Devils Claw Wild Flower

Each summer I get a couple of these Devils Claw Wild Flowers. They are more common in other areas of the Southwest states than here, so I try to keep some of the seeds to replant. This is the leaves and blossom on one.

Highway Sights

These are sights seen going down the highway on the way home after being on Mt. Tayler for the day. Some are blurry as they were taken from the pickup truck window as we were going about 70 mph. Some of the lava rock beds that are near the highway. Good for another days outing. Again there were lots of big trucks on the road. There was a cute little church on a hill of a village that I would really like to check out some day. The Sandia mountains hiding Albuquerque as we came in from the west. And last a truck that said England on it. Was it lost? If so it was a long ways from the country. An ocean away.

The RAB Xenon jacket

Because I like and use the Atom LT so much and the Mtn Hardware Compressor before it I am always on the look out for first rate lightly insulated (60g) climbing jackets.



The Xenon first came to my attention and a few of my pals a couple of seasons ago. I was pretty stoked...right up till I had a chance to try one on and found the side pockets had no zippers. What was RAB thinking on that one? I actually discussed that with one of the RAB reps earlier this fall. I just figured someone made a huge mistake on that order to China.



But nope no zippers was intentional first time around to save weight. Clearly stopped me and a couple of my friends from buying the Xenon though.



This year the Xenon does have zippers on the pockets, thankfully. Makes them so they don't fill up with snow and you can actually store something in them with no worry of loosing what ever that happens to be.



The RAB party line:



"The Xenon Jacket is a super lightweight synthetic insulated jacket with a very light outer fabric.





The Xenon Synthetic insulated jacket is the culmination of several years hard work with fabric and synthetic insulation suppliers. We have taken Primaloft® synthetic fill and wrapped it up in the lightest Pertex® Quantum® GL 10 Denier fabric that is currently available.



You get a full length garment with a full length YKK zip, 2 hand warmer pockets and a chest pocket and all for just 340g/12oz!!! The whole jacket packs into its own chest pocket and is ideal as a superlight belay or over layer jacket, to be carried in a pack or clipped to a harness.



Ideal for Alpine Climbing, Mountain Marathon,Mountain Walking, Trek and travel and any fast and light activities. What more could you want?"



Sizes: S - XXL



Weight: 330g / 12oz



◦Pertex® Quantum® GL 10D ultra light rip stop nylon outer and lining



◦Light 60g Primaloft® One in body, sleeves and hood

◦Lycra bound hood fits snugly under a helmet.

◦1-way YKK front zip with internal insulated zip baffle and chin guard

◦2 YKK zipped hand warmer pockets and 1 YKK zipped chest pocket

◦Double exit hem drawcord

◦Packs away into chest pocket

◦Short cut





I am obviously not doing any climbing right now. But I am using the Xenon almost every day. I really like this jacket. One of my projects has been to figure out where in my climbing clothing system I can use this one.



It would be a LOT easier if the hood fit over a helmet. It doesn't. Typically that would "kill" any climbing jacket for my ow use. But the new Xenon(with pocket zips) is good enough that I have been looking for places to use this jacket. Here are the reasons I want to use this jacket. First off the materials used, Primaloft One and Pertex® Quantum® make it a lwt package that is hard to ignore. The nice detailing,zipper baffle, corner zipper reinforcements,andthe fleecechin guard you notice. Even the hood has a slick little retaining strap for when it is not in use. The XL size is more like a comfy US large than a XL and it actually fits me very well after the chemo diet. It might be the only jacket in the house that does come to think about it!






If I am not using the hood I don' want it full of snow...the hood retainer strap is a nice detail.








The Xenon tucked into it's own chest pocket with a loop for clipping it to your harness. My XL (call it a roomy US large) weighs in at full 11.8OZ! For once the "stuff" pocket is over size for the jacket and easily goes into this one. The jacket would gointo a smaller (more durable)stuff sack if the bulk is a concern on the harness. Though you are on your own for that.




I may not get the winter use I had planned for the Xenon without a hood that will go over my helmet. But this will certainly be the jacket I throw in the pack for the rest of the year as required. Yep, at under 12oz. I like it, a lot. Really, who actually gives an honest garment weight these days..BRAVO, on that oneRAB!




I like it enough that if they made the hoodbig enough togo over a helmet and kept the zippers onthe side pockets I'd buy one of those too :) After all how much weight is a bigger hood really going to add?



Here is a buying tip....if you find this jacket on sale via the Internet...make sure the version you are getting has the side pocketzips if you require them.

Cycling Up an Appetite: Women and Food

When I was in graduate school, a friend was conducting a research study that involved interviewing female students with and without eating disorders. This proved to be more difficult than she anticipated. Of the young women she'd recruited though a randomised process, all but one showed signs of disordered eating: She did not have a sufficient control group. So she dismissed her initial participant pool and tried again, only to get a similar result. Eventually this caused her to change the direction of the investigation: Her inability to recruit a group of university women with no history of eating disorders in itself became the theme of her research.



Looking back at this 10 years later, I don't think that she or I would have qualified for the control group of that study either. While neither anorexic nor bulimic, our eating was not what I would now consider normal. We were hyper-aware of our calorie intake.We knew our precise weights.We paid attention to the times of day we ate. After a meal, we would keep a mental note of the amount of exercise we'd have to do to compensate for it. The truth is, eating at that age for many of us was an inherently conflicted experience, the effect of food on our bodies ever-present in the backs of our minds. We were not fashion models and we were not athletes; we were university students. For most of us, it was not about our looks but about maintaining control in a competitive and stressful environment.



It was also a matter of having lostour natural appetite regulation mechanisms. We counted calories because we genuinely had no idea when we were truly hungry and when we were not. Our hunger and satiation signals were so out of whack with reality that we no longer trusted them.At age 12, feeling hungry simply meant I needed to eat something. But by age 22, this connection had become severed. There was nervous hunger, cravings for comfort food during all the endless studying, emotional eating. Lack of appropriate satiation signals could lead to overeating unless we were vigilant. And so we were, and it made us miserable.



How did this become the norm for so many women? Most likely it began with dieting during our teenage years and spiraled from there. We did not see it as abnormal, because we were neither puking up food nor outright starving ourselves. We were simply "eating healthy," watching our weight, making sure we maintained whatever clothing size we saw as being appropriate for our body types. But in truth we were suffering, and did not know how to put an end to it. In retrospect, I cannot believe how normalised this was in my generation of university women. Most of my female friends, acquaintances and colleagues had these issues and hid them with various degrees of success. Countless male friends have told me that they've never had a girlfriend who was not "weird" about food.



I cannot pinpoint exactly when things began to turn around for me. Possibly it was moving to a large city in my late 20s where I was suddenly doing lots of walking - not for exercise, but as a natural part of living and getting around. But riding a bike was what really accelerated the process of getting my appetite instincts back on track, so the connection is a strong one for me. Experiencing my body as a useful machine and not just as a bothersome appendage to my brain was what really did it. Through cycling I began to think of food as fuel. If I wanted to ride, I had to eat. And at age 30, for the first time in what must have been 15 years, I was once again able to eat when hungry and stop when full, just like I did when I was a child.



Since I began writing this blog, I have spoken with many, many women cyclists who describe similar experiences. Regaining trust in their hunger and satiation instincts for the first time since their pre-teens has been a gift more dear than they can express. And while cycling is not the only way to achieve this, it is certainly a great way, both fun and practical. Here's to all the women out there, cycling up an appetite.

Wild Lupine

Here is a close up of the wild lupine flowers that bloom in the mountains.

Scritch scratch

Another recent game cam pic. After looking through some of the older game camera photos, I realized that we've had the camera in almost this exact location before.

I'm not sure why it surprised me, when I first realized it... Animals like to walk on clear, open paths just as much as people do.

I suppose I vaguely imagined some sort of I'm an animal! I walk in the woods! philosphy. But no. If we built an asphalt highway through those trees, the animals would be walking on it.

I'm “Home” for the Holidays...

Greetings from Louisiana! I've made it safely to my destination and will be here through Christmas and New Years. It's not “Home” as in Indiana, but it is “Home” in the sense that my friends welcome me as family (we are, after all, distantly related). Mother Nature has not been very cooperative with the weather since I left Utah so it is quite nice to be “settled” in and out of the elements for a few weeks. I can't thank them enough for allowing me to be a part of their family!



To all of my friends and family scattered around the country, and all of the readers of Kinexxions, I offer you my heartfelt wishes for a Merry Christmas.

Prusik Peak, West Ridge

Washington state is a great place to live if you are into climbing. Mountaineers fly in from all over the world to enjoy what this area offers. We can drive to some of these awesome destinations in just two hours!

We seem to make it up to the Stuart range at least once every year. This time we climbed Prusik Peak. The approach to the peak was as good as the climb. We went right through the heart of the Enchantments. There was still a lot of snow up there feeding the numerous small lakes.

This photo shows the south side of the peak. We would climb the north side of the west ridge.

A group of climbers ahead of us on the route. Two of them were from Chile.

Mark finishing one of the 5.7 sections of the climb.

Doug near the summit.

Another self-timer summit shot.

Little Annapurna, Dragontail Peak and some small lakes. What a view!
The fun was not over yet. It took 5 rappels to get back down.

We saw mountain goats all over the place on this trip. It was another day making memories in a very special part of creation!

Anastasia Island :: Birds on the Beach

Tuesday March 15, .. - - After spending the day with Denise and Apple, I spent an hour or two that evening on the beach. Surprisingly, even though the campground was full, there were not a lot of people roaming the shore. Seemed like there were more birds than people. And yeah, that was rather nice too...

Sunset at Lake Itasca

Saturday, August 13th - - Lake Itasca, Minnesota - - After two days of mostly rain, it was quite nice to see the sun again when it came out late this afternoon! It was still very cloudy though but that meant the possibility of a beautiful sunset... I wasn't disappointed... It was magnificent!



I couldn't decide which one(s) I liked best, so you're getting several views...

Me and the Rock

I tried to get Tuffee to stay with me while Lee took our picture but she didn't seem to want to.

A Day in Boulder Canyon + Eldo's Yellow Spur (5.9+)

(Photo: A climber on Rewritten (5.7) in Eldorado Canyon. Shot from the top of pitch three of The Yellow Spur (5.9+).)



Two years ago I had my first opportunity to climb in Colorado. I did any easy route called The Bomb (5.4) in Eldorado Canyon with my old friend Greg while I was in the state for a family vacation.



While that experience was a lot of fun, I couldn't help but feel it was also a lost opportunity. Surrounded by legendary, challenging climbs, we had done something well below my ability level, in part because Greg was out of climbing shape and in part due to my own insecurities. After this first taste of Eldo I was determined to get more confident and come back to climb some of the storied classics in the canyon. I hoped that I would some day get the chance.



This year another August family vacation provided that chance. We were in Steamboat Springs for a week, and then planned to be close to Denver for several days before returning to NYC. While near Denver I would have a couple of days to go climbing. With thousands upon thousands of climbs nearby, the possibilities seemed endless.



I had a ready partner in my old mentor Vass. Vass had moved back to Boulder from New York last year. During the time when he lived in NYC, Vass had been one of my best partners. He had really taught me a lot. I admired his calm competence with climbing systems and his reliably good footwork. Although he regularly claimed to be out of good climbing form, he would nevertheless sail up anything I could climb and make it look effortless-- putting my clumsy efforts to shame. Vass always encouraged me to move forward. His support made me feel I was capable of doing more; it seemed I was usually at my best when climbing with Vass. I did my first 5.7, 5.8, and 5.9 leads with him. I was psyched to be climbing with him again, especially since our last climbing day hadn't really gone so well.



We met up on a Sunday and decided to spend our first day in Boulder Canyon getting reacquainted and shaking off the rust. Vass and I figured we could do some moderate sport and trad and then on our second day we could go tackle one of the bigger objectives I was looking to climb in Eldorado Canyon. There were so many long classics in Eldo to choose from, climbs like Rewritten (5.7), the Bastille Crack (5.7+) , Ruper (5.8), the Green Spur (5.9), or maybe even the Yellow Spur (5.9+). But first we'd take a day just to get loose and feel good.



I was excited to check out Boulder Canyon. It is a place with a storied history, but I was afraid I wouldn't really care for all the bolted climbs I'd heard about. (I prefer placing gear.) As we drove in, I found the canyon beautiful, but then all of these Front Range canyons are so beautiful. They really have it good in Colorado. Consistent with its history, Boulder Canyon's climbingis varied. You can find recently (over-) bolted sport climbs up slabs right next to sandbagged old traditional climbs that go up cracks.



Vass suggested we start on Tonnere Tower, a formation withmoderate climbing that unaccountably has been overlooked until relatively recently. Vass was thinking we would warm up on bolted stuff, then once we got bored do some trad climbing. Our first climb was Los Pinos (The Pines), a multi-pitch route that rises right out of the river. I led the first two pitches in one and then we rapped off. This climb has good moves and it made for a nice warm-up. I found the situation with the bolts to be rather curious. There are numerous bolts right next to bomber gear cracks the whole way up, but then the finishing roof on pitch two requires that you place your own pro. I don't know what the route developers were thinking. I couldn't quite make sense of the difficulty ratings either. I thought nothing on the 5.9 pitch two was as hard as the opening slab moves on the 5.8 pitch one. But whatever, it was a good time.







(Photo: Vass leading pitch one of Buried Treasure (5.8+).)



We then went around the corner and did two nice single-pitch sport routes, Twilight Time (5.9+ and fun) and Bobby's Back (supposedly 5.10d). Bobby's Back features rather delicate face climbing for a few moves past the second and third bolts. Though neither of us led it perfectly clean I'm pretty sure I could get it now after doing it once.



We finished our time at Tonnere Tower with a two-pitch sport route called Buried Treasure (5.8+), electing to add to it the 5.10a final pitch of Stayin' Alive. These three pitches had good climbing but if there is a move on Stayin' Alive that is harder than 5.8 I'd like you to show it to me! Putting the difficulty rating aside, Stayin' Alive was the nicest pitch we did on the tower, with good starting face moves and a fun easy dihedral.



By now we had done seven pitches and our day was slipping away. I had enjoyed the climbing so far, but I have to say my initial apprehensions were confirmed. I'd rather do trad lines up natural features than bolted lines up faces. That's just the way I am. Vass wasn't surprised. He said he wanted me to see Castle Rock, which is filled with old-school traditional climbs. We drove over there and Vass sent me up a 5.8 called Bailey's Overhang.



I could tell I was going to like this one before I even got started. Bailey's Overhang is good stuff indeed, a natural line following cracks and a corner up to a big roof. I really enjoyed leading this. I felt solid while jamming through the steep opening moves. Then I scared myself a little at the roof when I couldn't get my right foot up where I wanted it. But my back was against the left wall and there was no way I was going to fall out. After stepping down and resetting the move I got through it just fine. Vass made it look easy using holds to the left that had eluded me.







(Photo: Vass pulling through the roof on Bailey's Overhang (5.8).)



We didn't have much time left so we threw a top rope over a route just left of Bailey's called Curving Crack (5.9). I loved this one as well, and felt very good climbing it. It follows another natural line, a crack up a corner that gets steeper as it rises. Some tense laybacking with somewhat slippery hands gets it done. I wished we'd had time for me to lead it, but it was a great finish to the day.



There is a lifetime of climbing in Boulder Canyon. I'd love to go back to see more.



After our day in Boulder Canyon I decided I was climbing pretty well. I proposed we meet up early on our second day (a Monday) and head straight for my most ambitious objective in Eldorado Canyon: the Yellow Spur (5.9+). I wanted to tackle something big, and this six-pitch classic, which some call the best 5.9 in Colorado, seemed to fit the bill. I felt I was ready to lead the crux pitches.







(Photo: View of the Flatirons from the road into Eldorado Canyon.)



When we got to Eldo I was thrilled to find that the lot was almost empty. We humped up the trail to the far end of the Redgarden Wall to find the area deserted. I was very happy not to have to worry about faster parties breathing down our necks, and psyched not to have an audience for the "problematical" 5.9 first pitch.



This pitch was, for me, the crux of the whole route. It goes up a right-facing corner to a roof. There is a piton in the roof, maybe 15-20 feet off the ground, but it doesn't appear that there is any useful pro before the piton. In his recent guidebook Steve Levin warns of the potential for ground fall if you fail to make the clip at this piton. The climbing here is also a little strange and awkward. There is a good handhold on the side wall, but stepping up to the pin puts you off-balance.



Wemay have set a record by placing four (!) pieces of pro before clipping the pin. First Vass placed a piece for me off to the side before I even left the ground, which he then cleaned once I got other gear. I put a blue Alien in the first finger pocket as soon as I was done using the pocket to step up. And then I placed two equalized micro nuts in a thin seam on the side of the juggy hold on the left wall. I thought the nuts were solid, but I worried that the rock quality might be a problem. I feared that if I fell, the force of the fall would rip the good jug right off the left wall. If that happened, I'd not only hit the ground and break both my legs, but I'd also be known forever as the idiot who changed the standard start of the Yellow Spur from a 5.9 to a 5.11 by destroying the crucial hold.



As luck would have it, I didn't fall. I stemmed wide and was able to reach up, blind, to clip the pin. Then I was able to commit to the slopey rail beneath the pin and make the awkward exit from the corner.



Whew! The rest of the pitch was a breeze, traversing left to an easy roof problem. At least, I thought it was easy. Here is the place where I get to be the guy who says "in the Gunks, this roof would never be a 5.9!" Well, I thought the supposed crux 5.9 roof would probably be rated a 5.7 in the Gunks. There are great holds for the hands and feet. I sailed right over it, feeling great. Being a Gunks climber does at times have its advantages.







(Photo: Vass heading into the 5.8 pitch two hanging corner on the Yellow Spur.)



Pitch two was Vass' lead. This pitch is high quality, with a committing step up into a hanging right-facing corner and a few good 5.8 face moves up the corner to a ledge. My lead of pitch three was also fun, with mostly juggy 5.7 climbing up to an interesting 5.8 V-slot.









(Photo: Sorry for the butt shot, but this is me leading into the 5.8 slot on pitch three of the Yellow Spur.)



Pitch four of the Yellow Spur is where the real business begins again. This was Vass' lead, and while he was up there I wasn't thinking much about what he was doing, because I was preoccupied with getting mentally ready for pitch five, the hardest one on the route. But when he reached the belay and I started to come up behind him, I realized that pitch four is not something to treat lightly. It is not the pitch people talk about the most but it is challenging and pretty fantastic. I was jealous that Vass had led it. The pitch climbs easily up a huge dihedral to a roof, where an exposed, rising hand traverse takes you out and up to a pedestal belay stance. It is rated 5.8+, but I think the traverse is mentally harder than that. There are footholds but they get smaller and smaller as the position gets more and more airy. And then after you commit, turn the corner and start to move up to the pedestal, there more moves to be made before you reach the belay stance.







(Photo: Vass doing the exposed rising traverse on the 5.8+ pitch four of the Yellow Spur.)



And what a belay stance. We were now standing on a tiny shelf, something like 400 feet off the ground, at the base of the final headwall beneath the pointed summit of the Redgarden Wall's Tower One. Above me was a line of pitons showing the way up a steep face at 5.9+. The atmosphere was electric.







(Photo: Looking down on Vass at the pedestal belay below the crux pitch of the Yellow Spur.)



As I stood there I felt pretty sure I was ready. I could hardly contain my excitement. This was exactly what I'd dreamed of, two years before, when I'd first gotten a taste of Eldorado Canyon. I wanted to work hard, get fitter and better, and feel comfortable going somewhere other than the Gunks and jumping on a world-class 5.9.



I was on the verge of making the dream a reality but I had to forget all that and actually climb the thing.



Vass asked me if I wanted to look at the topo but I knew what I had to do and I just wanted to get going. We had been in the shade all morning but now we had emerged into the bright sunshine and I could feel the heat building. It was now or never and I did not want to hesitate.



The pitch is insanely great. It starts out with good holds leading up a crack. After I backed up a piton with a small cam I had to start the hard stuff, making a committing step over to the right using tiny crimps for the hands and small footholds. Once established on the face, several thin, pumpy moves up a shallow corner got me past more pins to a welcome stance. I let out a huge sigh of relief when it was done. I was elated but still had to do the mentally challenging rising traverse up to the exposed arete. Known as the "Robbins Traverse," this beautiful sequence goes at a reasonable 5.7+ but is completely devoid of gear.







(Photo: Vass working through the crux 5.9+ section of pitch five of the Yellow Spur.)



About two steps into this traverse the sequence is devious. There is a 5.7 way to do it but the crucial hold is hidden. Maybe there is an easier way to find it, but I had to make a committing step up using a fragile flake for an undercling. Feeling around with the other hand, in a very tenuous position, I was fortunate to find the right way to go. Once I found the hold, the pitch was in the bag. I lingered over every move to the arete, enjoying the scenery.









(Photo: Vass partway up the 5.6 final pitch to the top of the Yellow Spur.)




My work was done. The final pitch was Vass' lead. Levin rates it at 5.6 R, and itis easy but run out for the second half. It is a beautiful pitch, which I might liken to the arete pitch of Directissima in the Gunks-- if Directissima were several hundred feet higher. It is a fitting payoff for the route, ending the climb on a high note. Vass had no trouble with it, and seemed to enjoy it all the way to the top.







(Photo: taking in the exposure on the final pitch of the Yellow Spur.)



I also enjoyed climbing the final pitch, but as I got close to the top I got very anxious about the weather. A black cloud had suddenly rolled in as Vass began leading the pitch. Both of us felt the storm was likely to just miss us as it passed overhead but I could see rain in the distance and as I climbed I could hear the rumble of thunder growing closer and closer. The top of a pointed tower was the last place I wanted to be during an electrical storm.



Once I reached the top it fell to me to traverse the pointed "roof" of Tower One to reach the Dirty Deed rappel, which was our quickest route to the ground. This rappel route, which goes down a loose chimney, isn't recommended by Levin but on a weekday I wasn't worried about knocking rocks onto climbers below and I wanted to get down as soon as possible. The roof traverse was somewhat nerve-wracking for me, as I did it accompanied by continuing thunder and a few rain drops. I stayed on belay and placed a few pieces of gear along the traverse. (I can't imagine doing it without at least staying roped up.)







(Photo: Hiking down to the car. Goodbye, Eldo.)



Once I reached the rappel station all was well. The skies cleared and we descended without incident.



Climbing the Yellow Spur was one of the most satisfying climbing experiences I've ever had. The route follows a gorgeous line and features numerous interesting cruxes. It lives up to its billing as a destination climb.



But for me it was more than just a great climb. The Yellow Spur validated what I've been doing. I don't get outside enough. I feel like my progress is slow. But climbing the Yellow Spur provided proof that the progress is there; it is real. The whole climb felt within my limits. There was never a moment that felt out of control. We made the right choices throughout the climb and approached it in as safe and reasonable a manner as possible. I could never have climbed it in this fashion this two years ago, when I first visited Eldorado Canyon.



Thank you, Eldo! I don't know when I will ever get back again, but I can't wait.

Albert Eugene Dunfee

Here we have another example of the results of using the "foil technique" for easier reading of tombstones, as mentioned in a previous post.



Albert Eugene Dunfee was the fifth known child born to William H. Dunfee and Catherine Jones. They are all buried in the Masonic Section of Greenhill Cemetery in Columbia City, Indiana. Albert died on April 2nd 1865, just a little over a year old. Previous transcriptions of this section of the cemetery give the last numeral in his year of death as a 5. The numeral in the number of days has variously been identified as a 5, and a 3. His obituary gives the number of days as 16. But if the year is a 5, then I think the number of days is 15, though I could be wrong. Who is to say, at this late date, which is correct?

Somewhere I have a copy of his obituary from the microfilmed newspaper that I identified as the Columbia City Post published on Wednesday, April 5, 1865. That is also the date listed by Nellie Raber in her "Digest of Obituaries" mentioned in the post on Albert's sister Laura.

=+==+==+=

Died, the 2nd inst, Albert Eugene, infant son of William and Catharine Dunfee, of Lung fever, aged one year, one month and sixteen days.

Though but an infant, destined to but a short stay with his parents, yet he had reached that age so interesting in childhood, when the music of his innocent prattle gave him prominence in the family circle. But a few days since little Albert made glad the heart of fond parents, loving sisters and brother, but midst their hopes and joys, death quietly enters and lays claim to their little treasure, and
"From tender friends he was quickly torn,
Their loss they now in sadness mourn,
From all he is gone."

Little Albert's parents no doubt had often, when enjoying his infantile glee, built up for themselves in their glad anticipation many happy days with him here, patiently watching the opening bud,
"When came disease and open'd the door,
And from their arms their treasure tore,
But near, there watched an angel band
Who took their Bertie by the hand;
They showed his little feet the way
To realms of joy in endless day;
Now, with new songs high heaven rings,
For there their darling Bertie sings;
He lives in Heaven."

Rose of Sharon

Whitwell - Sykes Lane - Empingham - Horn Mill - Fort Henry - Exton - Whitwell

Mel, Norma, Ian P, Barry O, Gordon, Maureen, Jill, and me. 8.6 miles (ish) Sunny, warm, dry underfoot.





From Whitwell - Sykes Lane - footpath across side of dam to Empingham - through village, past pub, turn left - take second footpath (with seat!)

over fields to Horn Mill trout hatchery - alongside spinney etc to Fort Henry Lake - turn left follow road alongside Tunneley Wood, turn left along Viking Way, take footpath before cemetery, into Exton via Dairy Lane, turn left along Stamford Rd. Cross road at T-junction and follow signed footpath through several fields, emerge at Noel Arms, Whitwell. There we found this magnificent commemorative plaque:









We braved the main road crossing and walked along Church Lane etc to car park.

Lunch at Harbour Cafe Whitwell.



Link to map etc