Day 3 - Not just a bit windy......

The Great Ridge Walk, Cave Spiders, Bats and Wind.

Our group walked the Great Ridge today from Lose Hill to Mam Tor and then on to Treak Cliff Cavern. The group walked really well on a testing day where wind and temperature were the main considerations. I have always said that the best walking days in Derbyshire are those that don't have the best weather. Today's weather on the walk was as follows:

At the start the wind speed was 5.5mph and the temperature was 22. By the time we reached the top of Lose hill the wind speed was gusting at 44mph and the temperature had dropped to 15C.  Add the wind chill to that and the temperature felt more like 8C. That wind speed dropped slightly as we dropped down to Hollins Cross and the temperature rose to 17C, 9C with wind chill. On the top of Mam Tor the max gust wind speed we measured was 53mph and the wind chill temperature dropped accordingly.

But despite all of that a good time was had by all.....

In Treak Cliff Cavern, as well as looking at the Blue John stone and stalactites and stalagmites we also had a brief look at the Cave Spiders that live on the roof by the exit - really interesting.

In the evening children searched for bats using ultrasound detectors and a few were found on the site. There followed a scientific discussion about whether or not bats hunt in the rain based on the data the children had collected - there will be more "hunting" tomorrow in the predicted bad weather.

Day 2 - a bit windy......

Day 2 - A little bit of windy weather

One of the daily tasks in Derbyshire is to track the weather. Taking account of the weather when out on the hills is fundamental to staying safe and enjoying the great outdoors whatever it throws at you.  So as well as the groups taking and recording daily readings we have a raspberry pi set up to take hourly readings of air pressure, humidity and temperature.  Over the last 24 hours or so the air pressure has fallen from 1012 down to 999 and back up to 1007, which basically means a low pressure has passed over us. With that comes strong winds. Very strong winds means that climbing on Stanage Edge had to be reviewed and we changed the afternoon programme to abseiling in Millars Dale on the viaduct. Some would say this is more fun anyway.

Here are a couple of pictures from today's abseiling activity just to give you an idea:

Another highlight today was hunting for bats with bat detectors. Sadly the rain came this evening so there were very few bats to be seen around the grounds. But, we did hear some great bat sounds from their roosts. Identification is proving very difficult so we are going to try and record them tomorrow and if we do then we might be able to post a soundtrack on the blog.

Another windy day is forecast for tomorrow - we may have to change plans again.

Day 1

As is usual on the first day there is a great deal going on so there has not been much time to post.

The journey was a little sluggish in parts but we all arrived safely in time for the afternoon activities. Archery, Orienteering and Printing all went well, as did dinner. The evening walk (a beautiful still warm evening) extended into the start of the night but glowsticks and torches saw us through the darkness towards the crumble and custard awaiting our return.

Climbing and Walking tomorrow and the weather is not looking too bad but it might be a bit windy on the Great Ridge and Stanage Edge.

Here are a couple of pictures from today.......

More posts soon.

Derbyshire Autumn 2018 Blog - The adventure begins....

Welcome to the WPS Y6 Derbyshire trip blog.

The blog is an informal way of communicating between the those of us lucky enough to go on the trip and those of you who have been left behind. We hope it will give a little insight into all that is going on before and during the trip to Edale.

There will be a variety of contributors including the pupil groups (time permitting).

You may notice the odd test posting from time to time as we sort out authors and permissions.

As this is a public blog site individual children will not be posting directly.


Enjoy.