UKC

Matthew Hargreaves reflects on memories of years gone by as he spends a night at Stanage with his young son...

really nice Matthew, thank you

An excellent and evocative read,

Chris

Great article, thanks

Lovely.

"For a man who likes his scones buttered" that gets a like!

Great to see this 'in print' at last - I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview via a bit of proof reading. Evocative and familiar to anyone who has grown up with Stanage as an ever-present backdrop to their climbing life.

We need more Matt!

I’m tickled that other people are daft enough to carry around 30 year old niggles. The monkeys on our back won’t stop laughing eh

Lovely writing. Really enjoyed that. I hope to do the same with my kids when they're a bit older.

Particularly enjoyed: "ate granary bread that needed a bread knife to make it work"

Loved that.

Nice article, brought back good memories of 3-day wild camping adventures in the Lakes with my son when he was 9. Thirty years on now and he has to carry the rope and all the gear when we go on a climbing trip, even for short approaches. Hope you have as long a climbing partnership as a Dad as I have had. Best days, its a privilege.

Dave

Awww. I'm not a Dad, and I've never climbed at Stanage, but that was very lovely.

Thanks.

Is the author a  fan of Philip Larkin I wonder? 

Various bits of this remind me (in a good way) of the style and cadence of some of his poetry, "Dockery and Son" in particular comes to mind 

Teriffic - I’m motivated to take the grandchildren out now!

I've spent quite a few nights in that cave, it's lovely, but can get really cold if the wind is in the wrong direction. It can turn into a freezing whirlwind in there.

Most times I've slept there we've been woken up in the night by the warden/ranger whatever he is, demanding to know who we are, when we're leaving, ordering us to make sure we leave no litter etc. He doesn't seem very friendly.

He's retired now, but remains an absolute star, albeit possibly a bit gruff on first acquaintance.  Hopefully you can cut him a bit of slack if you bear in mind that he's picked up a *lot* of shite that people have left behind over the years.

It's my one slight reservation about this lovely article - like geo-tagging photos and posting on social media (this site definitely qualifies as 'social media' btw) about certain bothies and wild-camping areas.  It's lovely for people who might not otherwise have found them to be able to go there, but the downside is that some places are under quite a lot of pressure already and it only takes one bawbag to spoil it for everybody.

I'm not convinced they (or simes303) stopped in the 'real' `Robin Hood's Cave - I'm saying no more

Chris

Sssh!

What a ridiculous thing to say. How can you possibly have any idea where I stayed?

Because you said it 'gets windy' and the warden popped into see you. That sounds like the big open roofed in area with the through tunnel, rather than the 'proper' Robin Hood's Cave,

Chris

My initial thought was "Stanage? Yawn"

But that's a lovely bit of writing and had me smiling all the way through. It just encapsulates everything that makes climbing great so well. 

Thanks!

I'm with you on "Stanage? Yawn". The least interesting of all the gritstone crags.

The story was great though.

There's no open roof or through tunnel where we've stayed and I didn't say the warden "popped in". I said he woke us. And I didn't say "it gets windy", I said it "can get really cold if the wind is in the wrong direction. It can turn into a freezing whirlwind in there.".  Most times I've slept there it's been pretty still inside.

Si.

Fair enough, I was wrong,

Chris

...Or not...

I've been to Froggatt, Millstone, Burbage valley, Staffordshire gritstone etc much more than Stanage and I've never thought any of those were dull.