Friday

Well for most, Friday was just the usual late night drive. Barry and Rhian, having arrived on Thursday, had a good 7 mile walk round Malham. John Pattison & Caroline were the only others to arrive early enough for a pub crawl.

Saturday

Most of the club were up bright and early, but the morning’s main activities were chatting and catching up. I guess some of the more mature members hadn’t seen each other for quite a while so that’s fair enough. We younger folk were short of excuses beyond “it’s been a hard week.”

Barry and Rhian in need of a rest continued the lounging all day whilst members of the growing Marylebone Mountain Biking Club (Mark K, Andy, Steve and Nick) endured a “tough 30 mile ride”. I can’t begin to imagine how fit these guys are. Apparently, it was good quality cycling with rideable ascents and fast, technical descents, plus the usual quota of navigational faffing and mechanical breakdowns.

Mark W and myself headed up to the local crag, Rylstone. After sweating our way up the hill, past the “no entry, we’ll shoot you” sign, we managed to complete about five routes from Severe up to E1, mixing the pleasant slabs with a few slimy cracks. Fortunately we saw no sign of the grouse, or the lead, flying around the moor top.

The family folk (JB, Catherine, Sam, Tom, Eileen, Neave, Dave Collier, Jude, Ewan, Erin) had a closer encounter with the gentry. Trespassing across a few fields on route to Rylstone, they were turned back by a tweed-bearing gunman. Honourable in defeat, they made for the Tea Shop.

John Pattison, Caroline and Sarah headed off for some serious walking, coving 21km around the Malham Cove area with spectacular scenery and some interesting walking and scrambling.

The remaining climbing folk – AG, Rob and Wendy headed to Eastby crags. I don’t know what they got up to apart from “pissing about” apparently.

Sunday

More cyclists were out and about, with both Rob and AG breaking in their new bikes along with John Hillary on a rough circuit of Barden Moor.

Two other Johns – Pattison and Bradshaw - marked a return to climbing with a trip to Attermire Scar. They met up with Wendy, Andy E, Rick, Nicki, Chuck, Steve in time for lunch but eventually ran out of excuses and climbed a couple of V Diffs to get back into the swing of things before facing up to Zig-Zag (S). Here JB temporarily met his match and took his first lead fall in 14 years of climbing. The fix of adrenaline seems to have done the trick and he went straight back up to complete the route. Meanwhile, the others all completed various HVSs and VSs whilst enjoying the fantastic weather and terrific views.

Marks W and K also headed for Attermire Scar, somehow failing to meet up with the rest of the club there. After roaming the base of the crag, they completed four climbs in the VS area.

Walkers all seemed to split up into groups, with Barry and Rhian, fresh from a day off on Saturday – covering about seven miles around Burnsall. I went off on my own to be at one with nature etc etc and walked the ridge to Rylstone, surprising understandably high-strung grouse as I went. Sarah, and the Thrings were the last back I think, having covered impressive distances.

For those with the supplies, Sunday night was cookout time – the first big Meet meal the club has had for a while and enjoyed by all. My huge thanks again to Steve for trusting me with his car so Steiner AG and I could go in search of a pub.

Monday

As the Meet wound down, a few folk were off for leisurely days - Sarah, Barry and Rhian to Skipton Castle and associated tea shops whilst JB, Catherine & Sam headed to York for a family get-together.

A few climbers finally made it to Brimham Rocks, an amazing place with maze-like rock formations and hoards of tourists. The two combined make it all a bit disorientating as all us solitary climbing types become performance artists. Rob, Wendy and me took our time over an excellent VS and a bit of bouldering. AG, well, kid in a candy store of course. Nick, Steiner, Mark W and Andy were all there too, mixing with the crowds.

The rest of the climbers made for Rylstone. John Pattison and Caroline climbing the excellent slabs President’s Slab (V Diff) and Dental Slab (S).

Niki, Rick and Steve were also at Rylstone, where Steve picked up a prime nomination for this years f*** wit award, leaving his wallet on the bonnet of Niki’s car, only to be discovered as she headed off down the road at 50mph.

Mark K took to his bike again – riding round the Rylstone area.

So, a very successful Meet, and most importantly we all returned safe and sound. I know the loss of Marvin was close to everyone over this weekend, whether when climbing, or round the campsite, or in the pub. I’m sure we will all continue to feel that long into the future, but for me at least, there was some comfort in being together and doing what Marvin loved to do.

Matt