Words by Alex, Photos by Pete
Crew: El Pres, Butty, Slim, Dunc, Stunt
Route: Zag, Charity, Extension, Standing Stone, Ferriser
Conditions: Dry, clear and cool
Notes:
Butty fancies another campfire night – forecast is dry, so why not 🙂
Pete sorts a beer drop and although there are only five of us, it is a fine plan.
The year is rolling on, but we are still a daylight meet at the bottom of the zag at 18:15 under clear skies.
The steep ride up means we are warm when we arrive – Dunc and Pete still showing bare flesh between three quarter bibs and socks! But stand around for more than a few minutes and you feel the chill in the air.
Butty is meeting us Charity’ish, so we head up the zag which is still pretty dry despite the 60+mm of rain Sunday night through tuesday. At the top of the Zag Pete declares that we can see Snowdonia, having dismissed it as cloud a closer look shows that yes – there are distinct mountains behind the Clyweds. Indeed looking south west we can also see the Long Mynd and the Wrekin! Uber clear air!! Dunc is still not convinced – but the brandishing of compasses shows Snowdonia is due West. (Post ride Pete posts some serious map geekery which proves without doubt he was right).
Butty is waiting at the Millstone national park boundary with camera out for arty smarty photos of us coming past. Chat on the tarmac part of Charity is all about the road closure on the way to the Cat – it looks like all the traffic is using the short cut past the Stanley arms and up to the Tearooms.
A route discussion at the start of Charity proper – Dunc declares he’s knackered having done his quadrathalon on Sunday, swimming in scum covered water in deepest Linconshire, then doing the Tuesday Spunch (with the Girl guides?). Everyone else is also up for a slack ride, so having briefly considered some other options we opt for the direct route to Ferriser and to get the fire going.
Charity is very wet on the descent – so as well as cold we have legs and backsides in various stages of damp! A quick squirt down the extension, climb up to Standing Stone, and then to Ferriser it is, and properly dark at 7:15.
The fire looks like it might have been used since we were here last 2 weeks ago, but if so it’s been improved with a few more things to sit on. The wet weather has had an impact on the quality of the wood, and after the initial dry kindling from our resident firestarter has been consumed, we need some further cardboard from the beer box and some nurturing before we have a proper blaze going.
Butty has brought a mini frying pan and sausages to raise the game from foil wrapped baked goods, and El Pres is offering round a big bag of crisps.
Soon we are all cosying up with the warmth drying out our lower legs, and jacketed and hatted up on the top half.
We hear stags bellowing, debate the health benefits of outdoor living – as demonstrated by the Swedish word Friluftsliv (just watch Paddy and Chris’s Swedish roadtrip). All bodes well for the TNR formula, indeed we have been fireside for three of the last four weeks – is this a new record!?
Stars are really clear too – we may have even been seeing a bit of milky way (or was that some imagination?)
Pete has promised pudding beer – but then manages to sit on his plastic cups!! Disaster averted as enough survive for the Tonka Cappuchino to be distributed – and sweet and syrupy loveliness it is.
More wood is needed which prompts us to discuss the need for saws/axes and should we stash some nearby. Stunt has a saw blade on his swiss army knife – which to the suprise of most is quite effective at getting the sticks that are a bit too thick to snap via foot stamp into useable sections.
All too soon we have finished all the beer – yet again no one had brought whisky (probably just as well – there was quite a lot of beer)
So a sensible o’clock departure, fast down “Christmas tree alley” before emerging onto the main trail to do the ususal mini circuit down and out round the ressies past Bob’s bench and to the Leathers.
Two badgers squabbling at the end of the dam scuttle off as the lead riders come past, and EL Pres has his turbo boots on heading home, cameraderie breaks out with all waiting for Pete on Gunco lane before we depart in our various directions.