Today was back to getting up and heading out the door in darkness. While I could complain that I needed to stay that little bit more alert driving out at this time, to avoid the kangaroos. On the plus side it is the time of day that I am most likely to see a Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale wambenger). Every time I have been lucky to spot one, like I was today, I have brought the car to a standstill and then watched it almost do a bit of a dance, as if performing in the light flooding out of the headlights. After which it scampers off to the verge and is lost from vision in the vegetation:
I wonder if the dance is its normal reaction for when it senses danger, as they have been reported to signalling danger by tapping their front limbs. Or maybe the performance is the critter making the most of its short life. They live for one to three years, but most males do not even make it past one year. The reason being that they die after reproducing. One time I might be lucky to take a video of the performing Phascogale, although at such an early time of the day it is unlikely to be very clear. A bit like most of today’s photography:
In contrast to yesterday, today the sky was covered with a grey woolly blanket of clouds. With not a hint of a break in the monotony, which stretched the whole was to the horizon in every direction. I could again complain but I won’t as my taxi service today was picking up Ash on the way through to head to Moses Rocks, and a day out here is always good to lift the spirits and make you feel good about life no matter how grey the day may be. It has been a while since we last caught up, as he has been travelling about having some amazing adventures:
One of them was a climbing trip to Thailand, a place I have not been too but really should make an effort to get to one day. The first opportunity I had to go there was way back in the 90’s, but the sport climbing wasn’t enough to draw me away from the trad climbing of the British Isles. My aversion to clipping bolts is well and truly behind me now, so I could be convinced to head there if the chance came by. Despite Ash getting his leading head on in Thailand, today he was happy to stick with seconding and simply following me up whatever. And he know I certainly won’t complain when I’m offered the lead:
I was feeling good on rock today, and relished being on the sharp end. And so it was that there was a lot of top down photography going on. This probably suited the grey day when the backdrop isn’t as a jaw dropping as it could be. You may also notice a couple of images in which Ash is grimacing and/or has a look of extreme focus. This happened as he grappled with the surprising variety of features for such a small crag. Including insecure slopey foot and hand holds, the occasional hand jam and finger lock to pull through, and then the above wide crack in which he buried himself as far as he could physically go:
On most routes he pulled at least one look of concentration. Not that he was complaining and he was obviously having a ball, as he sung his way up the lines only stopping when he had to focus that bit harder. This also allowed me to gobbled up one route after another, jumping on the next as soon as we had scrambled back down. We marched on at this pretty solid pace, one that would only have been slowed down if Ash had jumped on a lead or too. I wouldn’t have complained if he did. Although we would not have managed to get in as many routes as we did before the water droplets that made up the clouds grew too big to be suspended in the sky:
The droplets finally gave into gravity signalled that it was time to wrap things up, and at a time that seemed about right for us. We were running out of routes that would be reasonable, both for me to lead after all we had done and for Ash to follow up. His body was hinting signs of being sufficiently weary and satisfied, and I could hardly whinge after bagging so many fun routes. As the droplets fell I could not help but think that we have not had much of an autumn, what with the frequency of the cold fronts that have been rolling in. Maybe as a result of the dampness I’ve noticed a few fungi popping up:
The above was on the path we walked out on, I’m not really convinced but the closest identification I can find is a Slimy Yellow Cortina (Cortinarius sinapicolor). The rain abated as we took a slow and steady pace along the final stretch being the soft sandy beach, which worked our legs that last bit before we got to the carpark. Dropping Ash back, my route home takes me right past the Ambergate Nature Reserve where I simply couldn’t resists a quick stickybeak. And just like yesterday there were plentiful Bunny Orchids, but not what I was hoping for. However, after such a great morning out I don’t have any complaints:
Sandbagged 