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North York Moors Meet Report By Andy, Rob, Tom, John and Bob The annual dinner meet, this time held in Helmsley in North Yorkshire, provided another MMC outing of walking, mountain biking, silly party games and an abnormal amount of faffing. The front of the hostel was awash with lycra and bicycle pumps... On Saturday there were probably more people mountain biking than anything else. The front of the hostel was awash with lycra and bicycle pumps as everyone fettled their machines. The faff potential was way off the scale, but eventually all tyres were pumped, saddles adjusted and chains oiled. David D, Edmund, Rob, Tom and Andy set off in the leading bunch as the peloton split into two groups on the first climb out of Helmsley. The other group consisted of Vanessa, Henry, John Bradshaw, and Jill. Despite being unsure of exactly where they went, the group had a fantastic day blasting across the moors, falling off into the heather and hurtling down hills. It was even sunny most of the time. They eventually stopped off at the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge for beer and chips, returning to the hostel at dusk. There is a web site promoting mountain biking in North Yorkshire called muddybums.org.uk. Rob Newman found this website from a web search, but we can't help but wonder what he was searching for... The non-pregnant women plodding group, comprising Caroline B, Catherine H, Andrew (sic), Sofie, Margaret and John P (we are wondering about you including yourself in this group, John - Ed) went for a "stroll", originally estimated at about 15 miles on the map. The beautiful sunny day and very pretty route with autumnal panoramas meant they made good time a nd all was going to plan until they hit a small section, about 800m, that was closed due to Foot and Mouth. Unfortunately the detour around this was about 3 miles, half in squwelchy mud! As the sun disappeared over the horizon, and they were ready for their first beer, they came across a sign - Helmsley 5 miles! A sneaky short cut reduced this to 4, and the final part of the now 18 mile route was completed in the dark (yes they had lots of head torches). A fairly long but very satisfying route and all felt they'd earned their dinner. Nicky Bone and Bob were with Lee and J (cryptic letter provided - Ed) on Saturday and went to see a waterspout (not waterfall).

Unusually, everyone was at dinner, no one was lost or in hospital (yet)... Saturday evening and the dinner. Unusually, everyone was there, no one was lost or in hospital (yet). Edmund did a fine job of presenting the Cliffhanger Award, which this year went to Steve Melvin. Steve's ***ups for the year included wrecking a hire car in the Ecrin, forgetting his harness after walking all the way up to Ben Nevis (and forcing Tom to give him his because Steve was doing all the leading), and being in Sofie's tent when her boyfriend arrived in the middle of the night. Congratultions Steve! After dinner activities back at the hostel included the now traditional "broom game" involving unlikely contortions and, err, a broom. This was followed by a somewhat more risky game involving a team of two trying to place a bottle as far from the start line as possible. This resulted in an escalating series of injuries, starting with bruised cheekbones, progressing to cuts to the forehead and eventually Henry loosing two front teeth! (Top tip: put such teeth in milk to preserve them. The A&E doctors will then put them back in, which apparently is very painful). The good news is that after complications and infections, Henry is starting to feel much better. Many thanks to Rick and Nicki who took Henry to Leeds A&E and stayed with him on Saturday night. On Sunday, after the faff involving who was coming and on whose bike, Tom, John B, Vanessa, Rob, Catherine H,and David D cycled around Rosedale (14 muddy miles). They started by cycling out to Rosedale Abbey on the eastern edge of the North York Moors to start the ride. The weather was not up to Saturday's standards, with plenty of muddy bridleways and wet rocks to negotiate. After the rough start things eased up as they headed across the valley and into the forest on the opposite ridge, heading back to the Abbey. The ride ended with a large descent on road back to C.P. (??) having covered 22km. Everyone thoroughly muddy and Dave suffering the adverse effects of hard saddles, the group left Tom waiting for Eileen and headed back to the Youth Hostel for a cleanup. The walkers were extremely quiet as to what they got up to on Sunday, so we're assuming lie-ins and tea shops. Lastly, several people completed a research questionnaire for Bob and he passes on his appreciation for that. Back to the Library