Blantyre Three-Peakers Do It Again. 29 June 1996
28 miles, 6,000ft up,
6,000ft down. That is the challenge of the Blantyre Three Peaks Walk. This
year's walk coincided as last year with the Music Society's annual charity
production and a late night before meant that the ringing of 18 alarms fell on
some very unwelcoming ears. John Moorhouse, lost in the nightmares of jaws and
cavities, failed to make the starting bell and belatedly joined the party at
Michiru Conservation Office.
The walkers gathered
at the BSC car park by 5am. Val Wallace was first there to stow gear in 'old
faithful' and with George sadly excused on account of an ill-timed bug, a
steady pace was suggested. Well, a steady pace from Andy and Simon is no mean
thing and we soon found ourselves galloping down the road to Michiru in the
early dawn.
Such early risings are
clearly the norm for many Blantyre folk, for there was a fair bustle of
activity as heads loaded with produce made to satisfy the needs of slumbering
city dwellers. Dawn was breaking as we neared Chilomoni and tarmac gave way to
dust. From first light to last Michiru suffers the attentions of wood gatherers
and we dodged descending bundles as we clambered up our first ascent of the
day. Michiru peak was reached in a very short time and, with a chill wind
blowing and the mob at the front having scarpered, there was no excuse to hang
around. Up strains muscles and down strains joints, so with some caution we
hastened down to the Conservation Office for breakfast and took stock of the
situation.
James Lee had his own
ideas for the Three Peaks in the form of a mountain-bike contest. James is not
at his best in the early hours and found his sense of direction a little out of
kilter. He somehow ended up battling up Ndirande instead of Michiru — a
losing battle as it happens as James took a bad fall, not having gained
sufficient momentum to whiz up the gully, and took in QE as the next point on
his route. Hats off to all such valiant nutters.
Veronica found the
early fast pace a mite knackering and wisely threw in the towel in favour of
breakfast at the Conservation Office. Miriam and Grace soon took the measure of
the Three Peaks as bloody long and bloody hard, and to cut a long story short
bypassed Ndirande peak but revived at the lunch stop to complete their
never-again attempt. Sarah Mossford took in Ndirande peak but gave her all in
the process, so it became two peaks for her.
This left us with 13
walkers to go the full distance. The weather was kind indeed as we scrambled
down Ndirande and crossed the treeless forest reserve to Limbe. Andy sacked out
at Hynde Dam but still reached Soche before us on account of his iron leg and
our misguided route finding. Weary limbs tackled the steep and thankfully still
well-forested slopes of Soche, knowing we were on the home leg. A group of
self-styled holy men had beaten us to the top and came out with some distinctly
unholy language when we scaled the peak rock.
We had a little
trouble finding the best route down, but Dave Cornelius, determined not to give
his putrefying feet any more work to do than necessary, soon zeroed in on the
right line. Pat Royal, Claire Hill and Shelley Milstein awaited us at
Chimwankhunda Dam with welcome tea and biscuits and a liberal sprinkling of
talc. We then staggered off to the BSC and the end of another Three Peaks Walk.
Congratulations to all participants and a special thanks to this year's
marshals. Martin Horrocks
Participants: Martin Horrocks, Willie
"Willy" McCorquodale, Christine Wardlow, Tich Robb, Simon
"Scope" Cope, Veronica Foy, Miriam Horrocks, Liz Gould, James Lee,
Phil Nagle, Roddy Sharp, Jim Raffelberg, Grace Horrocks, Sarah Mossford, Andy
"Sideways" Crabb, Dave Cornelius, Susan Raath, Tigger Foden, John
Moorhouse
©
WDYFO, 1996