Words & photos by Pete
Crew : Simon, Pete, Kersh, Dunc, Butty & (eventually) Bern
Pub : Andy T
Conditions : Cold getting colder (but not as cold as last week) , just above freezing .
Route : Zag Bottom- Charity – Narnia 3/4 – Butty Roller Coaster – Witches cottage- Hardingland – Crooked Yard farm – TN bridleway- Sutton Hall
Notes :
We had seven signed up for a very simple forest furtle & a return to the Sutton Hall . Not bad for the deep midwinter of mid January. Alas, by Zag rendezvous time the Troll had dropped out , and Kersh & Dunc were running late . It was just Butty and me meeting up with a rather cold Dr S at the bottom of Zag. There was a chilly breeze in that spot. More on Bern later !
I put live location on and we hiked up to the top of Zag. Here we halted a moment to see if anyone was about to catch us up. A message from Bern that his chain had snapped & he would catch us up if he could.
But what’s this ? A car is driving up the Zag . It slows down and a bemused lady driver asks if we could direct her to Tegg’s Nose car park where there is a “Beavers meeting” she needs to drop her kids at. Apparently it was the second loop of the Zag for her in search for Teggs !
After showing her how close she actually was to her destination (and trying to stifle our sniggering) we spot Kersh climbing the Zag at pace. Despite his E-power we can hear his exertions.
By the corner of the forest we stop to examine the night sky. Mars, Pollux & Castor (all in a line) – Jupiter – Venus – The Pleiades – Cassiopeia – The Plough – at least one satellite & a very visible Orion .
Dunc arrives .
As we climb Charity the ice on the track gets worse -more icy bits than not-icy bits ! Just after the transmitter station we hop to the right onto the more grassy/snowy/muddy bit. This gets us down to Narnia entrance without any mishaps and it was fun. Mud, snow and just enough traction.
Narnia is thankfully ice and snow free …about 3/4 the way down Butty takes off piste to the left . He calls it the “Roller Coaster” . I must admit I wasn’t keen initially but it did end up being quite a good laugh , in a slippy and daftly steep kind of way.
Back up to Witches Cottage and then down to Sutton Hall via Hardingland & the Bridleway . My forks seemed to lose all pressure somewhere in that off piste bit. Thankfully they got me home by partly locking them out.
Sutton Hall was surprisingly busy – most tables being full. Jaipur is the beer of choice (lets just forget its 5.9% !) . with lord Lucan the runner up.
Bern finally appears – he did manage to fix his broken chain – apparently YouTube instructional videos were used ! And he managed a circuit of the forest .
Sutton Hall was better than expected! The food was OK, and the service was fairly good.
The conversation opens up as more Jaipur is consumed . I remember some conversation about Electrical vehicles which seemed quite sensible but after that it got a bit more ribald . I suppose Jaipur is the equivalent of Sodium Pentathol .
Bern departs after an abstemious two pints of Guinness zero ….but the vacuum is quickly filled by the sudden appearance of a spirit from our TNR past : Andy T . Fresh from running an evening Spunch at Marple. Brimming with ribald humour & eager for an audience.
We settle up for the food and beer . Thank goodness we get 25% off the food bill with one of those magic new year envelopes (as nothing is sub £18 now)
Simon departs as he has grandchildren duties from 6am tomorrow (yikes) , Graham also goes at sensible o’clock …leaving an AOE for the fourth pint of loopy juice.