Tout

Sticking out into Worbarrow Bay, but for a thin piece of connecting land, Worbarrow Tout is all but an island. Known to our group as 'Mud Mountain' on account of the viscus marl clays which we clamber up to reach the summit. The tout may not cover an extensive area, though what there is is packed with groovy stuff. If you dig geology then there's plenty to float your boat here; mad stratigraphy, layers through time exposed one on top of another, a deep slab of our planets history. Huge boulders encrusted with Gypsum deposits, as well as dinosaur foot prints, fossils, and a fantastic rocky intertidal, with rock ledges thrusting seaward. Although it's all very nice and interesting, it's also really hard going, uneven loose surfaces, made slippery when wet, make it difficult terrain to negotiate.  Inevitably we'll go out along the intertidal and return up through a wide shallow gully towards the end of the tout (pic3, if you look carefully there's a person at the bottom for scale). It may be quite an undertaking when wet, and a touch scary whenever, and you come out on a narrow spur of the end of the tout with a short steep slope off a high cliff, which you need to keep in mind; even with all that said it still makes for an easier return. Now, I'm not that good with heights, and sometimes I'm worse than others, I remember at least 2 occasions over the years that when, after the long climb, I'd reached the top of the tout and had to crawl until I felt safe. Today was not so bad, I just did a hurried stooped walk, whilst cussing. Well, you've got to make your walks interesting. It is always worth it, the views from the touts rough grass summit are always stunning, and time was required to appreciate and acknowledge them. Far out.