Wow - now that was a real adventure and like all the very best adventures it all started off so sublimely.
A beautiful autumnal sunny day to set out from Cold East Cross. To gently wander down the paths to Buckland Beacon to admire the Ten Commandments. Across Welstor Common to the old butts and down to the stile and sheep creep to cross the road. The lovely path gently meandered toward Rushlade Bridge and there, just by the track, a lovely apple tree laden with sweet juicy apples. Over the bridge, along the road a bit and up to the huge butts - just the spot to sit, have a cuppa and gaze over the moor. A nice track took us down to Langworthy Brook and out through the fields to plot a route to Rippon Tor. The chosen route across Mountsland Common proved somewhat less than ideal. The huge tussocks soon gave way to mire and briar all mixed in with huge bracken. The parties somehow managed to battle their way through albeit with a few scratches. By now the time had slipped away and the quickest and least painful route was taken back to the cars. On to a fantastically busy Rugglestone - 150 covers on a Tuesday lunchtime, no wonder there was a bit of a wait - compensated by a HUGE bowl of FREE chips!
A long time since we had such an exciting day.