Last week’s epic Alport run combined with the wisdom developed in the Yorkshire Bridge Inn then, tempted us into territory bordering the White Peak, hence our start this week from The Grouse Inn on a route devised by Moz from there. In an interval from what seems like continual downpours, we were fortunate to have no rain during our venture into foreign parts. However, the accumulation of water over the rainy weeks before had brought the paths (yes, paths!) into tip top condition. The descent across a field from the Grouse was not a promise of what was to come through Hay Wood. Open moorland has the occasional challenge of bogs, tussocks and heather but paths in the wood had the added excitement of rocks, slippery tree roots, low head banging branches and waterlogged leaves in flowing water. This outing had indeed proper Warting conditions though all this whilst, at times, going past the garden fences of the Nether Padley grand houses which somewhat reduced the Wartiness effect. The descent into Grindleford station did however bring the Wartiness quotient up to standard, with its landslip partially blocking the taped off path.
Having successfully negotiated this obstacle, we were plunged deep into civilisation near the station, past the houses and chapel for Andy’s proposed time trial up the old quarry incline to Bole Hill. In the darkness, it wasn’t clear who had won the prestigious title but we were encouraged or harangued in our efforts by Tim and Andy waiting at the top. There’s something about the large blocks used for the incline which reminded me (only) of Aztec buildings where mortarless joints were used between blocks. Perhaps these mental wanderings indicated some sort of overactive imagination brought on by a need for the dry and sunny weather of south America. Snapping out of this day/night dream, we climbed up to Millstone Edge quarry via our second road crossing, so increasing our civilisation quotient, and then on to Over Owler Tor where a bit of astronomical observation was supported by Chris’s technology, Venus and Jupiter, I think, were spotted. Our planetary deliberations were interrupted by the earthly need to negotiate the rocky descent to the Surprise View car park via Mother Cap and a deep hole which Moz decided to explore in some detail.
Extricating himself from his hole, Moz took us over our third road crossing to search for the stone circle on Lawrence Field. Direct bearings and technology returned us to a brief taste of moorland terrain which felt surprisingly pleasant. However, in our search for the circle we appropriately went round in circles with Chris and his technology having declared that we were in its centre at least a couple of times. Whether it was an ancient mysterious power (which also discontinued Chris’s tracking system) or whether it was our navigation, we didn’t manage to find it and, instead we arbitrarily declared a random stone to be its centre, see the pointing fingers below.
A rocky and watery descent to the bridge over the river Burbage (Brook) provided us with a bit more excitement whilst also maintaining our sock wetness before our fourth road crossing towards Yarncliff Quarry. The civilisation factor here increased significantly as we toured the four or five rubbish skips blocking our way so we backtracked almost to the road and climbed up the edge of the quarry and into Longshaw Country Park (how civilised!) and back to The Grouse where we were welcomed by legendary Dark Peakers Dave Lockwood and Roger Baumeister. We were also treated to some nostalgic photos and race results (both about 30 or 40 years old) brought by Andy who’d been doing a bit of tidying up at home.
It had been a tough Slow Warts’ outing even though there was a significantly higher level of civilisation than our normal quota. Many thanks to Moz for a great night out!
Thanks to Chris for the track, we did actually get to the Stone Circle!
There’s been a deluge of requests, one from webmaster John, for a photo of Chris’s thigh warmers, i.e. Barber’s Bloomers so here is a highly disguised (in darkness) view, for the sake of good taste.
Graham