We were pleased to welcome Chris back, with his Barber bloomers, after his sojourn in warm and sunny Portugal although he was probably not very keen on the wet and windy weather facing the Slow Warts setting off from Mortimer Road/Thornseat Road. We had our usual discussions on health status and choice of clothing, how many Buffalo tops, undergarments, waterproofs, balaclavas and gloves. As it turned out, we needed plenty of protection from the weather. Read on!
In Andy’s absence in the Lakes, Tom had devised a tour of the more difficult-to-find and yet familiar check points, especially in the ever-present thick mist we were enjoying. First one was the Cantilever or Rocking Stone which had sadly been made more difficult to find by the felling of its tall distinguishing sapling. However, efforts had been made (by AH and GB) the previous Saturday to restore it by wedging its remains in rocks nearby. Second was the remains of the Hunter wreck and third was New Cross (remains of).
The straight track climb up to the disused quarry was our warm up, some of us walking and some running to wake up the muscles, lungs and hearts whilst adjusting head torches for maximum illumination effect in the reflective mist. The quarry remains are possibly a good place for training for the Lake District terrain with all the vegetation covered rocks and ankle cracking holes, although, I guess, we’d all prefer to actually be in the Lakes. There is also a mysterious cabin with a mast which feels quite sinister, we hurried (?) by. Whilst we did reach the two cabins, it took a bit of finding the gates through the walls on the way, beyond the quarry.
The rain was now beating down on we five Warts though we had the comfort (?) of running on the track by the shooting butts. As Warts though, tracks are frowned upon so we dived into the heather towards the Cantilever Stone. Both Tom and Roger are to be congratulated for leading us to the Stone without any wandering. Tom’s map shows it to be on the “e” of Wet Slack marked on the OS map. Of course, Hobson Moss was its usual challenge with two steep sides and a slippery stream crossing to negotiate. It was still raining.

However many times I fight my way through deep heather, the training effect seems to be negligible but I hope that it does some good (maybe satisfaction at surviving the hard work?). After a serious stretch of more heather, we were treated to some more precision navigating from Roger and Tom, as we arrived at the wreck site. We paid for our pleasure however with a long crossing via Dukes Road and Cartledge Flat and their slippery slabs to near New Cross. Despite having our navigation experts we didn’t find it, so we gave up looking and then stumbled on it. By the way it was still raining.
More heather and rocks were enjoyed before we joined the path to the car park where, apparently, two cars had been “keyed”, as discovered the following morning. We had parked on a tarmacked space and we were not blocking any vehicle access.
Not knowing this at the time we had a fine opportunity to warm up in front of the Strines Inn’s fire where Tim organised the seating around it, we took turns! Meanwhile Chris rang home to get his bath ready for his return.
In the warmth of the Inn, we decided it was a good challenging outing so, thanks to all.
Graham
