Sunday scramble report.

[vanda boyd]

After a drive over to the Chew Valley in glorious weather, 8 of us set out [after one nameless member had finally re-laced his boots], heading up Chew Brook, rather than the access road, as recommended in Tom’s guidebook. On reaching the foot of Wilderness Gully East there were a number of comments regarding the amount of water and green slime evident, especially as a few weeks ago Vanda & Geoff had made a completely dry ascent. It soon became apparent that not everybody was enjoying the experience and after a few moves upwards the party split. Half carried on up the gully, the other half detouring onto the heather filled hillside.
However, all were reunited at the top within a couple of minutes of each other and we set out for Chew Reservoir where lunch was taken on the beach!
We then decided to head over the moors to Laddow in search of Oaken Clough. On arrival at Laddow we thought we were at the top on the clough and descended the trackless hillside only to soon realise the gully wasn’t Oaken Clough. Nevertheless, after deciding the daylight was too short to go searching any further we ascended the gully with an interesting unclimable green slime slab avoided and a squeeze through a small cave at the top.
We returned to Chew Reservoir and walked down the road to the foot of Charnel Clough and despite the rapidly sinking sun at 3.15pm we opted for a quick ascent of this very fine scramble. Enough water to fill boots but not enough slime to repel us, [it does face the sun a lot more than the Wilderness Gullies.]. A quick descent saw us back on the access road in the gloom by 4.15 and a final walk down in the dark after around 8 miles and 2 and a bit scrambles. A fine day out was enjoyed by all.
Paul Gibson

[Author]

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