Coope's Dozen, Saturday 9th August 2014

Although none of the wfdbwgua squad opted for the Dozen on its traditional slot of the 'Saturday before Borrowdale', it was good to hear that FSS had maintained continuity, albeit with a solo run - well done that man!

My excuse is that I was in Spain at the time, what was yours?

Moving on; in preparation for the Bega's Ultra on 30th August, I had decided to go round once more, and was pleased that both TM and YJ had already offered support, with KLM also turning out, having recently returned from France:-

We set off, only a minute or two after the planned time of 9:00, and were soon on our way to Noon Hill. We had been warned to expect showers and the forecasters were proved correct, although these were light and had disappeared completely before we reached our first halt at Hordern Stoops.

Route choices to that halt indicated that Noon Hill to the Pike is best tackled by maintaining height, but for the Pike to Two Lads it is better to use Georges Lane to Pike Cottage. The escape from Egg Hillock to Counting Hill seems best by dropping directly into the valley, heading slightly south of west and then, after the seemingly interminable uphill fight against the bracken, striking north of west when most of the height has been gained. The 'grassy shute' connecting Shaley Dingle and Counting Hill being seriously 'brackened' when last explored.

Despite the bracken, we reached, and subsequently, after retrieving and consuming our stash of provisions, left, Hordern Stoops slightly ahead of schedules established earlier in the year and set off for Old Adam's Hill. At that point KLM, our main pacemaker, strayed from the route to keep an appointment with his barber - what is it that our orienteers have with this obsession with hair removal?

Although at this stage we remained ahead of schedule, we had already experienced difficulty with the state of the undergrowth, i.e. bracken and grassy tussocks, now, for the first time, we began to feel that it was getting increasingly difficult to maintain pace. However, we reached Spitlers, Great Hill and then Round Loaf without losing too much time. Then, on selecting one of the many paths radiating from this mysterious, mound, we realised that our route was not the best and we began to lose time. We lost several minutes on our way to Healey Nab and then more on our way back to the barn. Some of this could be attributed to the effort expended earlier coping with the vegetation, but to be realistic, possibly more could be attributed to yours truly having left too much on Winter Hill, earlier in the week - sorry team.

TM skipped along quite merrily back to the barn, whilst the Bros trailed in her wake. A good, but exhausting, day out. Thank you one and all.

PS - the OSH has already booked our 2015 Mediterranean holiday, and I am pleased to report that I'm clear to do the Dozen on its due date next year!