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ARTICLE: Crag Notes: An Eve on Strange Midland Stones (1998 – 2019)

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 UKC Articles 14 Oct 2019
Crag Notes: An Eve on Strange Midland Stones (1998 – 2019) In Crag Notes this month, Mark Goodwin looks at one of Britain's least likely rock pastures: Leicestershire. Beacon Hill sprouts from from a hilltop in an otherwise flat, rural and distinctly un-rocky county. It's vista above the local landscape is said to be the

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 Mark Goodwin 14 Oct 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

Mark, I dispute your comment about the extensive view from Beacon Hill - according to the Leicestershire Climbs guidebook (1993), it is actually Bardon Hill, the highest in Leicestershire, that commands such a view! 

 petemeads 15 Oct 2019
In reply to Mark Goodwin:

Lovely!

I was a local (Markfield) for a couple of years, early Eighties,  and eventually got the hang of the strange rock which required strong fingers, perfect footwork and great confidence (terrible landings). Going back nowadays I find it hard to believe some of the problems and variants that got done at that time, all solo and no mats. As PP says, the older I get, the better I was....

Thanks for the memories!

 steveriley 15 Oct 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

I climbed there a bit in the mid 80s, whilst at college nearby. Never less than strange, slippery and spiky at the same time. Moonshot felt like a decent tick above a beermat. The pics make it look tiny now. Sister rock to the even odder Forest Rock nearby, home to some truly big grades these days.

Post edited at 11:24
 Mark Goodwin 15 Oct 2019

Thank you, Pete!

Here is a memory of mine: When I was about sixteen, Ken Vickers, one of Leicestershire's early activists, gave me a waist belay from the top of the buttress shown in the first pic, there is nothing to anchor to up there - but he told me he was just back from Yosemite, and his arms were huge, so it felt safe enough! 

 Mark Goodwin 15 Oct 2019

Steve, the pics make it look tiny now because I think it always was a wee bit tiny! Having said that - the shot of the climber above the bouldering mat with shadow figures - that's my lad, and he is 6 foot 3, so I guess it makes the 'crag' look just a little bit more tiny than it really is!

 petemeads 15 Oct 2019
In reply to Mark Goodwin:

Had some great times climbing with Ken, and I worked with his wife, June - she gave me the nod that there was a senior computer operator job going at British Gas. I was a new trainee operator so told my workmate and climbing partner about it, he got the job and I got the next one a few months later and was in Yosemite myself later that first year. Retired after 36 years service, decent pension etc, all from knowing Ken & June from the Leicester & Rugby Mountaineering Club.

Ken was a real character and is sadly missed.

 Mark Goodwin 16 Oct 2019
In reply to petemeads:

Hlo Pete! Yes, I met Ken only that once, but it was obvious that he was someone out of the ordinary. He sticks in my mind. On that day I met him ... I was just pottering about on the rock on my own ... and he suddenly said hello, said who he was and where he'd just been, and then very generously offered me a belay and encouraged me up a couple of routes ... he seemed rather kind, and very good humoured. 

In reply to petemeads:

Ken Vickers also played a very important part in the climbing world as director of Cordee, the main distributor for outdoor/climbing books in the UK. (I think he started it). The firm is still going strong.

 Mark Goodwin 16 Oct 2019
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Ah, hlo Gordon! Right, I didn't know that ... but that makes sense. I think I'm right in thinking that he wrote the first Leicestershire guide, or led the team. I used to have a photocopy of it, when I was in my teens ... back when magnificent Huncote Quarry was still in existence ...

In reply to Mark Goodwin:

Yes, he wrote the Leicester guide. Several editions (the last of which I have). The Cordee operation that he started is just fantastic, there are simply so many climbing shops around Britain, some of them very small. Each day they're sending off dozens of parcels. I've visited them a couple of times in connection with my own books and been very impressed by the hard work and dedication.

 Michael Hood 16 Oct 2019
In reply to Mark Goodwin:

Huncote Quarry is still in existence, well some of it anyway.

Whether you can still climb there is a different question. I suspect you would have to be rather discreet - maybe Xmas day only?

Also, there may be some dirt and vegetation on any ledges.

I remember climbing with Ken, great bloke.

 Ian York 17 Oct 2019
In reply to petemeads:

Well Mr Meads how the devil are you, you were always good.  Seem to remember someone who'd met you in Yosemite referring to you as the world's strongest climber.  Many hours spent on the same 10 feet of the Beacon. I never got any better!!

 petemeads 17 Oct 2019
In reply to Ian York:

Yorkie? Where did you just spring from? Yosemite got me fit for the Beacon...

 Michael Hood 18 Oct 2019
In reply to steveriley:

Funnily enough, I've just popped into Beacon Hill today on my way back to Manchester from London.

Managed Moonshot "normal" this time (failed on a similar journey home a few months ago). First time for some years. It felt much bigger and bolder than I remember

Incidentally, the line described as Moonshot in the yellow 70's guide is Moonshot Direct in the latest 93 guide so it wasn't Steve who did the first ascent. Maybe he found the easier (but less obvious) "normal" way.

 steveriley 18 Oct 2019
In reply to Michael Hood:

Well done! I too popped by recently on my way past after a 30+ year gap but didn't pull on. I seem to remember there wasn't too much in it between the two - the left hand version felt steeper and 'should' have been harder. That was probably the guide I used for a bit, telling of strange Leicestershire obscurities. Think it was out of print even then and I found it in the library.

 Ian York 18 Oct 2019
In reply to petemeads:

Like to keep my eye on things, don't get on rock very often all my gear has migrated to Alasdair, I tried to visit the Beacon last year there were queues for both car parks, ended up parking on Valley road and walked up to the outwoods and through to Hangingstone Quarry didn't look like anyone had been there for years. We used to get to Hangingstone rocks that way I couldn't find any feasible way in.

Anyway how are you

 martin curtis 28 Oct 2019
In reply to UKC Articles:

It is a great place for a bouldering session in a lovely and unique setting. One of the few places left in Leicestershire now.

But I much prefer the mysterious Cademan wood!


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