This Saturday the Harriers will car pool out to Weatherall creek. Please meet corner Walton & Thompson streets at 1:00pm to car pool out to Clyde with
M-Zs duty pack this week.
Last Saturday saw the Harriers head out to the Southern end of the Ida Valley , to Ida Valley station. After warm temperature’s in Alex and on the bus, a cool breeze on arrival in the Ida Valley saw members digging out that windproof layer. President Mike decided everyone should be back to the bus by 2:45pm for afternoon tea.
So it was a big group of about 43 walkers heading up the farm track ,before dropping into their groups. The W1s and W2s groups were evenly split with 19-20 people in each group.
The W3 walkers split off at a gate to follow a fence line down a valley , to come out opposite the bus. They were back on time and set up the afternoon tea tables etc. Now the W3s can tell the time , when the little hand is nearly on the 3 , and the big hand is on the 9 ,the time is quarter to three.
About 3pm a call was made to the W2s , yeah we’re nearly there , about 5 minutes away. 15 minutes later an old farmer appeared out of the hills , followed 5 minutes later by the rest of the W2s. Everything had been going well ,until the leaders had started following the map, which led them down into a dodgy gully. Maurice decided he was too old for that crap and stuck to the ridge lines.
Meantime ,the W1 walkers were also following a map, but eventually decided that the times for the suggested track were more like running times , not walking times, as they got back to the bus around 3:30pm.
So perhaps a reminder time again. Pack leaders as well as members in each group, need to keep an awareness on time and where they are. Maps are useful tools , but just like GPS , they should not be blindly followed. Keep aware of surroundings and if map shows track heading into steep looking gully , consider other possibilities.
The club has some very experienced walkers who should have some idea of where to go.(and areas to avoid).
There have been a number of outings recently where groups have been quite late getting back from the agreed time.(by an hour) Fortunately the weather has been fine whist waiting for groups to get back. Under colder conditions and unable to raise missing group, it has previously been suggested that search parties should start looking for those missing if more than half hour past agreed return time. So keep an eye on the time and if running late, try contact someone back at the bus to let them know.
This Saturday we head for Clyde and Weatherall creek and a walk along the Lake Dunstan trail. We are now into Spring time and so most farms are no longer available to us for walks, due to lambing. So we need to stick to public tracks. So meet usual place at 1pm to car pool out, Clyde residents can head straight across the bridge.
The following week will be a mystery outing to who know ‘s where . Well club captain knows but isn’t telling us. She has told bus driver ,but driver is staying mum. Hopefully by next Saturday someone will at least let slip ,what time we can catch the bus.
So hope to see you Saturday , weather mainly fine (showers possible) so possibly bring a coat / brolly , and watch out for bikers
Gary