We stood and stared into the very black and sinister looking empty darkness. Is it safe? It was Tom, who whilst not prepared to take the cold and wet option, broke the ice by throwing stones in or on to the black hole. Two results, a crack and crackly splash, answered the question. It was not safe to walk across the semi-frozen pond near Coldside and Greenlands on the northern side of Mam Tor. So, we didn’t, and instead we left the edge of darkness and went down to Greenlands.
This pond had been our recovery spot after a steep descent over frozen ground from the main path between Hollins Cross and Mam Tor. We decided to miss the summit, as it was apparently too uninspiring for us, we perhaps thought. Whatever, we’d had a hard climb from Odin’s Mine at the edge of the White Peak, up to the ridge which included path, mud, ice, pathlessness, tussocks, bilberry, bracken and no wind unless our heavy breathing is counted. And, it was very cold, probably sub-zero. So, we nine, including Russ returning after a longish absence, were in Slow Warts’ heaven.
We like variety of an outdoor sort, so we left our heaven for a bridleway where we ran (!) uphill until our Cap’n called hold, enough. We then diverted for a direct climb to the top. The trouble with running in the dark is that it’s not easy to see where you’re going which can be useful in diverting attention to where feet are being placed rather than the height or distance to be covered. Whilst this is all very well, there comes a time when tedium or exhaustion come into play. Just as these factors become significant for us, then a further and possibly unexpected one is triggered, “Let’s go directly to the top” came the shout. So, we did, despite being on the edge exhaustion. Arriving at the Mam Tor summit was to be cherished, especially the way that we’d come up, so, with the moon now shining brightly, we had to be photographed here, in our best winter kit.
There was choice off the Tor, a knee rattling descent near edge of the Mam Tor landslide (left hand side), over the fields and down the side of Winnats Pass and possibly up the other side and through the various ups and downs near Odin’s Mine. We chose the latter which was also knee trembling as we balanced on the knife edges of the unstable looking ground. We nevertheless all made it to the cars where there was quite a number of mobile homes apparently parked for the freezing night. We on the other hand went and parked in Castleton at the George for discussions on the Club Championships, ancestry, Vikings, Danes Norwegians, Normans, French, Neanderthal and whoever and what percentage of each we were. It was agreed we had mostly Ruffian in us.
On that happy note we declared we’d had a great run with thanks to all.
Graham
