Walking at night ?

"Dunstable Dasher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of
daylight thought I would try a night walk for a different experience,
looking to set off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn
Achaladair and Beinn a Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any
comments/thoughts would be appreciated ( I assume a torch would be
essential // Is this a sensible idea ?)

Great idea! I've done a lot of night walking. It started as my MLTB exams
involved night nav and then I found that I enjoyed it. Yes its different and
takes getting used to but its a wonderful time to travel.

If the nights a good one, clear and some moon, you wont need a torch on all
the time and your eyes will adjust. I find distance travelled hard to judge
as you cant see far enough so I tend to use timings more for navigation. The
other thing you cant do is take bearings to pinpoint yourself but most
routes on the hills are an obvious mix of climbing descending with a few
bearings thrown in.

The noises at night are different and eerie, but as a way to add spice to a
hill walking hobby its great!

Dave

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:06:49 GMT, "Dunstable Dasher"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

|With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of daylight
|thought I would try a night walk for a different experience, looking to set
|off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn Achaladair and Beinn a
|Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any comments/thoughts would be
|appreciated ( I assume a torch would be essential // Is this a sensible idea
|?)

At this time of year in Scotland probably the best plan would be carry a
torch, but not use it. Allow your eyes to accommodate to the low light
levels and you should be OK. Really depends on the weather.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Google Groups is IME the *worst*
method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a
newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These
will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies.

Dave Fawthrop said:

At this time of year in Scotland probably the best plan would be carry a
torch, but not use it. Allow your eyes to accommodate to the low light
levels and you should be OK. Really depends on the weather.

<aol> wot Dave says... </aol>

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

In message <[email hidden]>, Dunstable Dasher
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of daylight
thought I would try a night walk for a different experience, looking to set
off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn Achaladair and Beinn a
Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any comments/thoughts would be
appreciated ( I assume a torch would be essential // Is this a sensible idea
?)

Take a head torch for each person, but if you go when it's full moon (or
nearly so) you almost certainly won't need to use them.

--
Surfer!
Email to: ramwater at uk2 dot net

Many years ago "The Angry Corrie", the hillwalking fanzine, had a review of
a book called "The Munros by Moonlight", written they said by a former RAF
pilot who on demobbing after WWII had devoted the next 20 years to
compleating the munros only by the light of the full moon. It inspired me
enormously, and I've enjoyed several moonlight ascents especially in the
summer when TBH it never really gets pitch especially the further north you
go. That insipration has lasted despite the minor hiccupof learning, on
pestering the TAC editor Dave Hewitt for a ISBN number of the book so I
could try to get a copy, that he had (under the pressure of space filing
tension on a tight printing deadline) made the whole fecking thing up....
Ah journalism.....

D

"Dunstable Dasher" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of
daylight
thought I would try a night walk for a different experience, looking to
set
off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn Achaladair and Beinn
a
Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any comments/thoughts would be
appreciated ( I assume a torch would be essential // Is this a sensible
idea
?)

Dave Fawthrop said:

On Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:06:49 GMT, "Dunstable Dasher"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

|With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of
|daylight thought I would try a night walk for a different experience,
|looking to set off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn
|Achaladair and Beinn a Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any
|comments/thoughts would be appreciated ( I assume a torch would be
|essential // Is this a sensible idea ?)

At this time of year in Scotland probably the best plan would be carry a
torch, but not use it. Allow your eyes to accommodate to the low light
levels and you should be OK. Really depends on the weather.

Scotland?
Midges.

DP said:

Scotland?
Midges.

I live here, and do not regularly get eaten alive all of the time.

A bit of perspective is a handy thing.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

DP said:

Scotland?
Midges.

I live here, and do not regularly get eaten alive all of the time.

A bit of perspective is a handy thing.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Also midges aren't that much of a problem after the sun has set;-)

Grenville

In message <[email hidden]>

Dunstable Dasher said:

With the good weather forcast at the moment and given the length of
daylight thought I would try a night walk for a different experience,
looking to set off at approx 2100 from Achallader farm climb Beinn
Achaladair and Beinn a Chreachain and be back for breakfast, any
comments/thoughts would be appreciated ( I assume a torch would be
essential // Is this a sensible idea ?)

I find I do lot of walking in the UK at night in the winter months
since I'm not going to try and cut down on the length!

Similarly when caving I frequently find myself emerging after nightfall
which then entails a walk back off of the moor in the dark.

Also a lot of my alpine mountaineering has to take account of the better
snow and ice conditions in the early hours before sunrise. Generally you
aim to be back down to the hut, or at least away from the snowline by
mid to late morning, so you start off well before sunrise and if you're
lucky you see the sunrise from the summit.

Walking at night is not really a major problem. With good moonlight you
can get by without a torch. A reasonably good LED headtorch such as the
Tikka plus is probably sufficient if you do need a light. You can get
red filters to allow you to use it to read a map etc without ruining
night vision. If I think navigation is going to be tricky I might be
tempted to take along a halogen zoom headtorch to illuminate the far
distance, but I'd still also carry the LED for general use.

Mike
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
<\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
"> || _`\<,_ |__\ \> | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"

Mike Clark said:

Walking at night is not really a major problem. With good moonlight you
can get by without a torch. A reasonably good LED headtorch such as the
Tikka plus is probably sufficient if you do need a light. You can get
red filters to allow you to use it to read a map etc without ruining
night vision.

But a red filter will make the contours on an OS map invisible. :-(
It might be best if you use one of the mapping programs to print your
map in black and white.

Quoted message said:

If I think navigation is going to be tricky I might be
tempted to take along a halogen zoom headtorch to illuminate the far
distance, but I'd still also carry the LED for general use.

A trick with using lights is to close one eye so you keep night vision
in that eye.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

In message <[email hidden]>, Phil Cook
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Mike Clark said:

Walking at night is not really a major problem. With good moonlight you
can get by without a torch. A reasonably good LED headtorch such as the
Tikka plus is probably sufficient if you do need a light. You can get
red filters to allow you to use it to read a map etc without ruining
night vision.

But a red filter will make the contours on an OS map invisible. :-(
It might be best if you use one of the mapping programs to print your
map in black and white.

Quoted message said:

If I think navigation is going to be tricky I might be
tempted to take along a halogen zoom headtorch to illuminate the far
distance, but I'd still also carry the LED for general use.

A trick with using lights is to close one eye so you keep night vision
in that eye.

I have a job that needs to be planned for at least a year ahead at a
time. Before I start planning, I blank off the full moon weeks in
February and March - just so that I can take advantage of the moon - my
work colleagues who have to keep to the same plans have no idea what I
am up to. They can fit their holidays round my plans - power, power.

There is nothing better than walking through snowfields by moonlight.

--
Martin Richardson
539/1554 Marilyns - 65% to go 60/89 Donalds - 33% to go
61/211 Irish Hewitts - 71% to go 20/220 Corbetts - 91% to go