Twas a foggy night as the Owls stalked the hills
above Saddleworth. In thick fog six Owls drove cautiously along the
Isle of Skye road to their drop off point at new Snoops layby. With visibility
down to only a few feet it was decided that this weeks parliament would make a
shortend foray of the planned route of the New Snoops Loop, as we wanted to be
sure of returning to the nest in time for drinks and medals.
With head torches bouncing back off the mist we
ascended the paved Pennine Way to the summit Trig Point on Black Hill. After it
took Bruce B about 15 minutes to sort out the lighting effect with his
head-torch, which was the size of a WWII anti-aircraft search light, we took
the usual group photo.
After back tracking along the PW a short way, and
still in thick mist, we dropped down Issue Clough where the sole fell off Andy
G's new 'Moremile' fell shoes. In his usual ingenious manner he made some quick
running repairs (pardon the pun), with his laces, and we set off once again. With
Andy assessing the merits of barefoot running (literally) in the now newly
named 'no-miles' fell shoes we hit the track known as Issues Road, dead on the
mark. After all we are Owl's and can see in the dark (and thick mist)!!
Now running the reverse of New Snoops Loop we
traversed Stopes Moor and Good Bent before crossing Black Pool Bridge where we
picked up the Kirklees Way. This final section back to the Isle of Sky was very
muddy underfoot. Unfortunately for Andy, who by now wasn't to impressed with
this idea of running barefoot, much of the mud was in fact putrified cow dung!!
Returning to the van at about 10pm we were all more
than happy with tonight's fantastic outing even if the views had been
restricted to about 4 feet. Talking of feet, on the slow fog bound trip back to
the cricket club we had to endure the delightful aroma of all what was squidged
between Andy's toes!!!
Tonights Points: Chris M - 4, Andy G - 4, Bruce B -
4, James S - 4, Dave H - 2, Lee B - 2.
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