Archive for the 'Past Events' Category

A week after the official opening of the ‘new’ St. Pancras, the group’s London weekend also took place. It was a good start, arriving into the famous blue canopied expanse – with time to admire the statue of Sir John Betjeman and Eurostar’s sleek gateway to Paris, complete with the accessible, if expensive champagne bar.

Avoiding such temptations (for the meantime) the number 17 bus takes you from the station to St. Paul’s – and seemingly within minutes – the hostel is there, just round the corner in Carter Lane. Andy, Alan, Patricia, Liz and Boh and I stored our bags and then mobile phone numbers, before venturing out on a well researched crawl of London’s best public houses in the area.

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A mass exodus, well at least half the members of Leicester Local YHA Group set off going west into the setting sun on a Friday evening. Wales is noted for its high rainfall. The weather forecast indicated that there was to be a sunny weekend with little wind but what there was would be from the cold north. One of the vehicles was carrying the kitchen sink well not really a sink but a circular washing up bowl, a nice red plastic one with a raised pattern around the side. It is known that some members pack all their wardrobe just in case it turns out to be cold; or very hot, or wet, or very wet or windy and wet. These folks are really in their element when the weekend is hot and wet, windy and cold. It is possible a first for the group to take such an item as a washing up bowl. Concern was expressed after eleven o’clock that one of our cars was missing. Kings hostel is situated in a river valley and has such has no mobile signal reception. Mick arrived at half past midnight to be greeted by Boh who directed the passengers to their respective rooms except that Stella found the dorm full and a torchlight viewing of the other girls dorm found a empty bed. One o’clock lights out.

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There is a saying that if you spend the night up Cadair Idris and live you will come down the next morning “Mad, blind or a poet.” (This is a genuine quote mentioned by the tourist board)

One can imagine the walker who fell asleep on Cadair and woke up in the dark with the full moon overhead. He or she then walked down the mountain towards Dolgellau and came into a thickly wooded valley. After a while stumbling in the dark he came across a clearing in the woods. There was a bonfire with various figures gathered around it. Then a formally dressed man with druidic looking white hair approached something on a table and drew out a knife. Thinking this was some ancient Celtic sacrificial ritual the walker rushed off into the woods in utter panic and was not found till morning………

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The Prelude

This trip kept changing before it began. It began in the Clarendon pub, after Alan helped me deliver three budgies to their Christmas retreat. Sans birds and a few pints later, we had sketched the plan – three days in the Hebrides. Were we budgie-brained? We changed the timescale to a week, then longer to take in the last May bank holiday. That week wouldn’t work because the ferry timetables are very respectful of specific dates. So we changed it to a week including two weekends, or eight Sundays, which is what it all began to feel like in the timeless spray freedom of the Outer Hebrides.

We changed everything except our minds; we would go there in one or two cars, as four or five persons, in meteorological suspense. Elusive and beautiful the trip was to be.

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Well Dave you asked for it – here goes! A different perspective on the Tanners experience. Seven intrepid explorers left Leicester in two cars – but this time one car (ours) left about 3pm and the other Chris, Sonia, Judith and Alice left considerably later, well after 5pm. Funny thing is – we still managed to meet up at the usual pub for dinner in Dorking. We were just leaving – their meals were just arriving. We debated the benefits and losses of our early start!

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Eleven of us went in 3 cars and Dave Anne and I went the cross country route from Droitwich via Leominster which is to be much recommended as an alternative to the M5/50 route. There was little traffic and the countryside was beautiful. We stopped in a US style diner on the edge of Leominster, expecting James Dean to come leaping out of the skirting but he didn’t appear (The staff’s Herefordshire accent rather spoiled the illusion.)

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Flicking through the pages of the shiny new YHA Accommodation Guide, Clyffe Pypard YH looked like a place that would appeal to our group. A 14-bed bunkhouse, interesting part of the country, attached to a pub! Three months later it was time to see if it would meet those expectations.

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Oh well, so you’ve missed another one. But, that doesn’t mean that I am going to stop putting these events on the Group Programme! It is not only because Chris and I enjoy playing our part in these gatherings, there are other reasons why Leicester Group should do its best to support this fading facet of YHA’s traditions. Read the rest of this entry »

A very few stalwart group members supported the first weekend in 2007. This time of year the weather can be cold and frosty, wet and windy with snow flurries, grey skies overhead, and early darkness. Bearing this in mind the January weekend is usually a city break. This year Bristol YH was the destination.

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Grin Low cottage is two former quarry worker’s cottages merged into one large cottage, now owned by Derbyshire County Council. The original Grin Low quarry is now a caravan park, though at this time of year the site is absent of caravans. So it was on a rain soaked windy afternoon we arrived on what was our 5th visit to Grin Low in 7 years and our 4th as a new year weekend. Read the rest of this entry »