Meetings

• Bron-y-Gader 9-11 May 2003 Deposit slip below - get it to Sarah ASAP. B-y-G is going to be quite busy, but there is space left, so get your deposit in now.
• Dent 7-8 June 2003 Dave Beardsley says: I will be camping in Dent for the weekend of the 7th and 8th June where a certain amount of walking and drinking is planned. All are welcome whether for the whole or part of the weekend or just for a walk on Saturday.
• Seathwaite Not available this year, unfortunately. Booked for 2004!
• Not a meeting, but Paul G. is entering the 3 Peaks challenge: three large mountains and far too much driving in 24 hours to raise money for Shelter. Paul's team of mad gasmen could do with an extra member. It's the weekend of 7-8 June, so contact Paul if camping in Dent seems too tame.

Hasbeens

Our Mann in Moscow

For those of you who were wondering what Steve Mann is up to, here is his latest message

As you will appreciate I have done few hills since the summer although I did some walking just after the new year with my Ukranian girlfriend (or is it ex-girlfriend? Last night Olya rang me up while Irena was here). We did four walks: The Strid, Waterfalls walk at Ingleton, Dodd Fell and Castle Crag. The last two were done under cloudless skies. We also managed to fit in an ascent of York Minster. (I'll see your York Minster and raise you the national Cathedral, Washington DC -- techie. ) I have been cross-country skiing with Olya most weekends. I have even splashed out on some cross-country skis! We also went downhill skiing a couple of weeks ago at a development to the north of Moscow. My last attempts at skiing was at that internationally renowned ski resort of Halifax. Moscow has excellent snow this year - it just lacks the alpine peaks!

It is now maslennitsa, the festival marking the end of winter (still the temperatures remain below zero) so there will only be a few weeks skiing left. I will be in the UK from the 5-19 April if anyone wants to do some hills. I am doing the London Marathon on Sunday 16th but otherwise I will be free.

"Do svidanya"

Steve

Observations from Oman

You will be glad to know that Frank is still travelling the world and writing to tell us about it. Here is the latest. He sent me more pictures, which I'll try to put on the web site -- they won't all fit here.

I short while ago I went away for the weekend (Thursday and Friday) for the first time since I've been here. We (7 of us in 2 cars) drove 3.5 hours to the NW and up steep roads (4WD stuff) before arriving on a plateau at about 2,500 metres asl, into which is cut a very deep gorge (about as deep as the Grand Canyon) and alongside which runs a narrow path near the top, from somewhere near the middle to the top end. You drop down (gently and by foot, thankfully) onto the narrow path (not wide enough for two people) and traverse along what looks like an impossible route from almost any point where you stand. You see only very steep scree and vertical free faces in front of you, leading steeply to the gorge. However, as you move forwards the path opens up before you and hardly ever feels too exposed, either by being behind boulders or above a scree that doesn't look so steep when you're above it and which hides the free face. At the end of the path (about 90 minutes steady walk) is an abandoned village. People used to live perched on a narrow ledge about 100m+ below the plateau and right at the end of the gorge, with a few terraced fields of stone, homes carved into the cliffside and water from who knows where.

Amazing: both the walk and the abandoned village. It wasn't hot. It's winter here now and even down at sea level the temperatures have become tolerable, but in the mountains it was quite fresh. Also, we were in shade much of the time.

We then camped up on the plateau for the night. The temperatures plummeted as the sun went down and a breeze sprang up. I'd been warned to bring a warm pullover, fleece etc, and i needed them, even with the bonfire we had going. It felt odd to be in the middle of the rocky desert and wrapped up with a wooly hat and scarf and thermal gloves on! Having the big cars with us meant that we had plenty of camping stuff and a good dinner with drinks and tableware, but the campsite was a bit rough - bare rock. About 2 hours after the lovely sunset the full moon came up and was so bright it cast dark shadows and removed the need for torches, even inside the tents.

We got up early, had breakfast and sped down into the market town of Nizwa (just over half way home) for the livestock market (lots of photo opportunities) and a bit of craft shop browsing. This was complicated by Ramadan, during which all catering outlets are closed during daylight hours as no-one (except children) is allowed to eat in public. I could, as a diabetic, but i don't plan on going around with a t-shirt in Arabic saying 'excuse me but I'm a diabetic and i have to eat'! I'm hoping this doesn't get awkward at any time.

So that was my first weekend out of Muscat so far... and this weekend I'll be going out for the night with Amy to the real desert, amongst the dunes in the Wahiba Sands. We'll stay in permanent huts with the Bedu (Bedouin) and do things like 'dune-bashing' and camel rides. I've never yet been on a camel. In between times I went for a 'wadi-walk', scrambling up a rocky cleft in the mountains that abound in this area. This one has a small permanent stream in it which we followed up to its source before having lunch and heading back down again, about 3 hours in all. So, things are getting a little more interesting.

Deposit Slip for Bron-y-Gader

Please return the slip below to Paul and Sarah Gardiner, together with your deposit ASAP, if you want to go to Bron-y-Gader

I wish to attend Bron-y-Gader 9-11 May 2003

Name(s)....................................................

I enclose a deposit of £10 per person.

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