Don’t be fooled by the title. This was not a gentle outing for the seven Slow Warts from Grindleford bridge and church. Whilst it wasn’t the wild setting we normally start from, the route set by Moz required serious concentration. It is autumn and the leaves had been scattered deeply in the woods hiding all the rocks and holes for us to trip over or fall into, which we invariably did. This was all to come.
First, our start was across a cropped meadow allowing us to sprint (?) like cows released in spring after being confined in winter quarters. However, our idyll was spoiled by an increase in gradient as we approached the notorious “Incline”, a challenge to run and race up the old part of the quarry workings. Slow Warts and racing do not normally sit, or run, easily together but, without a formal start or finish we made the miraculous transition from pasture running to racing, up the incline. We did regather our senses and our breath at the top, dreaming of or hallucinating about past glories.
Moz was not one for slackening the pressure as he led us through the quarry workings over rocks, knarly tree roots and under low hanging branches, not to mention the inevitable leaf litter surprising us with the hidden hazards beneath. Such was the concentration needed to survive without falling, that I was convinced we were being followed by a pair of head torches. I was assured by the others that there was no such thing and I must have been hallucinating. We were going uphill to a wall which had to be climbed using an unsettling wobbly stone which added to the jeopardy of being almost blinded by the car headlights when we got over the wall at Surprise View,,,,,,,,which it was.
Previous efforts to find a stone circle in this area above Lawrencefield Quarry, had failed so we abandoned any ambition to attempt to find it again and, instead, concentrated on finding a fireplace built into the remains of a stone shed. It is almost remarkable that the Slow Warts can get so much enjoyment from finding curiosities like this. We’re easy to please.
A moor crossing beckoned which combined rocks and leaves but was level (ish). At sometimes the rocks almost looked like stones for a circle or at least a part circle (hallucinating again) but that theory was blown apart by some very large brutish boulders which appeared out of the darkness. At the Padley River crossing we were tempted by the childish sport of rock hopping but thankfully we became sensible and used the bridge over to the Longshaw estate. Our trundle through the estate wasn’t exciting although I did recount the sighting of a fox crossing the path years ago, I think Tim was mildly interested.
The lights of the Grouse were skirted round in a myriad of paths through the bracken until we reached the top of the first climb of the Grindleford Race where, many years ago, I nearly knocked myself out on a low branch. This prompted a list of near fatal experiences encountered by Roger and Tim which made the tricky rocky descent to the cars almost feel easy in comparison.
To improve the mood, we drove to The Sir William Hotel for the post run analysis and a political discussion about the American election and the various wars including against the Taliban in Afghanistan (there was some unfortunate misinterpretation of my remarks, then!). How did we get on to that? Thankfully, as always, our outing was uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable, thanks to Moz and to all.
Graham
