Randomly, adjacent to the Aldersgate camp was a National
Historic site – the Fitchburg Furnace:
Completed in 1870, it is the largest charcoal
burning furnace in the world and in the top 25 dry-stone masonry structures in
the world. Sadly, after all that effort,
it was only in operation for five years before the owners declared bankruptcy
and the furnace fell into disrepair, only more recently being renovated by the
Friends of Fitchburg Furnace.
I was feeling somewhat restless after the last few days on
the road without any opportunity for exercise.
I studied the hiking maps and suggested a short-ish hike up to ‘Sugar
camp cave’ as we hadn’t seen any caves yet this trip and it may offer us a
lovely view down into the valley we were staying in. By the time we left it must have been
3pm-ish. There were colour-coded symbols
embedded in the trees going up the hill to keep you on course. Steep at times but within about 30 minutes we
reached the cave:
I ventured in a certain distance with a torch but after finding a
sizeable spider on the ceiling I was happy there was nothing more to see
there!
We hadn’t got to enjoy the view
as I’d hoped and it was such a lovely evening…. I persuaded Simon that if we
just carried on up to the top of the particular hill/ mountain we were on there
MUST be a worthwhile view. Then we’d
just head back down again, easy! Or
not. We were no longer on a defined
trail and the going got tough. The
forest was still very dense so no stunning views and we lost our bearings. It got to the stage when we knew we needed to
head down but it was just hard to find a passable route!
In the end we had
to just go for it. The sun was getting
low and the thought of trying to get down in the pitch black was not worth considering. This was ridiculous – we could SEE the
campsite below, it was just very much further down than us! Having picked a route, we half-walked,
half-skidded on our backsides and at one point literally climbed - without
ropes - down the side of the mountain.
There were points where we had to wedge ourselves between tree roots and
rock ledges to slow ourselves down and stop us falling down the hill. It was whilst on one of these ledges that I
suddenly grabbed my trouser pocket which was empty and asked Simon ‘have you
got my phone?’ He did not have my phone…. And neither did I. Panic.
I definitely had it earlier when I’d climbed on a rock to get a
picture (evidenced above) and then tucked it into my back
trouser pocket before sliding down a hill.
And it was on silent. What are
the chances of finding a black and green iPhone in dense foliage on the side of
a mountain. Is ‘Find my iPhone’ that
accurate?! Probably not. Despair setting in, I stayed firmly wedged
between a rock and a tree root (literally a hard place) feeling like a prize
idiot, whilst Simon climbed back up the steep rock face we’d just climbed down,
having told me firmly to ‘stay there’ (I don’t think he was impressed). Somehow, Simon found my phone about 15 or 20
feet back where we’d come from. I was
gobsmacked having been convinced it was a goner. Simon was the hero of the hour and within
another 40 minutes we had scrambled our way back down to the retreat, not long
before sunset. Both of us had mud caked
on our bottom halves and I’d managed to graze the inside of my right arm when I
grabbed a tree trunk to steady myself during our descent. We were bruised, exhausted and extremely hungry.
Simon made us a lovely bonfire
and we both relaxed with a cold beer and a barbecued steak for our efforts.
 |
| It was very dark when we went to collect the rest of our washing! |
I have a habit of wanting to go just-that-bit further or
just-that-bit higher on one of my treks and this was a vivid reminder of what
can go wrong. I promised Simon that I
would go easier on him in the future and we’d stick to the marked trails next
time. No more Cordey-hikes into the unknown!
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