If I thought the under-cliff around Chapmans Pool was difficult terrain I was in for a shock; the terrain on the second portion of my walk upped the ante somewhat. I continued along the shoreline, rather than the escarpment route; a decision which in retrospect I came to regret. There'd been a fair amount of slippage and collapse, and most of my passage around the coast was over and through various sized boulders and loose rock; it was quite intense going, and looking at my course ahead I began to question how sensible my choice of path had been...of course, the alternative could've been just as problematic. As it happened, the climb up the escapement wasn't much better; jumping between bramble and ivy covered boulders, gave way to loose wobbling rocks and shifting rock scree; by the time I'd reached the top of the escarpment I'd got all hot under the collar (I'm not good with heights; sometimes worse than others...today was a 'sometimes worse' day); everything appeared steeper today, more extreme, more sketchy than I remembered. I'd intended to explore and chill for a while before I undertook the last climb up out of the quarry, although I scrubbed that deciding instead to make the climb right now; I feared it may have become insurmountable in my mind, and I didn't relish retracing my steps. Even though I'd taken this route hundreds of times before, and it's not particularly difficult, the ascent was made challenging by my over-thinking of it; still, in the end I made short shrift of it and after scrambling and reaching the quarry top lay in the hot sun catching my breath, my hands shaking. A bit of adventure.
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