Kettleshulme

Members Present: Len Stubbs, Iain McCallum, Sabina Cosulich, Duncan Lee, John Dobson, Dave Wylie, Sue Brooke, Chris Williamson, Mark Garrod, Michelle Harvie, Margaret Baldock, Lester Payne, Pete Walker, Dave Dillon, Lorna Marsland, Eric Hallam, Brian Taylor, Roger Dyke, Andy Croughton, Chris Thickett, Linda Crossley, Bob Anderson, Alan Jones, Phil Ramsbottom

Guests: Cathy Gordon, Mark Gledhill, Mike Graves, Christine Jones

Apologies: Ken Beetham

Twas a cool day with a touch of snow on the ground as we climbed from Lens up to Bowstones , the views back down to Whaley Bridge were wonderful with a touch of cloud hanging in the valley (of course this may have been steam rising from Duncan and Sab who set off half an hour behind the main group, with an extra mile and a half to cover and still managed to catch up). Were they fast or were the rest of us slow?

This year in an attempt to add a little variety to the route, we set off towards White Nancy which we reached by simply following the Gritstone Trail from Bowstones (Bowden would have been pleased). Just before we started the last climb to the top Duncan and Sab came into view, he was striding out purposefully whilst Sabs legs were blurred as she was forced to run to keep up - fell race organisers please note!!!!

From White Nancy we dropped down to the Rising Sun at Rainow where Mark was delegated to 'Remove Muddy Boots Before Entering' the landlord obviously didn't know us as he had no objection to us using his picnic tables to eat lunch on.

After lunch we followed a track up to Lamaload dam before climbing over to Jenkins Chapel from where we followed the valley back to Lens.

The previous night it had been the old peoples Pantomime in Kettleshulme and Len had mentioned that some of his friends were walking to White Nancy tomorrow. The general view was that we wouldn't get back in a day. Len explained that it was an experienced party and that some of them had climbed all over the world. To which the reply was 'Ah yes but have they climbed White Nancy before ?'

Lens Bungalow soon got nicely warmed up as the tea and soup flowed and the chat began in earnest.

Thanks are once again due to Ethyl and Eric for organising the catering and of course to Len for squeezing us all in.