F O O T N O T E S Issue 73 News from Ramblers City of Birmingham Group Merry Christmas & a happy new year to all! Issue No. 73 Winter 2013 Editor David Sutton Contact: 194 Station Road Kings Heath Birmingham B14 7TE 0121 444 6188 Email: david.sutton986 @btinternet.com Inside this issue: Recce disaster! 3 Web news 5 Programme news 6 Muddy Meanderings By David Sutton ell, another W year is nearly over and as I write this editorial, we are looking forward to our group AGM in November. This will have come and gone by the time you read this and the new (and not so new!) committee members will have been sworn-in! The AGM is a time for many of our members to get together and socialise, plus we get to see how the past year panned out. In the case of Birmingham, much has not changed. I imagine we are one of the busiest local groups. Yet even with 500-plus members, there has been a decline in the take-up of some of our activities. The numbers attending the Sunday coach rambles have declined 1
Footnotes since 2012 when we had a pretty dismal year on the weather front especially the lack of any summer to speak of. The days when coach overflows were frequent seem to have long gone. Yet the Sunday walking programme has continued to be as varied as ever, and offering three levels of walk every week. I hope we can encourage more of you to come out more often on a Sunday? After all, a day out in the country with other walkers, for a tenner it s a bargain! But as the Venerable Idiom says, Use it or lose it! More positively our Wednesday and Saturday walks continue to be well supported, numbers keeping buoyed up. Our YHA weekends showed strong support as ever, as did the group annual dinner. Yet for this year s Lake District foray numbers were down, as was the Ridges and Tops attendances. Overall, it demonstrates a mixed picture, but we hope that 2014 will bring up the numbers in those areas of concern! eaders will, I hope, have noticed that this issue s piece The R recce that became a disaster, by Ken Waugh, is one of a number of thematic pieces by him. His previous humorous outings in Footnotes have been, Hadrian s Wall and the unexpected (issue 62), Scotland and more of the unexpected (issue 69), Abandoned on a group walk how unexpected! (issue 71) and Previously abandoned and now deserted! (issue 72). I do hope you ve been enjoying these. Of course, I always welcome new contributions of essays, poems, anecdotes and so on - the editorial cupboard is looking a little bare and I would appreciate contributions for future issues. You can contact me using my address, phone or email, shown on the cover page. 2
Issue 73 The recce that became a disaster By Ken Waugh O n the 11th December I set out to make my second and, hopefully, the final route check of the Breedon on the Hill walk scheduled for January. It was sunny and the earlier snow had vanished, providing the prospect of a good day out. I picked up my friend, Ted, from Walmley and after parking, we set out for Melbourne. Here things began to go adrift. The main visual aspect on the walk had vanished as Melbourne Hall was obscured by canvas and scaffolding. From hindsight, the best of the day had terminated and would increasingly deteriorate. We encountered the worst type of mud which slowed progress. We both had coughs and any slight ascent incurred laboured breathing. Also, and with fading light, I had to curtail the walk. As we returned to my car I knew that the planned route required revision. On returning to Walmley and in the dark, I asked Ted to guide me round the dreaded Dunstan Island. I duly followed his instruction to follow that vehicle and instead of exiting onto the Sutton Road we were now on the M6 and heading north or south - I wasn t sure! Breathing problems? There was more blue air in the car than oxygen! Where could I exit and then get back on track? The sign to Birmingham NE and Central appeared, which only produced more angst for me, with possibly bigger problems than Dunstan. Then the A452 sign appeared and my navigator indicated exiting here. I presumed he knew where we were, as I didn t. Then total disaster as we very suddenly halted in the outside lane of the exit ascent slipway. I 3
Footnotes was lucky that I wasn t crunched from behind. Red lights showed on the dashboard which must have previously appeared but went unnoticed due to the other issues. On contacting my Rescue Service supplier I was unable to provide my location other than to mention the road numbers as above but added that I was near Sutton Coldfield (which I wasn t). When asked to spell Sutton Coldfield I could only think I d jumped from the mud into something worse! Was I dealing with an Indian call centre? Fortunately, and how, a Highways Agency vehicle came along and, diagnosing a serious problem, towed me a short distance onto a green verge and gave the rescue service my location. A transporter vehicle eventually arrived and uploaded my car before dropping Ted off near Pype Hayes Park, where he caught a bus, and I and the car were unloaded at home at 8.00 pm. What a day, should I remember it as 10/11/12? The engine etc replacement costs I considered too much for my twelve year old car and a replacement has been obtained and providing more challenges in dealing with the more advanced technology. Regarding Joan Bamber s splendid walk, she had, by coincidence, gone out the day after me and encountered the same problems requiring route revision. Her further recce provided the answers and, for my route on the day, some unreccied stretches from which I briefly misled the party. On the day all went well apart the steady rain during the final hour and no mud issues other than the final field. Breedon on the Hill will be long remembered by me - for the good and bad. 4
Issue 73 Web news By David Sutton hope all our webenabled members will have checked out our new website? Earlier in the summer, Peter Manchester took over as our webmaster and has made great changes to the Birmingham Group s site. From the home page you can quickly find details about our upcoming walks and social programme. In addition you can join the Facebook group or follow us on Twitter if you use social media. ou might also not be aware that I have been posting our walks Y information on the national Ramblers website s Walks Finder. From the site walkers can perform a simple text based search, search using an interactive map or a text based search using an old style map. The data that I ve been posting includes full details about each of the walks and it is hoped that this will encourage more walkers to join our members on our activities. Web links: Birmingham Group: http://www.birminghamramblers.org.uk Ramblers UK Walks Finder: http://www.ramblers.co.uk/walksfinder/search.php I 5
Footnotes Programme News O ur January-June programme will be included in the mailing with this issue of Footnotes. A cursory glance and you may not notice, but the group have introduced short evening walks in the Summer. There are two scheduled for this programme and two due in the July-December programme. First up is at Woodgate Valley Country Park, a four mile circular walk on Wednesday 28th May, led by Libby Hunt. Then on Wednesday 25th June we have another 4 mile circular starting from Sarehole Mill, this led by Sandra Sutton. Further details may be found in the programme pages. Also worth mentioning are our long distance footpath walks on our Sunday coach rambles. The Centenary Way walks are already well underway, and legs 4 to 6 are in the programme, as are the The Rutland Round walks 5, 6 and 7. Two of our early Sunday and Wednesday walks in 2014 are accessible by public transport. See The Green Man Trail on Sunday 5th January, (Sunday walks are usually by coach anyway, but this one is different!), and Bob s Urban Walk Revived, on Wednesday 8th January. And do try to support our Sunday coach rambles! CONTRIBUTE TO FOOTNOTES! Your articles, letters, photographs and anecdotes are welcome. Write to the editor, David Sutton at 194 Station Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7TE. Email: david.sutton986@btinternet.com Phone 0121 444 6188 6
Issue 73 Sign up for the E-Newsletter... The Birmingham Group s email Newsletter is a popular way to stay in touch. We already have over 100 members who regularly receive news and reminders about forthcoming social events, walk changes and information, and other items of interest to group members direct to their inbox. To sign-up, simply email the editor: david.sutton986@btinternet.com and we will add you to the circulation PS. Your email address will remain private and will not be divulged to other members Please Note: Any discounts shown in this publication are wholly at the discretion of the retailer and are not an entitlement to Ramblers members. The Ramblers Association is a registered charity (England & Wales no 1093577, Scotland no SC039799) and a company limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales (no 4458492). Registered office: 2nd floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW 7