Mountain Section

The Mountain Section is open to all members of Reading Rambling Club who like longer or more strenuous walks with a difference.

Past trips have included the Lake District , the Yorkshire Dales, the North Yorkshire Moors, the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, Exmoor, the Peak District and the Cambrian Mountains.

We also organise occasional holidays, for example, spending a week in self-catering cottages in Ambleside. On another occasion, a small group escaped the English winter to explore the beautiful and rugged Anaga region of Tenerife.

So, if you enjoy hill, mountain or coastal path walking, good company and fun along the way, then why not consider joining us.

Great Dummacks! That was a damn fine weekend

Mountain Section trip to the Howgills and Eastern Lakes, July 2-6

DRIVING into the Bull Hotel’s car park in Sedbergh was like threading the proverbial camel through the eye of a needle. Get in reverse gear, mount the pavement, pull in the wing mirrors, take a sharp intake of breath and inch your car forward between two forbidding stone walls – then pray.

If initiative test No 1 brought beads of sweat to the brow, so did the second one - a sheer uphill climb in true Tony Harrison tradition to the top of Great Dummacks in sweltering heat. Nevertheless our four newcomers – Alex Heap, Dave Sayer and Keith & Ann Bagot – more than proved they were up for it.

You could not have had a greater contrast on Day Two as, once we’d reached the foot of Cautley Spout, the heavens opened, making the ascent to The Calf little more than a token gesture in the mist and rain before we beat a hasty retreat to the hotel in time to watch Andy Murray sadly succumb to Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.

Initiative test No 3 came at mealtime. The soup arrived in tureens – one for each person who’d ordered it – and when it came to potatoes, you got the lot to choose from – chipped, mashed and boiled. One of my main courses comprised a grilled trout the size of a small whale so it was clear we weren’t going to go hungry on this trip!

Saturday brought a change of scene as we drove over to Haweswater, climbed the ridge to High Street before circling round to Harter Fell with fine views of Windermere and the distant Fylde coast along the way. Having worked up a good thirst, we stopped for tea at the Haweswater Hotel on the way back and were joined by an unexpected but welcome guest: a red squirrel feasting on peanuts on a nearby bird-table.

On Sunday we headed east to Wild Boar Fell, with fuel economy uppermost in my mind as there was next to no gas in the tank and all the petrol stations were closed! There was enough energy in our own tanks, however, to make a steady climb - spotting a couple of golden plovers en route - to an escarpment from which several giants had earlier appeared to be looking down on us. These turned out to be a series of carefully constructed cairns.

After more excellent views over a patchwork of lowlands, the only way was down past a farm, over the Settle & Carlisle railway line and along a little-walked bridleway to a tumbling waterfall. No sooner had we witnessed the torrents cascading down than the sky did likewise and we were soaked in seconds. Pity as we were just 10 minutes away from where the cars were parked. Rain threatened again on Monday, so we decided to quit while we were winning and headed home.

Steve Thomson

Two Welsh virgins on the hills...

Mountain Section trip to The Berwyns, October 17-19

Our first Mountain Section weekend back to our country of origin proved to be a real success on so many fronts, good weather, great scenery, fantastic value hotel, excellent organisation, steep ascents, wonderful descents and above all a friendly bunch of fellow walkers.

This year's autumn trip was based in Corwen (about six miles west of Llangollen) with good access to the Berwyns. Accommodation provided by a really well-equipped small hotel that ticked all the essential boxes other than the number of "smileys" from the front of house manager. Big rooms, even bigger beds and an "all options" breakfast. Where else can you get dinner, bed and breakfast of this quality for just £41 per person per night including gratuity and of course the walking guides come free. We wish we could ask Lynda to organise all our holidays?

The Saturday afternoon walk was led by John Ledger, (have you seen anybody walk so upright up a 1 in 5 hill - how does he do it?) - a four hour, 14km and 480metres total ascent/descent up to Liberty Hall via some grouse butts and a gradual descent through Cynwyd forest and the banks of the River Dee just in time for a soaking bath and our first gin and tonic before the excellent evening meal.

Tom Harrison, that well-known retiring member whilst still suffering from the after effects of a flu jab elected to be a non-starter for Sunday and stay in his room practising the pronunciation of Welsh place names and adding even more to his encyclopaedia of non-essential knowledge. This was the big one, led by Alex (he of the really big one - I mean of course his rucksack - what does he really keep in there, enough clothing for all his annual holidays?) This was a full day walk of 20kms and 920metres ascent/descent that took in an unnamed peak with a view of Cadair Idris, the Rhinogs and even a distant Snowdon, a memorial stone (just right for lunch) and then the pull up to Cadair Bronwen and even further to Cadair Berwyn before starting the descent. Buddig (my wife, not another mountain peak) had to create a diversionary asthma attack to get us the necessary approval for she and I to take an early route home (miss out at least one of the peaks) and get back to the pub for the footie results! A couple of pints later the bedraggled lot arrived with a whiff of a bog all around them.

Monday morning would be led by Bob "the worrier" Bettridge, concerned that he was asking too much of his weary colleagues, took some advice from John and shortened the event, just slightly. In the event we were served a fabulous dessert, 9km and 530 metres ascent up to three peaks that constitute Llantysilio Mountain. At the high peak of 577metres we were served a magnificent view of Llangollen and four other valleys, but also directly over the famous Horseshoe Pass some 240 metes below. Lunch was a comfortable bed of heather, bilberries and softest moss. Steve Brown carefully slicing his Camembert to make a fabulous cheese roll was a sight to behold - why hadn't I kept some red wine from the previous night?

Sunday evening was the AGM - where we gained some insight to the history of the Mountain Section and the variety of locations already visited. Plans for 2010 and even 2011 were keenly debated and votes counted for Snowdonia, Isle of Man, Shropshire, Exmoor, but regrettably Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland and Torquay failed to get the necessary backing. They never quite understood the quaint voting system - based on the recent Afghanistan experience - one, two or three votes per person!!

My big surprise was how well we walked as a group at a pace that was comfortable to all. Easy conversation could be had with anyone and a question always got a positive response other than
"Colin, wait for me...." as two joggers ran down the scree slope!

Vyv and Buddig James

See the Walks Programmes for forthcoming Mountain Section weekend trips.