Friday 15th November - having made a special effort to leave Cambridge early (3:00 pm ish), Candy and I promptly got stuck in the marvellous "A1 road improvement scheme" near Huntingdon and arrived gasping for a pint in the Britons Protection in Manchester some five and a half hours later. People were already present for the AGM, though I got the distinct impression that most people were there for a) beer, b) more beer and c) Steve Openshaw's slide show on his exploits in Laos. The AGM rolled its merry way through and I acquired another hat in the process - I'm now Meets Secretary - although I've not met anything yet. Ray was voted into a new post - Socials Secretary - lets hope he can organise the proverbial piss up in a brewery sometime. Steve's slide show went well, it was similar to the one at the conference, albeit tailored for the more gentile MUSS audience.
Was well attended by Ray, Wendy and Dave McLean. For Dave, better known in hang gliding and climbing circles, this was his first SRT trip and under Ray and Wendy's expert guidance no disasters happend and in fact they seemed to have a reasonably efficient trip.
Keith is on a mission to complete the Three Peaks walk before he's too old, and to this end Grovel kept him company through gale force winds, fog, rain, bogs, more rain, mist..... you know - the usual Dales weather. They completed a full third of the course - up and down Penyghent in a mere 4 days 23 hrs 45 mins and 2 seconds - a new record!
I was out on me hols with some mates in early December in Majorca (Mallorca if you live anywhere else in the world). If you've never been there, then GO, we had a smashing time despite the rain and got lots of caving and walking in, and even had time for some beer. We had intended to do the classic Sa Fosca gorge which was completely dry on the 1st day but 2 days later, following some unusually (for Majorca) violent thunderstorms it was a 30 foot wide SERIOUS foaming torrent. On the second to last day we were surprised to meet J.J. (of Dalesbridge centre fame) a-walking down a track to a cave we were on our way to - small world - huh!!
A few hints though: Go in the winter - there are good cheap deals (except perhaps around the Christmas week), it might rain a bit but it's warm rain. Also I suspect the island is too hot and too full during the summer season.
Try to avoid the concrete and neon nightmare of Palma and associated resorts (unless that's what you're looking for) it's worth the extra money to stay elsewhere (Pollenca / Alcudia are much nicer) particularly if you're intending an active holiday in the mountains.
If you're going caving don't bother with furrys and oversuits, you'll get far too warm, get some info in advance as to where the caves are - most of them aren't easy to find without prior knowledge and a map. Call me (Sam) if you want to know where to get said info.
Steve and Candy have announced their impending knotedness whilst on 21st December John and Linda Bown had a 50% increase in their family unit. Emily was 7lb 9oz and has a set of lungs that'll even wake John up after a mustard and pepper sandwich session. Congratulations from MUSS.
Sam Lieberman, The Twenties, Twentypence Road, Wilburton, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB6 3RN
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