{"id":851717,"date":"2025-01-30T18:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T18:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/?p=851717"},"modified":"2025-01-30T18:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T18:04:10","slug":"extreme-sport-29-jan-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/851717","title":{"rendered":"Extreme sport – 29 Jan 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is extreme sport? Climbing Everest without oxygen support, rowing the Atlantic, running the Pennine way or traversing the sides of Abbey Brook, the latter being the Slow Warts\u2019 January challenge from Fairholmes. We didn\u2019t know it was going to be a challenge until later. Andy\u2019s route seemed more like a normal winter Wednesday outing for about one and a half to two hours duration. There was even a comment from Roger, emboldened by his long recuperation from a cold, suggesting light-heartedly that we ought to be enduring the head high heather he\u2019d experienced in northern Scotland. Was this even possible in the Peak district, probably not, we thought?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We managed a quorum, currently deemed to be seven, with Jim O independently doing the Orrell-Crook Winter Series. This was a nod to his grandfather\u2019s surname and, of course, to one of the Crook Hills on the race course. Jim was ready to go though a slight wardrobe malfunction, shorts worn inside out, (Possibly a competitor for Barber\u2019s Bloomers?) delayed his start. The remaining six of us (with no obvious or declared wardrobe problems) enjoyed the sound of rushing water pouring over the dam wall without the older Warts succumbing to the urge to relieve ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two ways up the hillside, the direct pathless one taken by the fast boys and the pathed one taken by the slower ancients (legends?). Progress for us all was enhanced by the magnificent sunset <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(From near Lost Lad, thanks to Roger)
<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

and the wide track to the foot of Lost Lad where we diverted on to the joys of Poynton Bog. Our higher line was, in retrospect, surprisingly relatively fast going as we dodged the rushes for our descent into Abbey Brook for a slippery crossing. The steep climb out of Gravy Clough was the start of our vegetation fest of deep heather and deep, dead bracken but we did make it to the comfort of Gravy Cabin where I discovered I had lost my phone (I\u2019d left it home!). Nobly Chris stepped in to provide the photo of us recovering from the climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Gravy Clough cabin thanks to Chris, note our latest lintel discovery behind us<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We continued by contouring on the edge of Abbey Brook with the aim of reaching a well-built stone shelter incorporated into a wall above New Close Wood. For added extremeness, we added a steep climb out of the other (?) Cogman Clough which added another dose of deep heather and bracken, the latter being banked up against the fencing thus adding another layer of jeopardy to our journey. We\u2019d been out for quite some time (for Slow Warts) so our search for the shelter was abandoned and instead another steep and slippery descent to the stream through the wood was needed. I was very grateful for the trees dotted around, to cling on to during mid-slide, it felt like being a bagatelle (pinball?) ball being bounced around. A paddle in the Brook was refreshing, if nothing else, but this slight enjoyment was short lived as we very steeply extracted ourselves from the Brook. Head high heather (to satisfy Roger) was the reality with unreliable foot holds which, for me, required three or four attempts to escape from its clutches. All this brought on the thought that \u201cwhy are we doing this?\u201d At the time there was no answer apart from, it\u2019s there and we have to get to the pub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, we reached the main Abbey Brook path and the Tony Keddie short cut. Will Tony ever know just how grateful we are to him, though, in places, it does need a bit of a trim of his overgrowing heather. There was one more climb to avoid the knarly, rocky way to Hancock Pond. Clearly, exhaustion was setting in and we\u2019d had our fill of difficult terrain and even an uphill section was preferable. There was one more surprise for me, down to Derwent Dam through the fields which I\u2019d been down many times. The slight holloway down to the gate which avoided most of the hawthorns, was wonderful and I will definitely use it again. For a flourish to our adventure, the path to the cars had to be run up without stopping. A fine finish to our three-hour epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, Andy had hurt his heel\/ankle on the way back but his spirits rose in the pub (YBI) as the ornithologists in the group, including Jim who\u2019d completed his Orrell Crook race route, discussed the various bird migrations in the UK and, we also still did not solve the world\u2019s problems, that\u2019s for next week<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, an epic run (in places) which will be remembered for a very long time. Thanks to all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graham<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our track thanks to Chris<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is extreme sport? Climbing Everest without oxygen support, rowing the Atlantic, running the Pennine way or traversing the sides of Abbey Brook, the latter being the Slow Warts\u2019 January challenge from Fairholmes. We didn\u2019t know it was going to be a challenge until later. Andy\u2019s route seemed more like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-851717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-warts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851721,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851717\/revisions\/851721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dpfr.org.uk\/wp_dpfr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}