Our Warts’ Portuguese representative uttered these words as we were crossing a series of deep groughs all draining into the deep and dark appropriately named Blackden valley. I suppose there was some sympathy amongst those who were struggling up the peat slime sides of the groughs but most of us kept our counsel as the fired up Cap’n stormed ahead, thoroughly enjoying himself. Whether this new found energy and enthusiasm had originated from his official crowning as Captain, we weren’t sure as he later revealed at the YBI his smart new “Captain” badge.
We’d been forewarned of the likely dampness of our outing from the start at Blackden car park. Our un-warmed up legs were immediately faced with the slippery slope down to the bridge over the roaring Ashop River and then the forceful Blackden Brook which required support for us from some conveniently hanging branches. At least the mud on our shoes from the slippery slope was washed away. In contrast to most previous Warts’ outings, our climb up to Seal Stones was in the sunset daylight, we could see where we were going!
Uncharacteristically, we joined the edge path at Seal Stones but, characteristically, we then left it to take the direct line to Hartshorn via the proliferation of groughs. Thus started our Great Grough Grind, a classic Harmerian traverse to please all, perhaps?
There were at least 12 slimy (well-watered) groughs to negotiate which adds a significant height climb to our outing over a nominally flat bit of land. So, good training? Our mini-group of Moz and I were guided through the grough maze by the torch bearing sirens, i.e. the main group, to Hartshorn for a short rendezvous, We continued the Grind to Bob’s Rock passing an unnamed rock which we think is begging for a name. Please send suggestions to the OS.
“Contour, cross the shelf, reach the wall corner, skirt around another shelf before dropping down to the ford below Dean head to join the path” These were our detailed navigational instructions to get we seven to the final section of the outing. This we did, with a few variations. After all, the Slow Warts are currently in a new era of blunt rather than pinpoint navigation, stone’s throw precision (or lack of) will do. A quick descent to the River Ashop crossing for our mud bath climb, to the car park, to ensure we finished with (very) muddy shoes, clearly a sign of a good outing.
At the YBI, Peter (the farmer) was holding court and listening patiently to descriptions of our little adventure before drifting off to the bar during our confessions of getting lost on the hills. This somehow lead on to the brightest star in the sky and black holes which, in my error, I assumed was the chasm I had fallen into and struggled to get out of during my descent into Blackden. No, it was about black holes in space. Subsequently, here followed a long and detail exchange of information on the Slow Warts WhatsApp. on red dwarf stars, Hawking radiation, event horizons, proton decay, transport mechanisms…………….. Times and distances for these are measured in billions of light years, on the other hand we took two hours to do four miles. As always, though, it was a splendid evening,
Thanks to all.
Graham
Our route, thanks to Chris
