Chaplog tries hard

Easy in Easy out

This item should have been posted a number of days ago. It created a momentum of its own. It is not finished but I need to do other things.

Without climbing trips of my own this summer I have had a fertile imagination and time to think. This is a dangerous situation for people who prefer action rather than reflection. As I got involved in the process I remembered a number of articles written by people who suddenly could not do the thing they love. I also rememberd how it did not make enjoyable reading. So I stopped. Starting the process was enough for me to begin to realise the problem. Or as others have already said, it is about time you got out climbing. This is where I got to.

Easy In Easy Out

When Pete and I go climbing he always asks an important question before venturing to a place he has never been to before. Is it easy in, easy out? He emphasises both parts of the question with good reason. An example should help to make this clear. You might have a five minute walk across easy terrain to get to the bottom of a crag. That is the easy in bit. You have to ask the second part of the question because when you reach the top of your chosen climb you are only half way there. Pete is questioning whether the day is likely to have a happy ending or am I puttng a positive spin on a questionable activity. The reply from Pete is always. "Works for me". He trusts me!

Now, when planning a morning on the beach with the family these type of considerations do not come into play or do they? Well sometimes the family ask similar questions about getting in and out of situations but are not so quick to be sold the positive spin! Rarely do you get an answer as positive as "Works for me"

Returning to real life! Yesterday's choice of beach, not mine I hasten to add, was Whistling Sands. This is an easy in, easy out beach and boring for that. Today it is my choice and it is an easy one to make - Hell's Mouth. Names can easily be misleading but not in this case. I do not like beaches as I made clear in yesterday's entry, unless of course they meet certain criteria. Hell's mouth meets those criteria with bells on. Hell's Mouth has previous - in the criminal sense.

The first thing you notice when getting to Hell's mouth by car, is you can't, the road has collapsed. A large part of the highway has fallen down the hill side. The damage in itself would not normally be enough to stop me or persons of my ilk, as there is enough room to drive past well away from the large cracks in the road. What does stop me is the gate across the road. It is locked.

When I was younger I might have looked at the hinges to see if it could be opened in other ways. I did and it can't. The car then has to be parked some considerable distance from the beach and you have to walk to it. A pleasant walk down the cracked road takes you past a farm that has reassuringly not entered the twentieth century and has no understanding of the twenty first. There are signs on the farm warning of the dangers of foot and mouth. I suspect, that foot and mouth should be the least of anybodies worries around here.

Just before you take the footpath down to the beach you pass a tiny campsite perched on the cliff top. A quick look at the tents and the bearded people seeking shelter from the storms portrays a scene that would not be out of place at Everest base camp.

As you start the walk down the footpath towards the beach there is an impressively large red sign warning of dangerously strong tidal flows. It leaves you with the overwhelming feeling that if, heaven forbid, you should get into any difficulty you were clearly warned. The next feature of interest appears as the footpath disintegrates into a muddy near vertical drop to the boulder strewn beach below. What you find to assist you is a very thick rope and a smaller one with knots in. Not many approaches to a beach require rope work and are worthy of the term descent. Hell's Mouth clearly does as the picture makes clear.

One of yesterday's criteria for an acceptable beach was that it should not be crowded. Well if it wasn't on my list, it should have been and is now. As you can see even when there isn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature is 26 degrees centigrade, it is hardly crowded.

What was drawn to my attention as I looked around, was the nature of the surroundings. Putting it succinctly the surroundings are collapsing and they are doing it rapidly. A couple of photographs should illustrate the point.

Now that I have wetted your appetite and you are packing the picnic, pause for a minute, there are other things to consider that make a visit absolutely essential. First off are the tides. The beach is very flat, so the tide races in and the shape of the beach means that it is easy to be caught in the middle with little means of escape.

A method of escape that might be considered is climbing up the collapsing earth behind. Now by habit I called it earth, but I am wrong it is clay. If it was dry you might stand a chance of climbing up, in the wet on clay, let us say it would be extremely challenging. I have practical experience of this danger. Four years ago I decided to run the length of the beach and back. On the return leg I noticed the speed of the tide, it was shoes and socks off, and look as if the whole episode had been intended. I am good at that. It is a method I find convenient when things are not going your way - I practise it at school in front of students and staff.

So, you have done the hard work, you are there on this empty beach, where is the pay back? Or to put it anther way what is in it for you? A question I repeatedly ask myself after long periods in front of hostile adolescents who question my parentage and reason for living.

My particular interest in this beach, apart from running on it, is the flotsam and jetsam. It is excellent. In fact I would go as far as to say it is fantastic. I read about the container that fell overboard that was full of plastic ducks, newts and frogs that have now circumnavigated most of the globe. If you know the time and the place where an accident like this happend a lot of information can be collected about ocean currents. That is what has been done. Plastic ducks or the Nike trainers that can we washed and are as good as new. They say they have parties to sort out pairs - of trainers!

Oh and I forgot hockey gear

This is a good read. In fact so good I did a number of assembies to 1200 children explaining the details. I have a PowerPoint presentation if you want to know more. Hell's Mouth has its share of goodies.

A container can contain a lot of small items. Take orange plastic gloves for example! What do you do with a lot of orange plastic gloves?

Plastic lasts a long time; I believe the plastic ducks that have passed through the ice of the Antarctic have lost their colour but other wise are fine. Here is a little evidence of my own. This "Tip Top" rapper has been around for awhile before it was brought up on a recent high tide. How long ago was this dropped in the sea? Answers on a postcard no a comment please!

Oh, and the trick is, if you want "easy out" of Hell's Mouth stay close to the little spur of collapsing clay/earth that protrudes into the sea the most. When the tide gets close, get out!.

So the answer to the question is Hell's Mouth easy in? Not if it is damp. Easy out? Not if you get cut off by the tide and it has rained recently.

Posted by mikec at August 8, 2003 06:46 AM