Four Inns Walk | |||
---|---|---|---|
Location | Derbyshire | ||
Country | England | ||
Date | 1957 | ||
Defunct | 2019 | ||
The Four Inns was a fell race/hiking event held annually over the high moorlands of the Northern Peak District between 1957 and 2019. It took place mainly in Derbyshire (though it started in Yorkshire and, near the end, made a short detour into Cheshire), in northern England. It was organised by the Scout Association. It was a competitive event, without an overnight camp (although teams must be equipped to bivouac if the conditions are severe enough to warrant it). It was first held as a Rover Scout event in 1957, but was later opened to other teams of experienced hill walkers and fell runners.
The event last ran in 2019 when reduced interest from members of the Scouting Association caused the organisers to end the event. [1]
The event was undertaken in teams of three or four, for safety reasons, and at least two of these team members had to be at least 17 (the others may be 16) on the day of the event. An amount of equipment had to be carried by the team, including survival bags, emergency rations, a first-aid kit, and a group shelter. Any member of a team was allowed to drop out at any point, but the rest of the team were not permitted to continue the event unless they were in a group of not less than 3, or more than 7 people (which can be formed by combining two groups together). The remaining team members had to carry all of the safety equipment. Any team that had not reached the checkpoint at Chapel-en-le-Frith before 21:15 was not allowed to complete the rest of the event. No dogs were allowed to accompany the walkers. [2]
The 40-mile (65 km) hike started at the local church of Holmbridge. The first of the 12 checkpoints was the site of The Isle of Skye Inn, then the route headed south, crossing the flanks of Black Hill. Next, it passed through Hey Moss, Crowden, Tor Side, Bleaklow, and Doctor's Gate to the Snake (Pass) Inn. The next checkpoint was over the Kinder plateau to the Nag's Head Inn in Edale. The route then passed through Chapel-en-le-Frith, White Hall, and the Goyt Valley to the Cat and Fiddle Inn, finally descending to Buxton for the finish. [3]
Usually, two thirds of the teams finished the event, in times between 8 and 16 hours (the course record of 6 hours 38 minutes was set in 2013). However, some teams took longer than this, and some took over 20 hours. [4] At most of the checkpoints, hot drinks and sandwiches were given to the competitors, and several Mountain Rescue teams were on hand to ensure their safety.
A number of trophies were available for teams that completed the event. [5] These are:
Trophy | Awarded for | Event Record + Year |
---|---|---|
Four Inns Cup | Fastest Overall team | Too Much Fibre - 6 hrs 38 mins (2013) |
President's Trophy | Fastest Scout team | Flipper's Gang - 6 hrs 45 mins (2010) |
Eric Thompson Memorial Trophy | Fastest mixed team | Carnethy Hill - 7 hrs 48 mins (2008) |
George Keeling Memorial Trophy | Fastest novice non-Scout team | Dicky's Dream Team - 8 hrs 35 mins (2010) |
The Innsman Trophy | Fastest team with all team members over 40 years of age | Macclesfield Harriers - 7 hrs 19 mins (2005) |
Freda Thompson Trophy | Fastest Scout team with all members under 25 | Viking VSU 'B' - 8 hrs 9 mins (1983) |
Derbyshire Plate | Fastest Scout team representing a Group outside Derbyshire | Thrust - 8 hrs 8 mins (2011) |
Falcon Trophy | Fastest female team | Run Like A Girl - 9 hrs 28 mins (2009) |
Kim Gale Trophy | Fastest novice Scout Team | Endurance Danzz - 9 hrs 59 mins (2017) |
Three Rover Scouts, aged 19, 21, and 24, died in the 1964 event. The youngest was a member of the 32nd Huddersfield (Dalton) Rover Crew and the older two were from the Birmingham University Rover Crew. Travelling lightly laden and without support, they were overtaken by deteriorating weather, including 30 mph winds, heavy rain, and temperatures from 0 to 7 °C above the Snake Pass. The youngest of the group got into trouble in the upper reaches of the Alport valley. One of his team members summoned help and he was brought down to Alport Castles Farm by the Glossop Rover Crew. He was taken to hospital but died later. The two other scouts who died were in a separate team, but in the same area. A third member of that team was found in the Alport valley and taken to safety, but he was unable to give accurate information about where the rest of the team were. Because of the worsening weather, the search had to be called off during the night, but it was resumed on Sunday morning. However, it was not until Monday afternoon that the first body was recovered. By Tuesday, 370 people were involved with the search and the second body was recovered later that morning. [6] (In that year, when the event fell in mid-March, only 22 of the initial field of over 240 finished.)
The incident was partially responsible for the foundation of the Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation. [7]
A respiration and metabolism project, devised to identify the metabolic and biochemical basis for this tragedy, was performed during the 1965 event by the Medical Research Council, with young volunteers. There is a memorial tablet to the three Scouts in Holy Trinity Church, Edale, dedicated in a memorial service held on Sunday, 22 May 1966. There is also a small memorial cairn in the Alport valley, at approximately 53°25′40″N1°48′31″W / 53.4278°N 1.8085°W . Presumably this is near to where the two scouts were found.
The Upper Derwent Valley is an area of the Peak District National Park in England. It largely lies in Derbyshire, but its north eastern area lies in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Its most significant features are the Derwent Dams, Ladybower, Derwent and Howden, which form Ladybower Reservoir, Derwent Reservoir and Howden Reservoir respectively.
Mam Tor is a 517 m (1,696 ft) hill near Castleton in the High Peak of Derbyshire, England. Its name means "mother hill", so called because frequent landslips on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of "mini-hills" beneath it. These landslips, which are caused by unstable lower layers of shale, also give the hill its alternative name of Shivering Mountain.
Edale is a village and civil parish in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, whose population was 353 at the 2011 Census. Edale, with an area of 7,030 acres (2,840 ha), is in the Borough of High Peak.
Castleton is a village and civil parish in the High Peak district of Derbyshire, England, at the western end of the Hope Valley on the Peakshole Water, a tributary of the River Noe, between the Dark Peak to the north and the White Peak to the south. The population was 642 at the 2011 Census.
Hope is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Peak District, in England. The population at the 2011 Census was 864. It lies in the Hope Valley, at the point where Peakshole Water flows into the River Noe. To the north, Win Hill and Lose Hill stand either side of the Noe.
High Peak is a local government district with borough status in Derbyshire, England, covering a high moorland plateau in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. The district stretches from Holme Moss in the north to Sterndale Moor in the south, and from Hague Bar in the west to Bamford in the east. The population of the borough taken at the 2011 Census was 90,892. The borough is unusual in having two administrative centres for its council, High Peak Borough Council; the offices are in Buxton and Glossop. Other towns include Chapel-en-le-Frith, Hadfield, New Mills and Whaley Bridge.
Kinder Scout is a moorland plateau and National Nature Reserve in the Dark Peak of the Derbyshire Peak District in England. Part of the moor, at 636 metres (2,087 ft) above sea level, is the highest point in the Peak District, in Derbyshire and the East Midlands.
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Ten Tors is an annual weekend hike in early May, on Dartmoor, southwest England. Organized by the British Army, starting in 1960, it brings together teams of six young people, with the 2,400 young participants hiking to checkpoints on ten specified tors. The majority of entrants are schools, colleges, Scout groups and Cadet squadrons from South West England, though groups from across the UK have regularly taken part, as have teams from Australia and New Zealand. However, from 2012, only teams from the South West of England are eligible to take part, due to the large numbers of entrants.
Hayfield is a village and civil parish in High Peak, Derbyshire, England, with a population of around 2,700. The village is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of New Mills, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south of Glossop and 10 miles (16 km) north of Buxton, in the basin of the River Sett.
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The Three Towers Hike is a Scouting-organised, downland hiking competition held annually in early spring, covering footpaths in West Berkshire and South Oxfordshire. It is organised by a team of scout leaders from Reading Central, Loddon, Taceham Hundred and Pang Valley Scout Districts, all of which are within the Scout County of Royal Berkshire of the Scout Association.
Scouting activities can be found throughout the English region of the East Midlands. The largest number of Scouts and volunteer leaders in the region is linked to the Scout Association of the United Kingdom, while there is also a presence of traditional Scouting groups, such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through five Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which largely follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within although in Lincolnshire the former Humberside county is still used. There are also a number of Scouting clubs within Universities in the region which are affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation. Scouting organisations at every level of the hierarchy also own and operate campsites and activity centres in the area for the benefit of Scouts, Guides and other youth groups.
William Francis "Bill" Waters was Scouts Victoria's Headquarters Commissioner for Rover Scouts between 1930 and 1965.
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Ivančena is a stone cairn erected as a memorial for five Scouts, members of the Silesian Scout Resistance, who were executed in April 1945 in Cieszyn, modern-day Poland, for their part in the Czech resistance to Nazi occupation during World War II. The monument is located on Lysá hora, a mountain in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids in the Czech Republic. Annually near Saint George's Day, Czech Scouts make a pilgrimage to the site.
The Peak District Mountain Rescue Organisation (PDMRO) is a UK registered charity which was formed in 1964. The purpose of PDMRO is "to save life and alleviate distress, primarily in Upland and Mountain areas". This is achieved by conducting search and rescue missions for walkers, climbers and missing persons in and around the Peak District National Park.
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The English calamity was a hiking disaster which happened on the Schauinsland near Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 17 April 1936. A group of twenty-seven English schoolboys were stranded after they were led up the mountain by their teacher, Kenneth Keast, who ignored multiple warnings of poor weather conditions. While hiking along the crest of the mountain, the ill-prepared group became disoriented due to fog and an ongoing snowstorm. With the intervention of residents from a nearby village, the majority of the group were returned to safety. Five students died from exhaustion.
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