Escape to Continue

This run is one of my favourites so far. Although it’s 14 miles it is broken up into bite-sized pieces; Birchen Edge, White Edge, Froggat Edge, Baslow Edge and back to Birchen and the start point near the Robin Hood Inn.The route is littered with evidence of neolithic man; stone circles, field systems, cairns, standing stones and more. Even the natural rock formations are dramatic, such as the Eagle Stone on Baslow Edge.

There are also a couple of more recent stone monuments. The first is on Birchen, built in 1810 in honour of Nelson. The second was erected in 1866 in honour of Wellington.

Which of these two characters is the greater? Firstly, lets look at Nelson. He’s a bit of a one trick pony really. And his one trick isn’t that nice - he’s a bully. With his trade-mark cry of “ha-ha” he’s always on hand to mock the afflicted and to dish out beatings. Admittedly some of the bullying is quite inventive, such as forcing victims to hurt themselves whilst he shouts “stop hitting yourself”. He is though, rather one dimensional.

Wellington, on the other hand, has a real breadth to his portfolio. He’s an active environmentalist, scientist and inventor, and charming and shy. He has a further talent, along with Hendrix, Marc Bolan, Dave Davies (Kinks), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Dave Grohl (Nirvana), Kirk Hammet (Metallica), Lenny Kravitz, Keith Richards, Michael Shenker, Eddie Van Halen and more. He plays the Gibson Flying V - an iconic guitar. You can just about make out its shape in the photo of a Wombles live performance. And finally, Wellington was the only Womble to strike out in a solo career, with the critically underrated single “Rainmaker”. Wellington wins.