Such are the demands of the Winter Olympics on us, that it was deemed that tonight’s run would be limited in distance, height and, hence, time. This way we would be in peak form for the Saturday contest from Blackden, a repeat of the Summer Olympics except run anti clockwise instead of clockwise. This way has an immediate climb and then an immediate descent of Dean Hill for a bit of a warm up. So, for this pre-Olympics run, the 13 of us (including a new, young and fast Slow Wart, if there is such a person) started west from Strines Inn and then over Strines Moor. We had the benefit of about 40 minutes of daylight, albeit with the sun in our eyes so shades might have possibly been useful but for making the ground almost impossible to see. We do suffer for our sport!
Our target was the one-time whisky stop (the bottle was contaminated by unknown persons) of Blackhole which we reached after a steep descent into Strines Dike and a climb out and then up the left-hand side of Running (we didn’t) Moss Dike. So far, the actual Blackhole hasn’t been found which, I guess, is fortunate to avoid inflicting any time-warp effect or any disappearance into a real geological hole. Having by-passed such possible hazards, we headed for the comfort of Cakes of Bread. On the way there, there was a call from our world champion orienteer that we were heading for the wrong rocks, according to his compass. However, the group ignored his call, at its peril perhaps, until it was admitted that the compass had been wrong before. Unsurprisingly, there was a strong recommendation that the compass be quickly disposed of, as we continued to follow the original line and reach the Cakes of Bread.
Not until easier(?) running is reached, do we appreciate the ground we’d be covering up to now. However, the easier ground was the flagged section to Back Tor so the initial relief was followed soon by the desire for softer ground, some of which at the edge of the flags, had been roughed up by a layer of stones to prevent such excursions into the soft adjacent ground. We nevertheless persevered to reach the soft caresses of the peaty path to Howshaw Tor. Whenever in this area, it is usual practice for the Slow Warts to visit the blockhouse which is now beginning to show its unknown, but long age as it slowly is eroded by wind, rain, frost and snow. We were now in some good mown-heather and soft ground which increased our speed especially those wanting to get their alcohol fix at the pub. It was quiet when we arrived there and we gloomily (until the alcohol did its magic) discussed our obituaries but fortunately we were diverted from this by the group of night swimmers and later still by the later starting Medium Warts.
It was so busy we even had to queue to be served but despite all these adversities, dazzling sunshine, compass malfunction, flagstone running, obituary talk, and queuing it was a grand evening out, just the right preparation for the Saturday Olympians.
A wonderful outing, thanks to all.
Graham
Thanks to Chris for the track.