route, allow for uphill/downhill variants and how to look for tick marks and pointers on the way. Together we devised a 6 hour trek taking in a 805m summit.

The evening was spent enjoying a lovely 3 course dinner, followed by a lecture on winter climbing in Scotland. I once had the idea I'd like to try some winter climbing - now, strangely enough, I don't feel the same urge! Wouldn't mind walking around some snow covered glens though - but will be quite happy to look up at the mountains from below!

Sunday morning - kit had dried off - well, most of it, and off we went again. I'd bought a Garmin Gecko GPS a couple of days before so took that out with me as well just to see what it came up with. Rule number 1 - don't turn it on until you are ready to navigate! It tracked a lovely straight line for the van journey from the centre to the start point! The day looked as though it might be better as we started out hood less and in almost sunlight. Silly thought, within 20 minutes it had started to rain again and that was about our lot for the rest of the walk. The winds were stronger as well which made the rain, at times, feel like hailstones - an impromptu facial on the mountains - lovely!

All along the route we were given things to look out for, learnt how to spot changes in landscape and became quite good at matching contour lines to real physical features but, to be honest, it wasn't a fun walk. For near enough 6 hours we were on the go with only a few short breaks here and there. The other members of the group were fairly seasoned hillwalkers and all seemed to enjoy the route march approach to the day and, if I'm honest, I'd have to say I struggled to keep up, especially going down hill, and I ended up in the bog more times than I care to mention - on one occasion up to my knee. I could still laugh about it but it wasn't the best fun I'd had on a walk. If you'd ask me to describe anything about the place we walked I couldn't tell you - and that's not just because of the weather. And what didn't help was that I'd forgotten my custom insoles for my boots so by the end of the second day my feet and my ankle had ceased to communicate with me! Towards the end of the route we were all beginning to get a bit grouchy and the words, "get us off of here" were muttered more than once. Boy was I glad to get back and have a hot shower before more tea and cakes and then decamping to Betws-Y-Coed.

The weather and the dynamics of the group made it a challenging weekend for me. One of the members seemed to be on his own little mission and was forever charging ahead and on the second day we were all getting a bit fed up with trying to figure out where he was - our little mountain goat! By Sunday night I could easily have jumped on a train and headed home, but no, that would be too easy......

Monday morning and, guess what, more rain. Almost had a sense of humour failure last night when I arrived at Swallow Falls Youth Hostel to find a mistake had been made with my booking. It seems the person who took the booking, months ago, had left. I took a big breath and calmly if not a little shakily muttered "I really don't care if she's left or not, I've been on a mountain for 6 hours in the rain and wind, I'm cold and tired and I have a confirmation of booking - please sort this out!". 30 minutes later and I was in a warm, dry room - thankfully. What I hadn't realised is that Swallow Falls is 2 miles outside of the town with limited bus facilities to dinner was to be had in the adjacent pub/hotel. My mobile phone hadn't been able to pick up a signal since I had arrived on Friday night and I so wanted to be able to talk to loved ones back home that, yes, I was starting to get a little grumpy - can't you tell! Raiding pockets for all available change I tried to ring home but couldn't get through to those I wanted to reach, so at 8pm I gave up and, wait for it.....went to bed! I was knackered!!!! But I was here to get some practise in for Ben Nevis and so made the resolve to get up and get out on to Snowdon itself. I'd been warned that there was strong winds and that I may not get to the summit - but I was going to try.

I filed my walking plan with my mum and the hotel and headed off by Sherpa Bus at10am. Excellent system the Sherpa's. £4 for an all day ticket which links you from the main towns around Snowdon and, therefore, the main routes. Brilliant. I headed off from Pen-Y-Pass and took the Pyg track up. Now I'm guessing this isn't called this because of the cute four-legged creatures that may have used it - I think it's because it is a pyg of a track. The weather was O.K and for a change it wasn't raining. I even managed to get the camera out. I wasn't quite expecting the track to be as craggy as it was and found the steps up quite hard work but it was worth it as the views opened out and I looked down the lakes and the Miner's track below. As I proceed up the track the weather began to worsen and the rain came in again - surprise surprise, but I was O.K. There were a few moments when I thought about the 'what ifs' as I was walking on my own and did stop to think about those I'd left at home and how they might be feeling......

2/3rds of the way up I turned to look behind me at what had been a fantastic view to see a huge wall of greyness heading towards me. Within a couple of minutes the mist had surrounded the mountain and visibility was poor. I stopped. Pulled out the flask and took a seat. I was at the junction of the Pyg Track and the Miner's track. It was time to make a decision. I could push to the summit, about another 40 minutes walk in these conditions, and then have to race back down to get the bus, or I could turn back now. As I drank some tea and snacked on dried fruit I started to shiver - not good. My feet ached and I really did wonder what the point would be of going to the top other than to say I'd done it. What I really wanted was to be able to share that moment with someone special - one of my friends, family or loved ones that I'd left at home and so you know what - I decided not to do it. To wait for another day when I had one of my chosen chums with me, when the weather was better and when I could enjoy the moment fully. And so I chose to head down. With an elusive mobile phone signal I rang mum and told her of the change of route and peered into the fog at the steep path I had to descend. I did feel a bit feeble when a group of school kids trotted past me on their way to the top - and an American couple in jeans and trainers but then I thought - "so what, I'm actually not enjoying this and if I drop into the valley at the bottom I'll be able to see more, take some pictures and enjoy the walk - and that's what it's about" - and that's what I did. It took about 20 minutes for me to descend to the waterfall at the bottom of the steep section and then the rest of the path was easy going. The sun did make an appearance and it was quite something being able to look up at the mountain ridges where I had been walking earlier and from where I looked down on the lakes. Now I was walking beside the crystal clear (and freezing cold) water. And I enjoyed the rest of the walk back. I was out for about 4 hours and it even stopped raining long enough for me to dry off before getting the bus back. A nice day and I learnt something about myself. That I'm not the rufty tufty would-be Joe Simpson type mountaineer I thought I wanted to be. I'm just me - I love the mountains and walking and being out and about but, to be perfectly honest, I'm looking forward to another beautiful, peaceful walk around Maldon as much as I am my next trip to the mountains. It surprised me to discover this about myself. And that I was actually thinking about those I'd left at home who care about me and worry about me when I'm out - and that it's O.K if I'm not a hardened death defying climber/mountaineer type. I guess you could say that in the fog on Snowdon I saw clearly what really matters to me.....

Couldn't wait to get home on Tuesday - the thought of a hot bath and home cooked food was wonderful. What wasn't so wonderful was the £65 it cost me to get an earlier train home - but the end result was worth it - every penny. It may sound strange and to those who know me this will come as a bit of a surprise...but for the first time in a long time I actually wanted to be home......and that's something quite special :-)

My mission for this weekend was accomplished - I hve gained a greater understanding of navigation and feel confident about heading out, and I've been able to gauge how my training is coming on for Ben Nevis. It's going to be a challenging - but I'm convinced I can do it. Must remember my insoles though.......

So, a bit of a rest this weekend. I'm picking up a newer car and will be putting it through it's paces next weekend when I drive to Ambleside for a scrambling course.

All for now.

Sturdy.