We were enticed by Andy’s promise that his proposed route from Midhopestones elbow “should be within the 2 hours”. Despite this, there was a low turnout of 5 including John and Moz from the opposite end of our Dark Peak territory.
The Slow Warts’ ability to control the Wednesday weather is remarkable, as yet again we had the pleasure not only of variable mistiness but also a fine drizzle which combined with the oncoming darkness was anticipated with relish, I think. First, we discussed our wardrobes, Roger had brought three versions of his waterproof tops, I think he chose version 2 and Andy used his recently bought slightly flashy one to replace his much duck-tape-repaired grey camouflaged one, And, three of us decided to wear head torches despite there being some daylight, it was too much faff to fit them part way round.
So, this perhaps curious looking group set off down the concrete track, a very misleading surface compared with what was to come. Our first target was Pike Lowe, direct, a large proportion of the way being track including the orange dip section, some sort of iron bearing outcrop or some malingering ooze, perhaps, nevertheless we bravely splashed through until we reached the combined thrill of the ever growing heather and hidden rocks, a foretaste of things to come.
In the smidgin of daylight we could actually just see the summit, nevertheless I had by now, resorted to the torch to try to avoid any falls, the results of a previous one (in the Hunter wreck race) having decorated my face rather elegantly. Our bearing from summit to Tom’s Tree was 210⁰ which we intently followed to shouts of a bit right, or left. Andy’s knowledge of the terrain caused him to suggest either a new patch of bracken had appeared or we were not in the place we expected to be, the latter being the most likely. However, after a strenuous stretch of deep and ever growing heather we plunged into Hawthorn Clough to be faced with a steep climb-exit through more vexatious vegetation for, we hoped, a straightforward dash to Hawthorn Clough.
It was, and as we continued up the clough (see John’s track below), I found myself seeing tree-like features in the mist, hallucinating perhaps? However, on the basis Slow Warts tend to avoid doing any unnecessary descent, we continued to go up the clough assuming we hadn’t yet reached Tom’s Tree. To recognise our failure, we photo’d the event and John’s later discovery using an old “successful” track , X marks the tree position, that we were only a few metres from it, on our ramblings.
Time was now pressing and we had to return towards the “motorway”, a thin muddy path running past Pike Lowe to Cut Gate, very much a relief from the endless deep heather striding we’d enjoyed to get there. Surprisingly, it was only a few strides on this path to reach the mighty Cut Gate, a rocky path/stream which made the deep heather feel pleasant, by comparison. It was about here that Andy’s shoe split apart revealing a rather forlorn sock, the only protection his foot had. Our next target was the plastic purple patchwork track which led to Jim O’s favourite descent down Sugden Clough. This was a pleasant mainly grassy slope which encouraged running (yes!) which we’d done very little of so far. By this time, we’d also endured a fair amount drizzle turning to rain so we got to the cars well and truly battered and wet and tired. In fact we’d been out for so long, nearly 3 hours, that the nearly White Peakers drank at The YBI and the rest of us at The Plough.
An exceptional and memorable evening, Thanks to all.
Graham
Our track with Tom’s Tree shown by a X. With many thanks to John
