Training weekend 4: Walking in the Cheviots 20th February 2010

On 20th February we had our next training weekend. We had planned to try and camp in the Cheviots but we found the campsites were not open so we scrapped this idea and instead went with a walk, which we started early on the Sunday morning.

We met at the Rose & Thistle, Alwinton, NE65 7BQ in Northumberland, which is near the areas that were totally cut off by snow in December 2009 and January 2010.

Our walk was planned to take us up to Windy Gyle, it was described as a gentle training walk, and it turned out it was more than 16 miles.

Map of where we were heading

The group were assembled by about 8.30am and we set off into the hills. We were led by Richard our guide for the day. The start of the walk was crisp and frosty but with no snow, however, after about half an hour we were into deep snow.

Start of the walk

So deep that a Land Rover had been abandoned after slipping in to a deep gully. Apparently it had been there for a few days!

The deep snow

The Northumberland country side is really beautiful, and when covered in snow it could have been Austria, Switzerland or Sweden.

We stopped for lunch after about 4 hours walking and we were all very grateful for the break. Trudging through snow is very tough and it did feel like one of the most challenging walks we had done.

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

After lunch we headed for the summit of Windy Gyle. We got to the top and posed for team photo.

The Team Photo

Left to right: John, Richard, Emily, John, Dave, Ralph, John, Mick, Chris, Claire, Karen, Neils and Me (Aaron) in the red        

We then headed back down to the car park and home. It was a really good walk and great to have so many people there, as 12 out of our group of 19 climbers made it. There were lows and highs in the walk and we had a great time discussing what music we would and wouldn’t listen to on the mountain. The favourite seemed to be YAZZ’s The Only Way Is Up and QUEEN’s Don’t Stop Me Now.

Is this Narnia?

The journey back home was interesting with blizzard conditions on the way back to the A1 and all the way back to Newcastle. All I could think was thank goodness it had held off while we were walking.

There are now only 5 weeks to go until we head off to Tanzania for the climb. In this time we will be having some charity events, including the Evening of Magic on the 26 March 2010, an Easter quiz and a Talent Show 9 April 2010, so the question is “Do you have the K Factor?”