Yes, it is a well-used phrase but attempting to extricate myself, in the darkness and the rain, from the flooding Hobson Moss Dike, it seemed as if there was indeed little choice. Every big effort to climb up the deep bracken and heather on the bank was followed by a slide back into the rushing waters of the dike. I suppose there were choices, stay in the cooling waters, not too attractive, or persevere up the steep embankment. I did the latter with existential thoughts of why was I doing this and why am I here. The reason, of course, was to complete the Hunter Wreck race.
The classic conditions of heavy rain and wind in the second half of the race were not conducive to fast times by the old and Slow Warts, however despite these conditions the overall record was broken by Tom Saville who was an hour faster than we Slow Warts! The sight of him passing at twice our speed was not good for our morale but probably very good for his, so we did have our use. We had set off 30 minutes before Tom from the gas station and he had caught us (Andy, Michael and I) as we approached the Hunter wreck which is not a very visible checkpoint, it being a thin bit of a spar, only about 30cm tall and hidden in a shallow crater bog. But, the first check point, New Cross (remains of), is also similarly small, is the same height but is a substantial rock with a hollow carved in it, presumably to take the base of the New Cross (?). Fortunately, the final checkpoint, Emlin, is somewhat bigger and presents a fine landmark silhouette against the glow of Sheffield.
Our 6.30pm start group had the pleasure of the last rays of the sun and no rain to enjoy though the westerly wind spoiled the otherwise perfect conditions. As with most current moorland experiences, the overgrown undergrowth did not make the going any easier. Nevertheless, we stragglers reached the shooting cabins before taking the last of any good track conditions up to the Landrover turning circle, at shooting butt number 10. The combination of the half light and the low sun in our faces made it difficult to see ahead but keeping to the bearing of 230⁰, New Cross could be seen on the ill-defined and rounded high point. A 100⁰ change in direction (to 330⁰) set us off, now in the dark, towards the Dukes Road where a final finessing of the direction to 340⁰ took us to one of the upper tributaries of Oaken Clough and thence to the wreck. Now, there was one more major bearing (110⁰) to be kept along the “Corridor” route across the nightmarish Hobson Moss Dike then Wet Slack Ridge before attempting to find and thread our way through the burnt heather patches. We were assisted (?) in this by the powerful following wind carrying rather too much cooling rain, to the welcome Emlin. There was one more critical bearing from there. The temptation to head directly for the bridge over Emlin Dike, is to be resisted so, learning from a previous time wasting and frustrating experience, the direction to be taken from the trig should be almost the opposite of that used to get to the trig. So 260⁰ should lead to the track besides a series of shooting butts. Turn off at number 4 and descend to the bridge. Bingo!
In brief, gas station start, shooting cabins, shooting butt 10, 230⁰ to CP 1, 330⁰ then 340⁰ to CP 2, 110⁰ to CP3, 260⁰and then finally shooting butt 4 to bridge, finish, phew! Note well that there are other possible options.
You can’t possibly go wrong or can you?
Graham