CYHA News

No Smoke without Dinner

In spite of January being a particularly wet month, our weekend at Wetherdown hostel was blessed with dry and occasionally sunny weather.

The hostel itself proved a little challenging to locate. Having been well sign posted on the road, once through the front gate you were on your own (it was a big site). This resulted in the comic sight of a convoy of three cars completing a full circumnavigation of the site before locating the bright lights of the hostel and a welcoming cup of tea.

A converted ex-MOD building, the centre proved to be very comfortable, with a healthy low fat fruit & cereal breakfast included (there were a few grumbles about the lack of big greasy sausages, but no one went hungry).

Saturday saw us set out early for a hike along the ridge to Winchester Hill for superb views. On the next leg the recent wet weather gave us an aquatic challenge that really tested the goretex lining on our boots. However, with the pub being on the other side of the flood there was little doubt we would get there eventually – even if we’d had to swim. The return route was a little longer than originally intended, mostly to avoid further wading and not at all because we missed the path. So return was in the chill of twilight. Still no one stayed cold for long as Chris prepared a superb feast of sweet & sour pork – although this was not without incident as steam wafting from our simmering dinner managed to set off the smoke alarm in the lounge. Luckily there was only us staying in the hostel so we weren’t faced with strangers running naked from the shower thinking we were burning the building down.

Sunday’s walk saw us driving to Queen Elizabeth country park on a grey but pleasant day to tour the woods before racing up Butser Hill, only to find the view cruelly snatched away by descending cloud. Still we enjoyed al-fresco sandwiches in the shadow of the iron age toilets, just shy of the summit, and enjoyed a brief tour of the top before rain eventually chased us down to the welcoming arms of the tea shop.

 Ali

Greenwich in the Sunshine

There can be no story of the Greenwich walk without mentioning the challenging conditions on public transport, which meant we were an hour later than planned meeting up. Cancelled trains, bus replacements, pulled communication cords, engineering works, power failures all conspired against us. Having set out at 8:45am, we finally arrived at Greenwich at midday, with Dave and Ali having got off and walked from Canary Wharf.

Still it was a perfect day: t-shirt weather more like May than February. Greenwich park was full of families taking the air (albeit most of them eastern European). We enjoyed a lovely 6 mile walk taking in the river, the park, One Tree Hill, Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, the Observatory and a rather splendid teashop. There was a superb sunset over Canary Wharf and the Thames.

Mike & Cress rounded off the day with a spot of geo-caching, which to the uninitiated involves looking for a visitors log hidden in the landscape (or in this case under a bench) armed only with a GPS reference.

Spicy Wednesday

Thirteen of us met at the Spice in Duke Street for our Wednesday curry night. A variety of dishes from mild to hot were enjoyed. Thanks to Helen for a good idea.

Pancake Wednesday

Thanks to Jane and Gordon for opening their house to us again for our pancake evening. Everyone had a chance cook a few pancakes, some more successful than others, some more boldly tossed than others, but all ultimately edible, with a  variety of tasty fillings. And it's always fascinating to see their latest art works.

Under Cover of Darkness

Picture the quiet English countryside, high up on the South Downs. Close to the village of East Meon near Petersfield. Leydene Park, a country estate with a stately home set in acres of parkland. The surrounding area, affluent stockbroker belt. The South Downs Way national trail runs through the whole area. An idyll. Surely no signs of military activity here?

But here lies a once top secret Royal Navy shore establishment involved in covert signals interception. It was known as HMS Mercury but also referred to as the Special Communications Unit (SCU). Stark 1940s buildings laid out in a curious crescent shape, surrounded by high fences and razor wire, incongruously nestle in the picturesque countryside. It ran from 1941 and throughout the Cold War until its final decommissioning in 2001. Here, naval personnel learnt Russian and de-coded intercepted messages. This place was listed on the most recent "Sensitive Sites Register", not scrapped until 2006.

It's January 2008. A dark winter's night. A small convey of cars assemble at the gate of the former secret base. Slowly, they drive around the deserted site, inspecting the shadowy buildings. Eventually they spot a dim light in one of the buildings. They stop close by, and, by faint torchlight, begin to unload bags and crates. What's happening? Has the base been re-activated in response to a national crisis? Is this a secret operation in progress?

Well, part of the former HMS Mercury site has been redeveloped by the Earthworks Trust as the "Sustainability Centre". This includes Wetherdown Hostel, converted from a Navy accommodation block, refitted using sustainable building materials and boasting an integrated solar photovoltaic roof and a wood chip biomass boiler.  This made an excellent not-so-secret base for our weekend in January, and our not-quite-undercover expeditions on the South Downs. A good venue that I hope we'll be able to use again sometime. And now we know how to find it, we won't need to snoop around in the dark!

Dave P

Mount Sinai (Sinai Peninsula, Egypt)

On Easter Monday last year, I was one of about 2000 people who walked up the slopes of Mount Sinai to see the sun rise. After a bus trip of about two hours, we arrived at St Catherine’s Monastery to prepare for the hike.

At the appointed time, we all began our trek up the mountain. The first time that I looked at my watch, it was about 1.50am and I finally reached near the top at about 4.30am just to give you some idea of how long the walk took me to there. Most of the group that I was with got there more quickly.

It was a magical sight looking up ahead during the walk. Most people had lights of some description (most necessary actually) and these looked like moving glow worms on an upward journey!

I must admit that I thought that our group was the only group walking the mountain! Wrong! Up to 2000 people were on the mountain that night! Some chose to ride a camel up to the 700 and something steps but we were advised not to as camels can go over the edge and take their riders with them! The remains of one poor unfortunate creature was pointed out to us as we descended later on in the day. The only danger that we regularly encountered on our walk were camels coming up from behind! Some-one would shout out a warning which was the signal to move to the edge of the path while these haughty creatures complete with their resplendent riders came padding past us!

The trickiest part of the walk was to find a comfort stop without being spotted by fellow walkers or camel riders! The biggest mistake I made was to drink a cup of coffee before leaving the monastery which meant that my stop was much sooner than later!

At 4.30am, our little group reached the last 100 metres to the top. Here we were advised to take shelter in a cafe and have another cup of coffee until 5am when we would make our final assault, so to speak! This turned out to be a good idea as we were not cold and could visit a proper toilet if need be! (A tent type structure that seemed to be perched on a rock at the edge of a sheer drop!) Other members of the group who arrived earlier were on the top of the mountain for about an hour before the sun rose and were very cold indeed.

At 5am the signal was given to climb up to the very top. The only problem was that all the people who were still coming up behind us were now ahead of us and it was literally a crawl upwards! In the end, I found a large rock with a flat top to perch myself before the summit and settled there for the sunrise.

The sunrise itself was not spectacular as there were clouds around but for me, it was the biblical significance of the occasion that was special. As soon as the sun had risen, people began to leave the top for their downward descent. I stayed behind and climbed to the top to gaze around. It was a spectacular sight that greeted my eyes as the sun's rays hit the barren landscape all around, giving it a warm, golden glow.

The walk down was also most interesting as we found out what the steps and terrain looked like in the daytime. Only in occasional places did stunted bushes and other plants grow. The overwhelming landscape was barren, rocky and dusty.

 I was glad to have made the walk in the cool of the early morning as the temperatures soon rose during the day! Because I took my time during the climb, the whole excursion was a very comfortable experience indeed and I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to do it.

Margaret Gane