"Solstice" 2014
For Winter Walk 2014 we are going to mark the 5th anniversary of the first ever "Soltsice" event (there was one the year before but it was an informal gathering), and walk up Winter Hill. Of all the Winter Walks this was the one which eptipomised the idea of "Winter", ice, snow, fog. It was bitterly cold and people's drinks (and Popup Pirate's Hair!) froze.The fog was so thick you couldn't even see the mast. Thirtry Four Caching Teams attended that event, I wonder how many of those will be here for 2014?
The Plan
The aim is to reach the published coordinates (Winter Hill Mast) between Nautical and Civil twilight. On this date that will be 6.56- 7.41am. To do this we will.
1) Meet at Horrocks Fold Car Park (53 36.767 -2 27.853) at 5.30am with the aim of setting of before 6.00am Please Note This car park is sometimes locked overnight and this may be unavailable (when I revisited the route on 24/11/2013 the car park seemed to be left open overnight). However there is ample parking by the roadside and the path to the top starts from here so its a still a great focal point to meet.
2) Ascend Winter Hill via Dean Ditch. Dean Ditch is a seldom trod path up Winter Hill as most people go from Horwich or Belmont. The main advantage of going via Dean Ditch is that it ascends East to West so we will have the sunrise behind us and we will see it no matter what our progress up the hill is. Even if our timing is not quite right we are guaranteed to see day break. It is called Dean Ditch for a reason and the rating reflects the fact of all my Winter Walks this is the toughest one in terms of terrain. When I familiarised myself with it prior to publish I fell over (and into the ditch!) several times and this was in daylight. However we did it once 5 years ago so we can do it again!
Winter Solstice
Regular Winter Walkers will know the drill, but I always like to include this.
Although this cache is called Winter Hill Solstice. That's really just a play on words. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. In 2013 it will actually be on the 21st December. The day chosen for this walk is the Saturday nearest to the latest sunrise of the year. It may seem strange that the shortest day does not correspond with the latest sunrise. For an explanation of why this is see here.
Twilight and Sunrise
Whilst people often refer to "being up before sunrise" at actual sunrise it will have been day light for a good while. The defintions of twilight are
Astronomical Twilight - The fainter celestial objects start to dissapear - on the day of the walk this will start at 6-13am
Nautical Twilight - The horizon becomes visible so sailors are able to navigate using well known stars. On 4th January this will be at 6-56 am.
Civil Twilight - This is what we refer to as dawn. By law its the time you are allowed to switch of your headlamps! As stated this will be 7.41am
Official Sunrise - (i.e. when you can see the Sun's disk) will be at 8.21.
Winter Hill
Winter Hill seems to stand out from all over the North West. I can see it from my bedroom window and I can see it from my office window in Runcorn. It really is an icon of the North West. There is so much history ,ecology and technological information about it that you can't put it all on one page. What I will recommend is that you download (for free!) the excellent Winter Hill Scrapbook by Dave Lane. Its got everything in here.
History of the Transmitter
Mining
Prehistoric remains
Flora and Forna
UFO activity
Plane crashes
There's even a section about the local geocaches!
Weather Prediction.
Of course you can't tell until the day but as the years go by you can build up a probability of actually seeing the sun rise. Including the unofficial one in 2008, its gone like this
2008 (Unofficial) Round Loaf, yes
2009 Winter Hill, no
2010 Cheetham Close, yes
2011 Pendle Hill, no
2012 Great Hill, Round Loaf, yes
2013 Boulsworth Hill, no
2014?
so you can see its been every other year. If this sequence is to continue we are due one this year!
Winter Solstice Regulars
Now we are in our sixth year I thought it's a good time to pay tribute to all the stalwarts who have accompanied me in all weathers at silly hours of the morning. The following cachers have attended the most Winter Walks. If you think I've missed you off, please let me know!
5 Winter Walks
Bargee, Lodgebarn
4 Winter Walks
Gruftymilo, Magna Defender, Carlos and the Birdie Crew, FFloss, Scubaclogger, Team Slug
And Finally
It will be dark and cold, bring a head torch, and wrap up. Also if the weather is so severe that's its not safe to drive it will be resceduled. This has only ever happend once in 2010. Keep an eye on the cache page and/or (if you are into that kind of thing) the NW Caching facebook group. To log the event you need to come up the hill and I'll provide a log book for everyone to sign at the top!
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