Robin Hood and the Edges

Date: 2012-03-31

Region: Peak District

From: on A619 2mls East of Baslow

Walk: Circular

OS Sheet: Outdoor Leisure OL24

Parking at: Car Park by Robin Hood PH

Grid: 281 721

Distance:  10 mls  16.4 km

Height Gain: 1670 ft  509 m

Height Loss: 1670 ft  509 m

Walking With: Mrs G, Andy & Katie

Notes: Mainly on good paths, 5 road crossings, a few stiles and gates

Route

From the Robin Hood PH  walk down the A619 to footpath on right passing below Moorside Farm and Gardoms Edge to A621. Cross and take path through the woodland over Bar Brook and uphill to reach Wellingtons Monument. Head NW along Baslow, Curbar and Froggatt Edges.

On reaching the A625 cross over down to the woodland by the car park, take the path on right across the fields to the Grouse Inn. Cross the A625 again and up the path on to White Edge. Follow the edge to its end and head SE to the distant cross roads. Cross the A621 and follow the well trod route across the open land to a path running below Birchen Edge and back to the car park.

Journey

Walking along the Edges Baslow, Curbar Froggatt, is always a pleasure, the views are wonderful, the air is fresh, the changes of light and the movement of clouds can be intoxicating. Watching and listening to the climbers adds another dimension, different, but entertaining.

The Edges can become overcrowded at times with all sorts of runners, walkers and cyclists heading either North or South. Thankfully on Saturday things were fairly quiet

I can well remember, back in the 1970’s and 80’s walking from Curbar Gap car park along to The Haywood then plunging downhill to the Derwent, taking a gentle stroll by the river followed by a lung busting, leg seizing climb from Calver back to the car.

As a result it was not until about 2003, when I was introduced to White Edge, that I did my first really enjoyable walk along the Edges. Since then we’ve extended the walk by starting at The Robin Hood and coming back via  Birchen  Edge (above or below).

On Saturday we left home late but were lucky to get a parking space. By the time we got sorted out and dealt with the dogs (Katie) vomit it was nearly eleven before we set off along the A619 towards Baslow.

I love walking through wooded areas and birch woods in particular. The path passing below Gardom’s Edge was lovely with the silver of the trees, largely still in bud, the bright green grass and the grey of the rocks, some daffs and peeking through a smudge of pink blossom.

The old bridge over Bar Brook, with the high concrete bridge above, the brook, rocks flowers and shrubs below makes for a short break before slogging up through the woods to Wellington’s Monument. It was good to see that Chatsworth House is no longer ‘under wraps’ even though the dull light and the mist inhibited getting a clear photo of the house.

Very disappointed no ice cream van at Curbar Gap.

Looking to the west the we had  a stab at picking out some of the salient hills and places such as Stanton Moor, Longstone Edge, Calver, Stony Middleton, Sir William Hill,  Abney Moor, Win Hill Lose Hill and Kinder.

There are some new, well at least I’ve not seen them before, inhabitant’s on the moors, a herd of Longhorn (possibly Highland) cattle (negligently I didn’t have my ‘Observers Book of Cattle’ with me. They are very docile I took a dozen photos of them some as close as a couple of feet away. The ‘blonde’ one was heavily  in calf.

Even more disappointed no ice cream van at Haywood Car Park or on the road. It was a bit chilly. Had lunch sitting on some convenient rocks in Haywood before pushing on, past the Grouse Inn and up onto White Edge. Although many of the views south and west are the similar to those on the way up White Edge feels a whole lot wilder, more exposed, more ‘edgy’!

We zipped down to the cross roads on the A621, heading for the low side of Birchen Edge. Usually the first 800 to 1000m of the path here is wet, to say the least, as can be seen from the width of the walked area. Now it was almost dry, a clear result of the lack of prolonged rain in the last year. Unfortunately if the dry weather continues it is probable that many of the moors will be closed due to or to prevent grass fires.

Had a great couple of pints in the Robin Hood.

Part of Bonnie Prince Charlie Walk

Date: 2012-00-00

Region: Derbyshire

From: Osmaston

Walk: Circular

OS Sheet: Explorer 259

Parking at: Osmaston

Grid: 201 436

Distance:   9.25 mls 14.9 km

Height Gain: 815 ft   248 m

Height Loss: 815 ft   248 m

Walking With: Mrs G & Katie

Notes: Tracks, roads and fields, gates and stiles some poor, poor marking

Route

From the pond in Osmaston take the middle track to Shirley, through the village pick up the track to Wormsley and on to the Hall near Ardsley. Turn right across fields to Park Style Farm, Rodsleywood cross the road on path up to the track along the ridge  above Shirley Farm. Turn left along the track towards Wyaston Grove, turn right down the hill and right again taking the path curving left up to Osmaston.

Journey

I planned this walk a few weeks ago while looking at the map trying to find somewhere different to walk in the Peaks. I spotted the Bonnie Prince Charlie Walk, this purports to be the general route taken by Prince Charles Edward Stuart on his march on Derby, from Ashbourne, in 1745. 

Osmaston is a small village less than a day’s march from Ashbourne So using a section of the BPCW from Osmaston through Shirley to Ardsley Church I devised a circular walk along part of PCW and back via circuitous and slightly forced route back to Osmaston.

Unfortunately other than the warm sunny day a very quiet with a pleasant pastoral scene by the lake a mile from the start it was quite a dull walk and a bit tedious.

However, it was a steady nine miles, which was fine and it went up and down a few hills so it did give us the exercise we needed and showed up how unfit we had become. Other than that we could find little to say in its favour, it was lacking in views or interest with poor sign posting, dodgy stiles and too many slurry pits and ploughed fields.

Osmaston village and pond is quite attractive and there were plenty of people around, possibly because, as we were told, there had been a big wedding at the Church.

Clearly it is very difficult to determine what makes a walk good or not, I delayed posting this as I was unsure that posting  "quite a dull walk and a bit tedious" was the right thing to do. However, dwelling on it a bit and talking with Mrs G and Andy I resolved that I should post all my walks and leave it to others to decide to walk them or not and therefore decide on their merit. (But I do think a warning is sometimes necessary)

Not a walk, walkabout in Long Eaton

Date: 2012-03-16

Region: Derbyshire
From: Long Eaton

Walk :  Figure of 8

OS Sheet: Explorer 259 & 260

Parking at: On road

Grid: -

Distance: 7.6 mls 12.25 km

Height Gain: 60ft 18m

Height Loss: 60ft 18m
Walking With: -

Notes: Mainly road and canal/river tow path, some fields one or two stiles and gates

Route
I’m not writing up the route for this one as what I did was so convoluted. The route on the map above is a normalised version of the route I actually took.  I feel this actually makes a worthwhile walk with plenty of scope for extending or amending. If you disagree post a comment!


Journey

Last Friday found me back in Long Eaton, this time not on a walk with Andy, but taking my car to the garage for some works, leaving me four hours to kill. So I went for a  VERY DIFFERENT walk, not in the hills or countryside but around a busy town with  nothing planned, just taking turns left or right on a whim. However while the turns were random I did have an overall plan.  I’ve recently joined a Camera Group (Club sounds far too structured for us) so I was out to get photo’s for this week’s two Projects, Contrast and Foreground and despite the dull grey flat light Long Eaton provided a range of good photo opportunities particularly for the contrast theme.

I wandered down long rows of terraced houses dating back into the eighteen hundreds, past pre First World War houses, 1930’s houses all bays and gables and along roads of more modern properties. Intermingled amongst the houses I found factories and mills, workshops and yards, getting small glimpses of life here a hundred or more years ago.

Nearer the town centre some of the terraces and factories had been removed, others remain. In between new roads have been built, pubs converted to night clubs, new offices, retail units, private housing and workshops built, post WW2, producing a somewhat bizarre mish-mash of styles, colours and materials.

 If you were just walking from car to shop and back this area might be dull and boring but with a camera looking for Contrast and Foreground shots , plus thinking about Perspective and Experimentation, last week’s Project, along with what bloody F stop do I need at this shutter speed  it was interesting.

There was a colourful and busy small market along one of the pedestrianized streets where I had couple of conversations about ‘what was I taking pictures of''.

 I also went in to café for a coffee and a cake, not bad.  Earlier I’d walked through a graveyard where I saw the saddest Contrast of the day, the grave of a 5 week old baby next to one of a 96 year old man.

Moving on I made my way to the Canal, on the way crossing over my earlier track, and headed south towards the River Trent, meeting a fisherman, three dog walkers, one cyclist and one canal boat moving and several moored, plus a swan.

On reaching the Trent I turned east walking along the well surfaced path to the Cranfleet Lock.

As I continued east along the track I was nearly marmalised by two separate groups of 10 to 15 cyclists running a couple of minutes apart, all talking and generally totally unaware that anyone else might be on the path. I ended up some 3 foot, (sounds further than a metre) onto the grass, and not one of the b.ggers even gave a Hi as they passed.

I was fuming and chuntering so much I didn’t notice that I’d passed the path I need to take back to Long Eaton and I’d walked a good mile further before I realised and walked back to path going in the right direction. The OS map I was using is slightly out of date as it shows large open fields and a small pond in reality there are  huge water filled gravel pits and a small field.

I had a great day, walked nearly eight miles, got cold, warmed up again took 30 photos and will be submitting the first one I took on the day for the Contrast competition. Others are about dotted above.

Simple because I had no destination, no end point and no specific time constraint, I feel that everything I saw and everyone I met were seen differently, carrying a camera with the aim of taking photographs of specific types seem to create this slightly detached feeling. Or perhaps it was because I was doing something so free on a workday.

I must try this random walking again it was fun.

Market Bosworth

Date: 2012-02-26

Region: Leicestershire
From: Market Bosworth

Walk :  Circular

OS Sheet: Explorer 232

Parking at: Bosworth Country Park

Grid: 412032

Distance: 8.10 mls, 13.00 km 

Height Gain: 400 ft,  122 m

Height Loss: 400 ft, 122 m
Walking With: Mrs G & Katie

Notes: Mainly fields and grassed towpath, few roads or stiles, some gates

Route

From the car park head west through the town to the School, turn right up the side of the school, left down the back, across the golf course to the railway bridge and on to the canal. Follow to the bridge south of Shenton, leave canal, over bridge to the Station, Ambion Hill, Sutton Cheney, the Lawns, north up the side of Spring Wood to Bosworth Park and back to car park

Journey

Sundays walk around Market Bosworth was a typical first proper walk of the year, decided at the last minute, too much gear packed in the rucksack, in case it was cold, got lost getting there, the cameras battery was flat and we (I) had several navigation faffs on a straight forward walk.  However, the sun shone, the sky was blue, occasionally, and the wind was not too cold. It was lovely to be out on something other than a dog walk around our local fields.

From the start we played spot the signs of spring, snowdrops , bunches of crocuses, one daffodil, buds on trees and hedgerows and a cheeky robin serenading us at lunchtime, golfers all over the golf course and barges were moving along the canal.

We parked at the car park on the edge of Bosworth Country Park a large area of what I would call heathland but others might call a park. Either way it must be a real asset to the residents and visitors to Market Bosworth.

The town centre is small and neat and the square was very full of traders and shoppers enjoying the sunshine, the banter, examining the goods, buying and selling and absorbing the smells of frying Angus burgers and onions.

Heading downhill we reached the school, walking along its side and down the track to its rear and into a golf course where we had the pleasure of watching a small plane taxi along a grass strip (not on the golf course) turn, and take off, flying south west.

I had a good look at the golf course as we walked and could not help but notice that it was undulating, but in an unnatural sort of way. Some humps were too high and too steep, plus the the transitions between humps and hollows and the flatter areas were unpleasing to the eye. Plainly it had been not built on the original fields, even if they had an industrial heritage. Later in the walk, a local confirmed that several million (!) tonnes of soil etc. had been shipped in to form the golf course.

Our route crossed over the Battlefield Steam Railway line, shame there’s nothing happening on it today,  then we crossed the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and turned south along the towpath towards Shenton

Clearly the spring weather had bought people out walking and cycling and at every mooring point several of the boats had people on, most we assumed giving them a look over and tidy after the winter and getting ready for the season ahead, although one or two were moving on. We stopped and chatted to a few of the owners including those on a barge heading south, who kept pace with us for over half a mile as we walked and talked, mainly about our dog and their dogs.

 If you've read our only Blog in January, I mentioned that as I was being made redundant and taking early retirement we were thinking of getting dog, possibly a Labrador or maybe a Cairn Terrier. Well after much debate the Cairn won by a short head, and we picked up a rescue dog, Katie, from Glossop on a very, very wet and misty evening in early February. Katie is four years old, she has settled in very well, she’s friendly, usually quiet but with a loud bark. On the down side she gets car sick and we cannot let her off the lead, because if she gets out she is off at twenty miles an hour hunting every scent she can find. We have a lot of training to do.

In the past I have, on several occasions, stated that I do not like walking along canal towpaths, because they are boring and because they are so flat and so even that you walk faster than usual and every pace is the same length, resulting in sore muscles and possible injury. Yet here I am walking a canal towpath again. My only excuse is that in order to make a good walk of about the desired distance the only alternative route was along roads. So the canal was the lesser of two evils. Also it is grass, not paved and is rarely even.

We stopped at Shenton Station spend a good half hour sitting in the sunshine with a cup of tea and a Kit Kat admiring the Crocuses and listening to a disembodied voice describing how he and his mates were getting ready for the mornings battle, sharpening swords, preparing their armour and other things, over and over again. This was our introduction to Market Bosworth Battlefield.

As we proceeded up to Ambion Hill we listened to several more voices and read a bunch of explanation boards including a big one that said something along the lines of: We have told people for years that the battle of Bosworth (1485) was fought over there, now after a proper archaeological  study, the battle actually happen in a completely different direction. As a result some of the signs and explanation boards are being moved or replaced. While I found this mildly amusing,they are doing the right thing as this battle was an important English battle, a turning point in English history and even if a few of the details have moved, it is still the battlefield and Ambion Hill is a great place to see it and learn about it from. 

The walk back to Market Bosworth was spent talking as we walked with Tom and Pat, from Markfield. Tom and Pat are two charming and well travel people, with whom we had much in common.  It was a great pleasure sharing experiences, ideas and plans with them.

As I said at the start my camera battery was dead so I used the iphone for a few shots. I apologise for the lack of photos and the poor quality of these but whenever I pointed the phone to take a photo the only thing I could see was my reflection, very disconcerting.

Long Eaton, Sawley, Breaston

Date : I8 February 2012.

Area  :Derbyshire

Walk :Long Eaton, Sawley, Breaston

OS Sheet : Explorer 259 and 260

Start Grid : 448 339 End Grid : 460 339

Distance (M/k) : 8.0 miles, 12.6k

Ascent  (ft) :81 Descent (ft) :54 Excluding bridges

Route

These notes are provided to enable the walk to be plotted on a 1:25,000 map.

From the twin roundabouts in the middle of Long Eaton go west on A6005 Derby Road at the bridge over the canal turn South onto the towpath, follow to Trentlock turn right along the north bank of River Trent, to the B6540 Tamworth Road, turn left over the Trent. Follow the south bank of the Trent west under the M1 past the Aquaduct and on to Longhorse Bridge, cross, turn right along the Trent then left on to the Trent & Mersey Canal. At the lock cross over the lock gates taking the path and road to Church Wilne. Pass by the Church to take path on right to Breaston

  

Journey

 This walk is one of Andys training walks, we had planned to continue from Breaston northeast under the M1 to pick up the Erewash Canal and walk back to the start at the Derby Road, making the whole walk some 10-11 miles. Unfortunately a freezing cold wind and freezing hard driven rain, two pints and a good lunch changed our minds and we used our “twirly” cards to get the bus back to Long Eaton.

Although Long Eaton is an old town dating back to before the Doomsday book it is clear as you walk through it along the Erewash Canal to the  River Trent and back over the Trent and Mersey Canal that in the 1800 hundred’s and early twentieth century it must have been a very busy industrial town. Even today there appears to be a large number of small industrial sites and buildings dotted around. 

The towpath is surfaced in gravel bonded to bitmac which is easy for walking. Even on a cold late winter day there is plenty to see Coots, Moorhens and ducks, walkers, cyclists and fishermen, a motor boat and a number of canal boats, some occupied others looking as if they have been laid up for the winter.

As well as canals Long Eaton appears to be well endowed with railway tracks, on the Erewash we passed beneath two and as we got closer to the Trent we see a couple more lines heading for the Trent Crossing and tunnel, where the concrete towers of Ratcliffe on Soar power station looming over everything.

Walking up along the Trent we walk under one of the railways again and head for Sawley Marina for a cup of tea and a warm in front of the fire. Heading out we walk under the M1, but before we get there we suffer the noise of it, it’s effect was physical, mind numbing. Moving rapidly on, we spotted a few fishermen sitting under umbrellas around some fishing lakes formed from old gravel pits. I bet they were colder and wetter than we were.

As the Trent swings around to the South the River Derwent comes into it from the North with alongside it the start (end?) of The Trent & Mersey Canal. A hundred yards or so up the Trent stands the new Longhorse Bridge, looking absolutely stunning in the rain and murk.

The old bridge was demolished in 2003 and the new one as built in 2011. See the film of whole bridge being swung into place Here 

The only way to cross the Trent & Mersey and get to Church Wilne is to walk up to the Derwent Mouth Lock and cross over the lock gates, a tricky little exercise.

On reaching Breaston we headed for The Navigation pub, a super well run little place with a good atmosphere, good beer and excellent food. Nearly two hours later we got off the bus just up the road from where we started.

It was not the best of days to do this walk, we had a few minutes of sun then full on.  wind and rain. However, it’s a great anytime walk, albeit a bit flat and I certainly recommend it. There’s plenty to see and loads of options to vary or extend the walk as far as you like and as Andy says being close to home he can get out and do an 8-12 mile walk at almost any time with little planning or preparation.

Calver, Hassop, Pilsley, Baslow

Date : 30 December 2011

Area  :Peaks

Walk :Calver, Hassop, Pilsley

OS Sheet : OL24

Start Grid : 239 749 End Grid : 239 749

Distance (M/k) : 7.6miles, 12.25k

Ascent  (ft) :920 Descent (ft) :920

  

Route

These notes are provided to enable the walk to be plotted on a 1:25,000 map. There are a number of places to park ‘on road’ in Calver. From the crossroads on the A623, head through the village past Folds Farm, SE to Bramley Woods. Take the path SW across Bramley Lane, through Bank Wood to School Lane follow to Hassop. Take B6001 south past Home Farm to take path on left, SE to the A619, turn right, cross A619 to track to Pilsley. Pass through the village downhill to join the B6012 left to A619 into Baslow, stay on west side of the river, through Bubnell, take track on right, along the river to Calver.

Journey

After several months when we have only be able to get out for a very few short (5miles and under) local walks it was a pleasure to plan a proper walk again. Calver was selected as the start point because it is easy to get to and parking is fairly good. The Outside Shop has an outlet and café there, opposite them is the Peaklander Shop and a Garden Centre. Across the road is the Eyrie Arms a favourite end of walk drinking place, so plenty for everyone.

Our route took in sections of countryside we’ve walked before, new bits including a village we’ve not visited previously, but with a good pub for lunch.

The ridge walk through Bramley and Banks Wood is a delight at any time of year. The path undulates gently along between a moss covered dry stone wall and the steep wooded slope to the valley below. Chatsworth and Baslow can be seen to the east and the opencast mine workings to the west. iI walking northwards, however, the feel good feeling the walk creates, quickly fades when you have to tackle the slope down towards Calver. I have never managed to get up or down this slope without a lot of slipping, slithering and cursing. But I promise you it is well worth negotiating this mud bath (slight exaggeration) of a hillside to walk along the ridge.

In Hassop the track starts part way around the road to the south of Home Farm and goes through part of its yard, into the fields beyond and down to the Rymas Brook where the track crosses a ford. If you walk along this track, while you stand wondering if you can walk across the ford without getting wet, look upstream to where a small clapper bridge sits hidden among the reeds and bushes. I first spotted it one Christmas several years ago while walking back towards Chatsworth, just after I had struggled across the ford in six inches of snow, slush and ice then turned to take a photograph, there was the bridge.

A little further on, on the same walk I was nearly mown down by a bunch of 4x4’s, I only got out of their way by scrambling up a snow covered bank. Thankfully, from the condition of the track now, it looks as if 4x4’s may have been stopped.

After crossing the A619 a tree lined track climbs up the hill to Pilsley in a series of gentle bends and slopes. Here can be seen the damage wreaked by 4x4’s, deep ruts standing water, mud, loss of the stones and gravels that hold the track together, loss of natural drainage.  What was once a pleasant walk is now a nightmare of ruts, mud and water.

The Devonshire Arms in Pilsley was the perfect place to stop for lunch and timely as the first heavy rain of the day came in from the west when we were a hundred yards or so from the door.

The staff here were all very friendly and efficient, the food and beer were first class and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. This place and its partner over at Beeley, also called the Devonshire Arms, are now on our list of places to build into future walks. I highly recommend this pub

Due to the rain and the diminishing light, rather than strike out across the fields as planned we stuck to the road as far as Baslow and through Bubnell passing the weir below before finally turning off across the fields alongside the River Derwent back to Calver, stopping to talk to a nice lady and her Golden Labrador who amused us with stories of the dogs antics, bathing at the end of a walk and love of mud.

As I am being made redundant in a few months time this conversation was very interesting as Mrs G and I have been trying to decide what sort of dog we should get and Labrador is high on the list as is a Cairn. Which tells you how much argument there is to go before a final decision is made.

This was a very good, enjoyable walk, ideal for the time of year, the weather and our fitness levels. It explored a small very agreeable area of the Peaks that often gets bypassed. Unfortunately there were few usable photographs.

Happy Christmas

I hope everyone who reads this has or has had a Great Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. 

Not another Review of the Osprey Stratos36

Since November 2010 when I posted a review of a rucksack I had recently brought, the Osprey Stratos I have walked over three hundred miles most of it carrying the Stratos. This included four days on the Cumbria Way, when I also carrying much of Mrs G’s kit as well as my own, and five days across Lakeland from Maryport to Ravenglass.  So it’s about time I brought things up to date

As I wrote in 2010 the things that I liked on the sack was the airspeed back that does so much to keep my back cool and dry, the hip belt which, makes carrying the sack so stable and comfortable and the very usable pockets on the hip belt. All of which made this a great rucksack to carry on day, weekend and week walks (providing you don’t need to carry tent, bag, food etc.).

However, there were a number of points I was unsure about some were minor and stayed that way. Others I never really managed to sort out, prime amongst these was, ‘how to pack the sack’ and the way the compression straps got in the way of accessing the main compartment.

To take the compression straps first, these worked really well in compacting the bag and shaping it when lightly loaded, but whenever I needed to get anything out of the bag it was necessary to undo the lid buckles, loosen or undo the compression straps, then have to do both sets up again. The straps also reduced the usability of the zip access to the main compartment.

As far as packing the sack goes I never seemed to pack it the same way twice, despite this it carried everything I needed it to and was always comfortable.

I never did trim off the excess lengths of webbing all over the sack, but I did eventually use the walking pole loops for their designed purpose. As I said in 2010 there seem to be a lot of straps, zips and associated covers and extra bits even the rain cover, which worked well, had a large pocket of its own. As a result the Stratos weighs in at about 1400grammes which is dam near the same as my Atmos 50.

In summary the Stratos is a very good 36 litre rucksack, it is hard wearing, functional and comfortable, you can pack a lot into it and carry it all day with ease. However, I am not convinced it is a backpacking, hiking rucksack, it might be better used as a light travelling sack. I have recently been looking at the Osprey Exos 34 as I feel this is closer to my needs of a lightweight, top loading bag for winter and summer day walks, weekend walks or summer hostel, B and B walks. (it weighs, according to Osprey 990grammes).  I think the Stratos may be soon going on Ebay and in early 2012 there may well be a post here on the Exos.

Not a Review on the Suunto Vector Watch

Earlier this summer (2011) while bouncing around the interweb I landed on the Cotswold’s Outdoors site on an advert for an Axio watch, on seeing words like barometric altimeter and thermometer I became interested. Eventually I went along to their Nottingham store to have a look. For no good reason I was not impressed with the Axio, just felt, it was not for me. However I tried on the Suunto Vector, it was just the thing and a couple of weeks later I bought one.

When walking I want to know far I’d climbed or descended now was my chance to find out with a wizzy watch with a built in barometric altimeter. Just the db’s.

The Suunto, as you can see in the picture, has a black, hard plastic body and a soft plastic strap. It looks and feels tough and should be hard wearing, although the screen does seem a little vulnerable. The face is grey and split into three main areas, top, middle and bottom (officially Fields 1, 2 or 3). The middle area shows the watch functions, abbreviated as TIME ALTI BARO COMP, when selected each of these places data in the top and bottom areas, and enables access to the various associated displays, data and inputs. Around the side of the body are four buttons, top right scrolls across the menu, top left cycles through the displays and inputs for the selected menu item. Bottom right and left are basically plus and minus buttons.

Suunto provide a multi-language instruction book, unfortunately its written in that peculiar version of English normally only found in flat pack leaflets and white goods handbooks, the printing is so small, reading it made my eyes water. Fortunately I found a pdf version on the interweb, with better English and large print.

After carefully reading the instructions for TIME and consulting three watches, two clocks, two computers, three phones, a clock radio and two televisions (only the televisions showed the same time) I eventually managed to set the Suunto to the correct time.

From there it was all downhill, nothing I read about ALTI, BARO or COMP made any sense, the buttons I pressed, apparently had a will of their own. I even checked that I had the correct watch for the handbook, but all I got was a headache.

I left it to stew for a few days, slowly resolving that as an engineer, I should try and solve this logically. I clearly needed to determine the relationships between pressing button A and what subsequently appeared in Fields 1, 2 or 3 then noted how this changed depending on how many times I pressed button B or C.

I started a spreadsheet and plodded through the instructions line by line establishing the effect that each button press or hold had on which part of the screen. I carefully tabulated the button presses required to set the time, date and alarms. To ensure I had it down right, using the spread sheet I went through the TIME steps on the watch several times, before proceeding to repeat the process with ALTI, BARO and COMP. I admit to skipping most of the stopwatch bit plus the entire COMP (compass) bit as by this point I felt life was far too short.

Did this help, Yes big time, I now had some simple logical instructions giving the steps for each process.

The next move was to set the Suunto up so that I would be able to record the changes of height on a walk. Nothing in the instructions actually helped with this. As far as I could work out, all it explained was the processes, it did not give the story, the algorithm, to connect the processes together to produce a result.

However, on the Suunto website I found an article that more or less explained how it all works. It took half a dozen walks before I fully sorted it out. The big improvement came by changing the recording interval from the recommended 10 minutes to 1 minute. Getting accuracy apparently depends on setting the Sea Level Barometric pressure, and several times a day re-setting the Relative Height at a point of known height.

With the display in BARO mode the watch also displays the temperature, I found that quite useful. The compass works ok, but my Silva is far more flexible.

In short the Suunto Vector looks and feels good and has a clear display. Using the buttons is easy enough on a warm day. On a cold day it will be more difficult.

I do have several beefs though, the Vector is described by Suunto as a wrist top computer, which is blatant nonsense. As the barometer and thermometer are affected by temperature you cannot wear it in contact with the body as the body temperature affects the workings, I strap mine on to a carbineer on my rucksack shoulder strap.

Secondly, I know my hearing is not first class, but the alarm is so weedy I would not hear it if I wore the Vector as an ear ring, let alone under winter clothing or in a noisy environment.

Finally I have worn the Suunto mainly when out walking and the altimeter results are extremely variable out of 18 walks there are only two where the altimeter data is anything close to the ascent and descent calculated from the GPS track by my mapping software. I know maps are by definition inaccurate but the results are different by a large margin. Although checking against spot heights or even contours or the GPS the results don’t seem to be too far out.

10m height dif.

I feel I should persist with the Altimeter but am getting disheartened. To date the only functions I have found useful and accurate is the time and the temperature. As it appears impossible to know which ascent descent data set is most accurate it seems pointless proceeding with the altimeter.

So the question to be answered is, is it useful or will it become just another piece of expensive gear in the back of the cupboard or on Ebay, time will tell (no pun intended ‘honest’). I think it may well be the latter.