Well anyway, it was nearly Halloween when we gathered at the Hagg Hostel car park, nearly filling it. Despite gathering early, we did decide to wait this time until 5pm (remember King’s Tree?) and it proved to be useful. Two people came down from the hostel direction asking if there was a bus stop at the car park. Indeed, there was but unfortunately it was for the Glossop direction, not for Sheffield. After some head scratching deciding where the nearest stop was, it was Tim H who came up with his generous solution and gave them a lift to the Ladybower. The bus followed almost immediately they left and then sped past them at the Ladybower. However, they had friends there so they hopefully managed to get back and, yes, we did wait for Tim to start our clockwise Crookstone circuit.
Excitement over (Warts are easily excited), it’s always a challenge to plunge steeply down a dark and slippery forest immediately after leaving the comfort of the car, to reach the bridge. It is not as challenging as one of the Westend starts, the steep and slippery climb through the forest from the car park there. Mountain bikers tell me that the track up to Hope Cross is known as the rock garden but, after the significant amount of recent rain, it is now more like a rocky cascade. At least it’s useful for cleaning shoes after the muddy start. Spoiler alert, they do get dirty again! Without Michael and Louis who turned back (out of sorts), we now continued our track running (yes, would you believe it), down to the ford at Jaggers Clough for more shoe washing in preparation maybe for the formal procedures at the quarry, the spiritual home of Warts’ gatherings. A proposal, no idea what, was made, seconded and accepted all in the space of less than a minute. Please note, no blazers were worn. As befits such an auspicious occasion, there was a scramble, literally, to exit the quarry for a session of deep heather wading, ah, it’s good to be back in the thick of it again. We think we did reach 444, there was certainly a pile of stones but we weren’t quite sure whether it was 444 or not. It is ironic that Warts eschew easy running yet they spend time and energy searching for the easier running over burnt or mown heather. Tonight was the same, it took a bit of heather wading to reach the relatively newly mown heather patch for the climb up to the edge path.
By this time the northerly wind and rain was beginning to refresh us or, maybe, it was cooling our brains into confusion. We nearly descended at Coffin Rock without going to the Knoll and I don’t think we even reached it, we didn’t see its characteristic flat rock. Nevertheless, on we went aiming for the initial part of the Crashout descent to reach the wall. We did descend but with a bit of a drift to the right which brought us to the main track from Coffin rock. Is it true that the sign of good navigation is to retrieve the route after an error? In that case, we were good navigators, a short correction brought us back on course for our sometimes-muddy descent through the woods and back to the car.
The YB provided us with a good welcome and good drinks though the Punk IPA was bit on the cool side. Nevertheless, we were well satisfied and refreshed after yet another fine adventure. Thanks to all.
Graham