I don’t know whether the weather for the Warts’ outing triggered thoughts of the Mamas and Papas song and holidays in San Francisco or Australia but it was certainly a pleasant distraction from the wind and rain. Conversations ranged from fell running on roads (yes!) in San Fran and pure white sandy beaches in Australia, all in the heat of their local sun. However, at tonight’s jaunt, not only did we have darkness, of course, wind (a dominant feature during last week’s outing from Blackden), but we had the extra ingredient of rain, cold wet snow and saturated ground for our planned jaunt from Strines to Black Hole, Cakes of Bread, a stream junction in Mill Brook and Howshaw Tor. Preparations for this trip did include the wearing of a various number of layers, six for me (only one Buffalo), down to just a couple of layers for the hard men. Neoprene socks and waterproof (?) leggings seemed to be de rigueur as were balaclavas (two for me).
Thus clad, we reached Strines Dyke to feel the gathering strength of the wind and rain and, though we were spared the snow here, there was plenty of heather to slow us down and to keep feet and lower legs suitably numbed. We didn’t live up to Running Moss Dyke as we walked to the Black Hole area with just a smidgen of running. Remember, we have now been officially named the Slow Warts so our reputation has to be preserved. There may be a Fast Warts but as yet we haven’t met any.
We persevered against the wind and, by now, also the snow, for some time when white hares were seen (the total count for the night was five) and did reach the flag stones on Derwent Edge. It was near here on a previous birthday run for Andy that we managed to have a dysfunctional navigation moment in the snow by descending the Foulstone track mistaking it for the path, appropriately, to Lost Lad. It seems that the combination of Andy’s birthday run (today), snow, Derwent Edge and poor visibility (big snow-flakes reflecting torch lights) combine to confuse us, as tonight; we didn’t know whether to turn left or right on the flagstones to reach Cakes of Bread. However, we did finally decide to turn left. The next query was, where were the Cakes? We guessed where to turn off the flagstones and then wandered about until we saw them but only from about 5m away. The comfort of the shelter from the wind and the cold conditions caused us to rethink the plan. There was even pressure to do more running, and on the flagstones! So, we decided to give the stream junction a miss and head for Back Tor, then to Howshaw Tor and back. Whilst the run along the flags was mildly warming, a considerable number were underwater thus keeping our feet well refreshed.
The sleety wind along Derwent Edge concentrated cooling on our left sides so it was It was a bit of a relief to have the cooling instead on the back of our heads as we changed direction from Howshaw towards Strines. Even though we were beginning to warm or perhaps glow, it still seemed a long way back through fully grown or mown heather to the car park. The refreshment (not the beer) was not over as, at the car park, we divested ourselves of wet kit and struggled to put dry kit onto wet skin. It almost tempted me to buy a dry robe that swimmers use but the cost is prohibitive and I suppose it’s not the best fashionable wear for the pub. Conversations there were, as always, wide ranging; Australia, again, Andy’s birthday run in the Trough of Bowland, volunteering in the Peak District and, of course, tonight’s weather which really did make the outing yet another memorable one.
Hurrah for the Slow Warts!
Graham