Milton Keynes Mountaineering Club

Wye Valley Trip: 26th – 28th July 2013
Organiser : Kent Perrin Email: kent@ mkmountaineering.org
VENUE : Beeches Farm Campsite, Miss Graces Lane, Chepstow, NP16 7JR

Beeches Farm offer tent pitches, hot showers and toilet facilities, washing up points, and a small on site shop. The site is around 5 miles from the town of Chepstow which has a 24 hour supermarket (and a hospital) for all your needs. The campsite is a short drive or brisk walk to the nearest pub which has good hearty food and a nice selection of local real ales.Camp fees are a meagre £6 per person per night, payment is due on arrival. Please book directly with the Beeches quoting that you would like to be near the pitch that Kent Perrin have booked.

Walking: Dappled wooded glades, eyestretching views, ancient ruins of Tintern Abbey, Chepstow Castle, towering cliffs and gentle river meadows all hold the key to the lure of the uniquely special Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Climbing: Limestone trad and sport climbing for all abilities can be found along the valley with hundreds of routes to choose from.

Transport
Please confirm with the trip organiser whether you can drive or need a lift, details will be confirmed closer to the trip date.
http://www.beechesfarmcampsite.co.uk/

Our destination was the R. O. Downes Memorial Hut, nestling at the foot of Froggatt Edge. Seven MKMC members were booked on the trip. The first to arrive on Friday morning were Mac and Ian, and having bagged their bunks they headed up to the crag. Shortly afterwards Dan and Alan arrived and they followed suit up to the crag. The Edge was generally damp, with snow drifts resting against the base of some of the climbs.  A few easy routes were climbed before heading back to the hut. In the evening Ant and Lorraine arrived.

Saturday dawned promising warm and calm weather, and the final member of our party, Richard, arrived. Climbing Club members, also staying at the hut, had recommended Rivelin, being both sheltered and dry, so that’s where we headed. It was a lovely morning, but by mid-afternoon the weather became colder and more unsettled. By 4:00 pm the rain had set in to a steady drizzle and the group retreated to Hathersage, along with 100’s of other climbers.

Sunday, and Mac made an early start back to MK. The rain had abated, only to be replaced with very strong winds. Ant and Lorraine decided to climb at Horseshoe Quarry as they thought it would be sheltered and the rest of the party decided to give Froggatt another try. Once on the edge the power of the wind was even greater than anticipated, and we battled on to Curbar to check out the climbing there before returning to Froggatt to do a couple of easy routes.

For most of us this was our first trip this year climbing real rock. MKMC members attending: Alan (organiser), Dan, Ian, Mac, Ant, Lorraine and Richard.

For the MKMC May Meet the club will be staying in Malham – Bank Holiday 24-27 May

Club Trip:    Yorkshire Malham    May 24-27 2013 (BANK HOLIDAY)

For the MKMC May Meet the club will be staying in Malham, an area which Rockfax describes as having “the  finest limestone crag in the country”. If you’d rather be walking or running or cycling, you will have plenty of options there too.