[Dirty Passion Monkey]

alrite all, having succesfully navigated the corridors of academia to higher education i am now living in S10 and looking forward to the winter. 

Does anyone know what the deal with buses is however from this sort of area out to the peak?  Am fearing that i will be 10 mins from the grit but be unable to get there on a regular basis. Any useful knowledge would be much appreiciated, especially in the form of links to bustimetables.  Alternatively, anyone with a motor wanting a partner I am free all day wed, thurs and sat each week.  Drop us a msg if u feel like it.

Cheers,
Ben.

[Johnny Brown]

You can catch a bus to The Fox house any day of the week, year round from Hunter's bar roundabout.

During summer weekends and evenings they run one to stanage via burbage bridge too, goes past (i think) student's union then hunter's bar.

Alternatively get a bus up too High Storrs where the Ringinglow leaves town (the odd one goes up all the way up to The Norfolk Arms), then hitch.

Hitching back is very easy, I don't think I've ever used the bus to get back to town.

[andy popp]

Trying walking. Seriously. I used to really enjoy walking to and from Burbage/Stanage/Froggatt etc. It adds something to the day.

[Bubba]

That must take ages though Andy? I used to regularly bike it by going up through Endcliffe/etc parks - about 45mins door to crag or something like that. No use if you want to pack a pad though.

Shame you can't really hitch from Hunter's Bar any more.

[andy popp]

Its not too bad, say back from Burbage Bridge and Passion Monkey says he has whole days; basically not having a car is no excuse for not getting to the grit if you live in S10. But my other point was serious - a bit of walking really adds to the day (and I do mean proper climbing days, not a day out walking with one token route thrown in). In fact I was only wondering the other day if people still did this. Gives a good warm up or, especially on the way home, a nice meditative wind down. And its easy from Sheff. When I lived in Stoke I regularly walked to and from the Roaches -this does take a while. And this is nothing compared to what the bogtrotters of the 20s through to 50s and even 60s did every weekend.

[Bubba]

That's some serious walking!

I think I know what you mean - I did a scramble in Wales last year that had a five mile walk in/out. The hike definitely added to the experience; like you say, an excellent warmup/comedown.

[Jim]

sorry about off topic but what was the scramble Bub's? been wanting to get some more hiking/scrambling done

[Bubba]

It was Crib Lem, in the Carneddau.

I did it on my own on a viciously windy day - you literally couldn't stand on the summit.

Great fun - the scrambling isn't hard so you don't need a rope, but the position is superb coz you're above a 300ft cliff. Take a compass for navigating back down if it's a white-out on the summit as it's quite featureless up there. Some shit pics here.

[Johnny Brown]

Genius, I like the direction this thread is taking! Proper days out, remote scrambles, bouldering is so 2001. Combine the two and go to the grinah stones...

 I've walked to the crag a couple of times, biking is maybe a better option if you want to do it regularly. Walk out, hitch back is a good combo.

Hitching from Hunter's bar - I've picked folk up a few times when its obvious they're going cragging. They're never actively hitching though, I just pull up and offer them a ride. Good for the karma...

ps that day out in the Carneddau looks quality bubbs...

[andy popp]

Its probably not really the advice passion monkey was looking for though! The climbing/walking combo (and as Johnny says, why not combine the two) just works perfectly in the Peak with the proximity of both the city and lots of different crags. Walking out from and back to the city is very different somehow from a mountain walk-in, which you have to do because the road's stopped. Contrary to Johnny, I think walking back is probably best in terms of both mental and physical effects. You get a different relationship with the landscape that's missing when you drive or probably even when you run or cycle. It kind of connects you to Peak climbing history too, this is how people (Eric Byne and that crew) used to have to use the Peak because there was nothing else. Something else I enjoyed one summer when I was a bit injured was to get the train to Edale and then take in a series of crags on the southside of Kinder

[andy popp]

Having said all this, I will shortly walk out my back door and in to the garage to go on the board!

[Johnny Brown]

Contrary to Johnny, I think walking back is probably best in terms of both mental and physical effects

I'd agree, its just practically a lot easier to do it the other way round. Reading Perrin's Whillans biography recently, I was staggered at the amount of walking they did. eg, aged 12, with just a mate in tow, Glossop to ashbourne over two days. The usual weekend day walks were between 20 and 30 miles, and when he started climbing that would include a couple of crags...

[andy popp]

Absolutely! I walked to Stoke-Buxton once via a session at the Roaches but this is peanuts. Bear in mind also Kirkus used to cycle Liverpool-Ogwen saturday afternoon (work in the morning). Walk to Cloggy next day and then cycle home Sunday evening. My most glorious failure was an attempt at Leek-Sheffield (having walked probably 3 miles round trip to sign on first) in a day. A combination of nightfall, pissing rain and the sudden appearance of a bus as I trudged past Grindleford cafe caused my resolve to crumble.

[webbo]

i once walked from alstonfield[dovedale]to stoney in the middle of the night after a drunken row got us thrown out of the hut there.not something i'd care to repeat.

[SA Chris]

Yer all soft. Come to Scotland home of the proper walk in; Lochnagar still makes me want to weep, especially in winter. Squareface took me ten times longer to approach than to actually climb, but still one of my best days out last year.

[andy popp]

I'm sure you're right Chris. But walk-ins are different, you have to do them but you choose to set off from home on foot. 'Frique free ascents from the valley floor in Cham are more equivalent (but obviously much more demanding)

[webbo]

Yer all soft. Come to Scotland home of the proper walk in; Lochnagar still makes me want to weep, especially in winter. Squareface took me ten times longer to approach than to actually climb, but still one of my best days out last year.

i've done this twice and don't remember it being much worse than stoney to froggat the day after a session in the moon.

[Jim]

there is only one clear advantage of walking to and from the crag is that you can drink as much as you like in the pub afterwards 
apart from this driving is definatley the preffered option

[soapy]

one hard winter in the 80's i'm sure john houli and his mate richie ski'd out to stanage

[fatboySlimfast]

West Cape howe(western oz) is the longest walk in Ive ever done, 3 solid hours. On a 4 wheel drive track which was frigging shut. Got there, ate something, geared up, put one foot on the rock to climb and the heavens opened and a storm rolled in that dumped 5 years worth of rain in 5 hours! Had to walk out to our camp on a beach to find drowned tents, wet food soaking clothing etc etc.
Cant say iwas to connected to the surroundings that afternoon

[andy popp]

I would have imagined that you can have rarely felt more 'connected' to a landscape than you did that day!

[nic mullin]

having spent half my life on busses to the peak from sheff, i can drop the following science upon you:

for burbage south, millstone, lawrencefield, secret garden etc get the 272 from the interchange or hunter's bar. they go pretty much every hour and well into the evening.

for rivelin and stanage end get the 273 which goes up past the uni and out along manchester road. they don't run very often or come back that late.

the 240 and 65 go out to calver for froggatt and curbar. both go via the fox house for burbage. you can use those for the limestone and some crags further south with a bit of a walk.

the 51 to lodge moor goes past bell hagg, but if you're in s10 you might as well walk. 

the 257 goes out to stanage popular, via burbage north/west and higgar, but only goes at weekends as far as i know.

you can get to most places with some walking from that lot. hitching back to town is usually pretty easy from anywhere, especially if you've got a pad or a rope visible. usually easier in the wet or dark as people will take pity on you.

after doing all that lot since i moved up here 5 years ago i have developed a viscious hatred for public transport in general and have now thrown myself into the process of learning to drive with a passion.

enjoy,

catch you on the bus...

[Dirty Passion Monkey]

Thanks all, especially nic - thats helpful.

Ben

[andy popp]

Thanks all, especially nic - thats helpful.

Ben

We did get a bit off topic didn't we.